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5 ways parents can show thanks for teachers and schools

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Between Election Day, parent-teacher conferences, and field trips, it always seems like things get nutty in November.

The novelty of the new year has worn off, and kidsโ€”and parentsโ€”start slowly slipping into the mid-year blues or pre-holiday anxiety.

And if things are crazy for our family, I can only imagine how difficult things can be for our teachers.

5 ways parents can show thanks for teachers and schools teachmama.com

So November is a great time for us all to step back and extend a bit of thanks to those teachers with whom our children spend hours and hours each day.

Iโ€™m not saying that we need to spend a million dollars on our teachers right before the winter holidays; rather, Iโ€™m suggesting that we show teachers how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication.

We can do this in a number of ways, some of which wonโ€™t cost a cent.

Hereโ€™s the skinny. . .

5 Ways Parents Can Show Thanks for Teachers and Schools:

November is a time of giving thanks. Letโ€™s take a minute to show our childrenโ€™s teachers how very much we appreciate them and their hard work.

acorn and leaf cutouts with thankful messages on them

Show thanks to your teachers by:

  1. Volunteering your time to support the teacher.

Drop the teacher a quick note or email saying that you have a few extra hours this month and would like to help him or her with anything needed in the classroom. You can copy, cut, sort, organize, or clean. Anything needed.

turkey with pilgrim hat on bulletin board

Call the teacher or drop him or her an email like the one below:

Dear [Mr. or Mrs. Teacher],

Hi! I hope you are doing well! I just wanted to take a minute to reach out and say thank you so much for all you do for our students; [childโ€™s name] really enjoys your class and is learning so much.

I unexpectedly have 2-3 extra hours this month that I would love to โ€˜donateโ€™ to the class. If you have any copying, sorting, organizing, or cleaning you need done in the classroom, Iโ€™d be more than happy to help.

Though I will do my best to come in at a time that works best for you, right now it looks like [insert date and time] will work best for me.

Please let me know if you could use my help!

Many thanks,

[your name]

All you can do is send it. If the teacher needs a hand, you better believe that he or she will be grateful for your offer!

*************************************

  1. Volunteering your time to support the students.

Do you feel like youโ€™re particularly good at working with students? Let the teacher know!

two kids prepping for a fall thankful bulletin board

Younger students and emerging readers can always use extra reading time or math-practice time. Most likely the teacher would really appreciate having an extra โ€˜earโ€™ in the classroom to listen to students as they read and work on fluency or a support for them as they work on math facts or sight words.

Want to see if itโ€™s an option? Use the same note as above but change the second paragraph to:

I unexpectedly have 2-3 extra hours this month that I would love to โ€˜donateโ€™ to the class. If you would like for me to listen to some of your struggling readers or pull small groups for sight word or math fact practice, Iโ€™d be more than happy to help.

The kids will love having an extra ‘teacher’ in the room!

*************************************

  1. Donate small prizes or goodies to the students. Teachers often could use small prizes or goodies for their students.

thanksgiving printable bookmarks

sparkly fall stickers

If you donโ€™t have a whole lot of timeโ€”or any!โ€”to donate but you have a few extra bucks in your pocket, consider purchasing some stickers for the classroom.

Seasonal stickers are always a hit on student work, and most likely if the teacher had them, he or she would use them! I love these sparkly fall leaves, and I donโ€™t even think itโ€™s too late for the pumpkins. Pumpkins are a fall fruit, right?

Thanks to my friends at Staples, I had a few of these cute fall bookmarks and pumpkin notepads, so I put one pack each in a little plastic bag, along with the fall leaf stickers and pumpkin stickers.

thank you bags full of paper, stickers for teachers

pumpkin thank you note with stickers in plastic bag

With a short note saying โ€˜thank youโ€™ to Maddy, Owen, and Coraโ€™s teachers, I think this little bag of โ€˜goodiesโ€™ will be truly appreciated.

When I was teaching, I kept jars of โ€˜crazy pensโ€™ on my desk so that my students would be more likely to want to write. It worked! Kids came charging to the desk each day to write with the monkey pen, the crazy bubble pen, or the Disney pen.

And often parents sent in cool pens to add to our collection. It was always a fun and appreciated surprise when they did! The students loved it as much as I did.

*************************************

  1. Decorating a classroom board or area of the classroom.

Are you a crafty crafter with an eye for decorating? Give the teacher the gift of your mad artistic skills by offering to handle a classroom bulletin board or reading corner.

moose bulletin board with fall flaire

Ask how the teacher wants to use the area or boardโ€”to display work, to celebrate holidays, to promote a project, etcโ€”and then offer to help.

November is such a busy month.

Taking this big element off of the teacherโ€™s plate will be hugely helpful.

owls with pilgrim . hats on fall themed bulletin board

acorn and leaves on fall themed bulletin board

Offer to use a holiday-themed decoration like the Colorful Owlsย or Moose & Friends board set.

We love that each set comes with parts that can be changed according to the holiday or season.

*************************************

  1. Decorating a PTA or school-wide board.

Everything that the PTA does directly supports the school and teachers, so your helping hand will be appreciated no matter where you can lend it.

turkey and leaves and pilgrim cut-outs

kid punching out leaves for fall bulletin board

Often PTA boards are the first boards seen when people walk into a school. And often the PTA volunteers are stretched too thinly and are running a ton of different projects.

Offer to either help with one of the projects or take over the job of managing the PTA bulletin board.

Seasonal Classroom Decorationsย make decorating these boards super-easy.

little girl punching out leaf for fall bulletin board

child punching out pumpkins for fall border

Maddy, Owen, Cora, and I used a Fall Holiday Decoration pack to do a hallway board in my husbandโ€™s school.

It turned out awesome.

We used the Thanksgiving Bulletin Board set and the Pumpkinsย borders and kept the background the same as last timeโ€”simple black. A few pieces of orange and brown construction paper added some pizazz.

girl putting pumpkin border on bulletin board

girl puts native american girl on bulletin board

Our goal with this board was to create something fun and festive but that would also encourage viewers to give thanks, and we love how it turned out.

First, we put up the pieces that came with the set: the turkey, the pilgrims, and the Native Americans.

Then we added the โ€˜We Are Thankfulโ€™ sign above them and the ‘I am thankful’ cut-out leaves and acorns that came with the Thanksgiving set.

turkey on orange paper on bulletin board

thankful bulletin board with pilgrim and turkeys

Next, I printed out two copies of our simple Give Thanks Instructions.

5 ways parents can show thanks for teachers | teachmama.com

And then I printed out about 20 copies of our little Give Thanks notes (see below) which we cut into quarters.

5 ways parents can show thanks for teachers | teachmama.com

If you’d like to download and print the Give Thanks Instructions, sign up here:

Then we stapled some of the turkey cut-outs to the board. We didnโ€™t staple them flush to the board; rather, we made them like little pockets.

Finally we placed our little Thank You notes into the turkey pockets, and we were finished!

Bam.

boy putting thankful note on fall bulletin board

An interactive thank-you board for the whole school.

And hopefullyโ€”hopefully!โ€”one of the students will look at it while theyโ€™re walking to class and will take a minute to pull out a slip of paper, write down a quick note to a teacher or administrator, and deliver that person a little bit of thanks.

final 'we are thankful' bulletin board in classroom

Or maybe a teacher will take the time to write a quick thank you note to a student. Or maybe an administrator will take time to say โ€˜thanksโ€™ to a staff member.

Who doesnโ€™t appreciate a little โ€˜thank youโ€™ note now and again?

*************************************

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”-

Want a few more givingย ideas or activities? Check out:ย 

  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2014
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2013
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2012
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2011
  • Holiday Fun Fact and JOKES Lunchbox Notes (with Hannukah!)
  • Holiday Time Fun Fact Lunchbox Notes
  • Little Holiday Notes and Jokes
  • Holiday Notes for Families
  • The Polar Express tradition
  • Scratch-off Cards
  • K-Cup Advent Tree
  • New Year’s Family Interview
  • Happy Holidays Backyard Birdsย 

fyi: Some of the links in the post above are โ€œaffiliate links.โ€ This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. This small percentage of money helps offset the costs of hosting this blog, which helps me keep this content free for you. Forever and always I recommend only products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissionโ€™s 16 CFR, Part 255: โ€œGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.โ€ ย For more information, please see teachmama media, llc. disclosure policy.ย 

Follow amy mascott @teachmama’s board christmas ideas for kids and family on Pinterest.

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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