Calling All Elementary&High School Teachers..need Opinion

Best and most appreciated PTA events (from an educator's perspective)
- Brought in a massage person who did 15 minute massages in the teacher's lounge (you had to sign up ahead of time)
- Brought in a manicurist to do the same as above
- Holiday gift wrap volunteers... teachers could drop off their gifts to be wrapped. At the end of the day, picked them up wrapped and tagged! The moms put a post-it on each one so you knew what was inside.

I love your ideas to provide snacks for meetings before and after school. They would also be appreciated on parent-teacher conference days. And money for supplies and field trips is the best. Our parents always hosted one luncheon a year, for which I was very grateful, but felt uncomfortable with all the work it took. I would not have minded that effort being put into something else. Similarly, I can think of some colleagues who would like to keep their birthday private. But a useful token gift on teachers' day for all teachers and assistants would be great. Oh, and did I mention coffee and water at meetings? Thanks for asking!

As much as I appreciated parent-initiated or school sponsored treats, what I REALLY loved (and miss the most now that I am not teaching) was when the students, themselves, expressed their gratitude.

One of my classes made a giant collage of pictures that we had taken over the course of the semester. Another class the kids each wrote me a letter about how I had impacted them and well-wishes for the future. If you can get the KIDS to express their thanks, that is really the most powerful and touching gesture (and usually doesn't require much of a budget.)

During Teacher Appreciation Week, our PTA provides lunch for the staff. They coordinate a system where the parents bring in the dishes (and wonderful desserts!) It is really a treat and something we look forward too every year. I was on maternity leave last year, and was so bummed to miss it!

Also, every now and then, they will have "the coffee cart guy" come. I believe the name of his business is Java 2 You (not sure if it's just a local thing in our area, but I imagine there are other similar traveling coffee businesses.) He parks his van on campus and we get a coupon for a free drink--any sort of coffee drink or fruit smoothie. That's always a nice treat.

Wow, Krista P. the holiday gift wrap idea is fantastic! My school has had all of the other suggestions done before, but not that one. This year we teach right up until Dec 23rd, and it is so hard to do holiday stuff for my own family on the years when we teach right up until Christmas like this. It is so nice that the parents at your school understood how much time you are spending on their children during the holiday season rather than your own!

I loved it when lunch was ready for us in a room right by/in the cafeteria. Drop off the kids, grab a free lunch. Chili and/or salad bar with all the fixings was great.

In one school I worked at, we were required to watch our children in the cafeteria while we ate in there at the 'teacher's table.' Getting parents to volunteer to watch the kids so that teachers can have a duty-free lunch is SUCH a gift!

Free snacks at those boring/annoying after-school meetings (drinks and sweets and a salty snack) make the meetings less boring. Don't forget that root-beer or coke floats are a fun treat too! Chex mix can have sweet and salty (m&ms, raisins in there). I taught at two differnt schools in my 5 years of teaching. One school did treats every meeting and one school did absolutely nothing. I really felt appreciated when given a snack. Noone wants to attend those meetings. I felt valued and felt heard when given a snack. ie: like the principal was saying "I know you don't want to be here. I know you have tons to do. Please accept this snack as a token of my appreciation of you being here." Oh and I just remembered that she'd hold a raffle at the beginning of the meeting. If you were there, you could win a prize. If you weren't there on time and your name/number was called, then you don't get the prize. It gave us incentive to be on time. Prizes were anything from soaps, to lotions to candy to a teacher-type gift, to extra paper, to a gift card for $5 to a local food joint. I think you could get local places to donate stuff.

Birthdays were never a big deal for me. Of course, my bday was right at the end of the school year. Maybe a free pizza/take-out would be nice. Teachers don't get to go for lunch specials. So we have to bring our lunch or order from the cafeteria. A burger and fries would even be a treat, if it's hot and if it arrives on time. 10 minutes late and that's 1/3 of her lunch break taken away, and ends up being a pain rather than a gift. (that's why I said that chili or something that stays hot/cold is a great idea).

(btw - I taught elementary - 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grades)

ADDED: For Xmas one year, the principal bought us coffee service. We had one year of free coffee in the break room, plus they also had hot chocolate and tea bags for us too, sugar and cream were replenished daily. It was nice, although the coffee was far from my classroom!

I liked when the PTA puts a lunch or dinner in the lounge for teacher appreciation week or evening conferences. My favorites were lasangna and salad, soup and salad, make your own taco, bagels and fruit for breakfast... I'm sure there were many more great ones.

I liked when the PTA kept a ceramic school bus in the lounge full of individually wrapped chocolate candies. It was nice to walk in there and get a little piece of relaxation and energy after a tough day.

Snacks at teacher's meetings, even pretzels and m and m's or licorice or nuts made them SO much more tolerable!

For birthdays and Christmas, I don't really know that anything big is needed. Maybe a card? If there are funds or donations, small giftcard for a coffeeshop or local lunch place?