Moving Mementos

Begin early to create touching keepsakes for your teachers. Write a list of questions to ask students about their teachers. For example: What does Mrs. Smith do when she’s not at school? How many years has Mrs. Smith been teaching? What was the best thing you learned from Mrs. Smith this year? Encourage students to guess when they don’t know, which will cause some humorous answers. Compile the answers into booklets, one for each teacher. Come up with a title, such as “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Mrs. Smith.” Distribute the booklets along with “One Person Can Make A Difference” Sticky Notecube & Pen Sets or “One Person Can Make A Difference” Deluxe Die-Cut Bookmark & Pen Sets.

Big Hair Rules

Let your school know that the 80’s rock, and so do your teachers and staff! Use an 80’s theme for your appreciation week. Display posters, buttons and albums from that decade. Play part of an 80’s rock song on your morning announcements daily. Ask your employees to submit photos of themselves taken in the ­­80’s; put them together into a slideshow. Then thank photo contributors with “Our Teachers & Staff Rock” Lapel Pins. Also pick a day to encourage everyone to come dressed in 80’s outfits and hairstyles. Type up an 80’s trivia question sheet to hand out; give an “Our Teachers & Staff Rock” Paperweight to everyone who turns this quiz back in.

Something Sweet

Currently, cupcakes are hot, hot, hot! Cupcake specialty shops are popping up everywhere and television features cupcake competition shows. For Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week, print out images of cupcakes. Attach a teacher’s name and photo to each one, then hang them on a bulletin board with the words “We Have The Sweetest Teachers.” Ask your parent volunteers to submit ideas for new cupcake flavors. Let your teachers vote on them and give your cafeteria staff the challenge of actually baking the three top flavors. Invite the teachers and cafeteria staff to a cupcake feast, at which they each get an “Exceptional Staff, Extraordinary School” Deluxe Lunch Bag and a pen from the Dapper Pen Assortment Pack.

Spirit Filled

This year, hold a high-energy appreciation event. Start with the Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week Celebration Pack (see page 8). Decorate your school’s gymnasium with our celebration pack, which includes balloons, banner and pennants. Give students the ­stickers to wear. Choose some of the students to line up in the gym with pompoms. Seat the rest of the youngsters in the stands. Then help them all learn a cheer, such as “Who’s got the best staff in the West? KHS, KHS!” Lead your honored guests into the gym, past the pompom-waving students. After everyone performs the cheer a few times, give a rousing speech. Like at a pep rally, toss out gifts, such as “Working Together To Make A Difference” Hershey’s Kisses Mini Gift Totes, to your “crowd” of teachers and staff.

Policies & Procedures For $500

Quiz your staff with a Jeopardy-style game. Write down questions with answers about your school, school district, and school board. Arrange the answers into categories and give each one a dollar value. Have the employees compete three at a time. Remind them that on Jeopardy the players respond in the form of questions. For example, “School Milestones” could be the category, “1977” would be the answer and “What year was our school built?” would be the correct response. Reward the highest scorer of each round with an “Our Staff Goes Above, Our Students Go Beyond” Deluxe Sticky Pad Portfolio With Highlighters & Pen. Show appreciation to all contestants by giving each of them a “Behind Every Great School Is A Great Staff” 3-Piece Stationery Set.

Going Green

Remember the Earth when you plan a Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week banquet. Save paper by sending emailed invitations instead of printed ones and in them tell your guests, “You Have Made A World Of Difference.” For tablecloths, use brown paper that is recyclable. Feature as centerpieces trees, shrubs and other greenery still in pots that eventually can be planted in the ground. Further carry out your theme by putting a “Thanks For Making A World Of Difference” Recycled Metal Globe Key Tag at each place setting. Send everyone home with Non-Woven Shopper Totes.

Wall Of Thanks

Think “big” this Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week. Obtain a giant roll of butcher paper and place it in your library. When classes come in for library time, have students write phrases of praise for their teachers graffiti-style on the paper. After the whole school has had a chance to contribute, find a wall (inside or outside) that’s large enough to display this project in its entirety. After you unveil the creation to your teachers, present them with “You’re Appreciated” Frames and “100 Years From Now" Full-Color Clipboards.

Trading Presents

Add some good-natured fun to gift giving. First, place an “Exceptional Staff, Extraordinary School” Manicure Kit, an “Exceptional Staff, Extraordinary School” Mini Carryall and other items in boxes of various sizes. Wrap the boxes. Have your teachers and staff draw numbers. Let Number 1 select and unwrap a gift first. Give Number 2 the option of taking that gift or selecting a new one. (Anyone whose gift is taken gets to choose another box to open.) Number 3 can take a gift from 1 or 2 or pick a wrapped one, and so forth.

Appreciation Tools

Build a unique display that expresses what your school feels. Attach images of tools (found with a Google image search) to a sheet of paper. Make photocopies. Send a copy home with each child. Include a note asking parents to write thank-you messages to their children’s teachers on the tool-adorned paper and return the sheets to the school. In a glass case, feature the handwritten messages and real tools. Use “Teachers Build A Brighter Future” as the headline. Further show gratitude to your teachers by presenting them with “Education Is A Tool For Life” 6-In-1 Multi Tools or “It Takes A Team To Educate A Child” 4-In-1 Multi-Function Tools.

All Lit Up

Shine a spotlight on your teachers and staff with a “You Light Up Our School” luncheon. Print the slogan on the event programs. Create spotlight beams out of yellow paper to hang on the walls. During the meal, play the song “You Light Up My Life.” Pass out “Exceptional Staff, Extraordinary School” Metal Flashlights to all your lunch guests. As everyone eats, hold drawings for “Our Teachers & Staff Are Beyond Measure” Key Ring, Tape Measure & Lights.

“Acting Out” At School

Challenge your staff members to create and act out skits. Each skit should relate to life in your school. Have employees form teams for this activity. Provide everyone with “Great Job, You’re On A Roll” Tootsie® Roll Packs as motivation. Allow the audience and the performers to cast votes for the best skit. Award an “Exceptional Staff, Extraordinary School” Mini Organizer With Pen to each member of the winning team.