Teacher Appreciation Week 2011

Teacher appreciation can be tricky. But only because this event takes place at the end of year when there are already so many other activities going on. It's so worth putting the time in though when you want to thank those very special teachers that deserve so much more than what we can even give them. And my son's first grade teacher this year was one in a million.

This year I decided to go all out and have fun with a Vintage Schoolhouse Theme. Personally, I feel that a theme helps give teacher appreciation week a bit of dimension and some fun, involved ideas that "mix and mingle" easily. I've been a room mom for many years, and when it comes to this week in particular, I have found that parents love the whole theme idea as a great guideline for gift-shopping (Just be sure to give at least a week's notice). I always try to make it simple enough that everyone can participate effort-wise and budget-wise. This includes not only the children but the parents as well.

And this was the "Door Poster" I made! I did get all of the clip art off of the internet and thought that the block vintage letters for a border really added a lot to give a feel for the theme.

And the teeter-totter actually moves!! Those two little kids are having time of their lives.

 I've heard mixed opinions from parents and even teachers on what they really enjoy receiving. Just make sure that whatever you plan on giving your child's teacher, caters to their own needs and wants, as well as yours.

For one of the days in that week, I requested that all of the kids and parents send a note or a card to school with their child for the teacher with some kind of schoolhouse theme. This is a card I printed out from familyfun.com for my son to take.

 Flower Day! We asked that each child bring one long stemmed flower to put into a vase that I would supply. It all ended up making a really cute bouquet.

This was an all candy "school lunch" as an end of the year treat that I made for her.

This was a more involved project, but it really did pay off.  We had all the kids arrange themselves into different letter shapes and then photoshopped them into a background. There was one problem though- we couldn't choose which color poster we should give the teacher...so after some debating we printed both.