May 4-8 is Teacher Appreciation Week, and if there ever was a time to shower our teachers with love and appreciation for all that they do, it would be this school year.
Due to the pandemic and the closure of schools for the rest of the school year, teachers have been forced to switch gears on the fly, come up with e-learning lesson plans, learn new online programs, manage their classes from afar, and do all kinds of behind-the-scenes work just to stay connected to their students. We’ve always known that teachers did a lot, but whew! If there is anything that this pandemic might teach us, it’s that our teachers are invaluable and deserve all the praise.
Although we can’t be with our teachers in person this year to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, here are some social-distance-friendly ideas that you can do from home to show the teachers in your life that you appreciate them!
- Make a donation to a teacher who might need distance learning supplies, or supplies for a project when in-person classes resume, by visiting AdoptAClassroom.org. You can search by teacher, location or school to find a project or educator to support.
- Make a class video by creating artwork and signs for your teacher, taking a picture, and putting the pictures together in a video. Adobe Spark is an easy way to make quick videos with little experience required.
- Write a letter to your teacher and mail it. Teachers love getting mail from students!
- Send your teacher a message via video, voice or text in an email.
- Give a shout-out to your teacher on your school’s social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) to let everyone know you appreciate how hard they work.
- Make a list of qualities that you love about your teacher. Collect these lists from other students in your class. Then, visit abcya.com to create a word cloud. Send it to your teacher.
- Create a model of your teacher using materials you have at home (such as clay, LEGO, play dough, chalk, paint, etc.). Take a picture and send it to your teacher.
- Send your teacher a digital gift card. Some ideas include e-cards to local restaurants; food delivery services like Doordash, Grub Hub or Uber Eats; streaming cards for Netflix, Redbox or Hulu; or iTunes or Amazon gift cards.
- Pick a word that describes your teacher. Use that word to make an acrostic poem and send it to your teacher.
- Create a special dance for your teacher to your favorite song. Share the video with your teacher via email.
These are just some of the ideas that you can use to show your teacher how much you care, while also keeping safe at home. Come up with your own way to shower your favorite teachers with love from a distance!
