Teacher appreciation week, what are you doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

$150 per parent? is this private school?

NP but I doubt it. At our MCPS, they ask for $150/child. When we were in DCPS it was a lot higher (because PTAs there can pay for aides).

Which MCPS school was this? Was this Bethesda or Potomac? $150 per child? That is just ridiculous.

Ours collected $20 per child for school parties and teachers appreciation. Even if $5 each went to the 2 school parties, there was $10 per child left over for a gift card, assuming all parents gave the money. Which would be atleast $200 in giftcards, so $100 for Christmas and $100 for Teacher's appreciation. My kids also gave their own gifts for Christmas and will be doing another gift for Teacher's appreciation.

Not going to name it, but it is not in Bethesda or Potomac. It has a very diverse student body, and I’m sure many of the parents disregard the suggestion. But others with higher income give that amount or more.

$150?!

Not sure why you don’t want to name it. It’s an anonymous forum. I did not think MCPS ptas ever requested set dollar amounts.

As you can see from others, there are schools across he county that so for this much (and I suspect more in the Bethesda area). And it is nothing compared with what our DCPS asked for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the OP,

The first year of preschool (my child went for half day - 3 hours), we followed whatever the school said - flowers one day, spa items one day, cards one day etc. We did not do gift cards for the movie day as well as the card day. We did just one gift card of $20 for the whole week for all 3 teachers in class, but did the other little things. My kids enjoyed giving the flower, candy, lip balm.

The gift card amount could be whatever you can afford. My cousin works at a preschool (a pretty expensive one at that - $25K a year for whole day) and she said that 2 parents out of 8 gave her something. Which is sad considering their children spend the whole day with these teachers. She was very appreciative of the 2 lotion sets and the one gift card 3 parents gave her. So anything you give would be appreciated since most parents do not even care.


We also did $10-$15 gift cards for every specials teacher for my preschooler, but it added up quickly, so we skipped the gift cards and gave some small gift to the specials teachers the following year.

Now that we are in public school, we will be giving small gifts to all the specials teachers and big gifts to the class teacher.

Can I ask what kind of small gift you are giving the specials teachers that is less than $10-$15? I get that it adds up for the specials teachers, especially when you have more than one kid, but I'm trying to figure out what you're giving someone that is like $5 and is actually something they'd want?

Target has a lot of stuff in the kitchen section and in the Opalhouse/decor section in the $5-$8 range - coasters, salt and pepper shakers, nicer kitchen towels. In their dollar spot you can find nice things for $5. I have no idea if they would want that though.

I also saw lots of ideas on pinterest and may implement some of those - a fancier candy bag (say godiva or lindt that is $4-$5) and print out 'You are sweet' and add teacher's name. Then there was one with a fancy keychain and 'You are the key to my success". Another one with starburst candy and 'You are a star Ms.(teachers name)".

I have read that the specials teachers and other school helpers feel left out since most parents buy for the class teachers. I am just trying to get my children to show their appreciation for everyone, but within our budget. In our school we have 10 specials teachers/other helpers, so that is $50 to $80 per child.

I will have my children write something nice for the teachers. I think that says more than any of the gifts.

[Anonymous]

My kid's school has a nice tradition of just doing a luncheon for the teachers. No individual gifts. A few parents sign up to organize the event, school is closed for the afternoon. The food and drink is all donated by parents, as well as flower arrangements for each teacher & staff member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My school just did "Room Service". They put a tag on all our doors and we checked off a drink and a snack we wanted for next week. The kids saw it first and were asking me what it was. I thought it was super cute, original, and it made me smile! Super simple but it was fun!

I love this idea!!

[Anonymous]

I don't do anything for teacher appreciation week. I give a gift at Christmas (usually pooled money with the class for a gift card) and another on the last day of school (individual, usually another restaurant or gift card) and I feel like that's enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't do anything for teacher appreciation week. I give a gift at Christmas (usually pooled money with the class for a gift card) and another on the last day of school (individual, usually another restaurant or gift card) and I feel like that's enough.

I'll be spending the week wondering why I need to give to a teacher that has had several full blown meltdowns during class and a teacher that doesn't follow through and just complains about every little thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't do anything for teacher appreciation week. I give a gift at Christmas (usually pooled money with the class for a gift card) and another on the last day of school (individual, usually another restaurant or gift card) and I feel like that's enough.

I'll be spending the week wondering why I need to give to a teacher that has had several full blown meltdowns during class and a teacher that doesn't follow through and just complains about every little thing.

You don't need to give anything. You can give nothing. There are people who make that choice. It is totally fine to make that choice.

[Anonymous]

We have EIGHT teachers (2 SN, 3 teachers at one school, three at the other school), so I’m doing a $20 bill in an envelope with a SHORT note. Last year we just had tree teachers, so I gave more, and I typed out long notes and put them in nice cards. This year and next year, $20-$40 plus a short note will be my formula for TAW, Xmas, and end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't do anything for teacher appreciation week. I give a gift at Christmas (usually pooled money with the class for a gift card) and another on the last day of school (individual, usually another restaurant or gift card) and I feel like that's enough.

I'll be spending the week wondering why I need to give to a teacher that has had several full blown meltdowns during class and a teacher that doesn't follow through and just complains about every little thing.

You don't need to give anything. You can give nothing. There are people who make that choice. It is totally fine to make that choice.

NP here. I was seriously debating not giving anything to ds' two homeroom teachers who I've had major communication issues with in regards to him being bullied this year and other issues. He's in third grade and this is the first year I've ever really disliked his teachers. Decided to just give them a generic thank you card and candy. Put gift cards in his other teachers' and nurse's cards. Don't even care anymore.

[Anonymous]

Our school asks for $40 per family. They do a lunch for every adult who works at school for Christmas and an end of year luncheon as well. My daughter writes individual thank you notes to each teacher at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

I gave $50 per teacher (2) and $20 for all afterschool teachers (5). I also gave a bouquet of flowers (small from Trader joe's) for every teacher and I brought food for the breakfast.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

TAW is in the Spring. Why was this bumped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again - OP, since you mention that you just came to the country - the next time you go back home, buy small trinkets from whichever country you are from. Teachers love the exotic gifts from other countries. You could buy small things for the special teachers and something more expensive for the class teachers. My friend used to do this all the time.

No, they actually don’t. Teachers don’t want useless trinkets. They want gift cards or cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't do anything for teacher appreciation week. I give a gift at Christmas (usually pooled money with the class for a gift card) and another on the last day of school (individual, usually another restaurant or gift card) and I feel like that's enough.

I'll be spending the week wondering why I need to give to a teacher that has had several full blown meltdowns during class and a teacher that doesn't follow through and just complains about every little thing.

You don't need to give anything. You can give nothing. There are people who make that choice. It is totally fine to make that choice.

NP here. I was seriously debating not giving anything to ds' two homeroom teachers who I've had major communication issues with in regards to him being bullied this year and other issues. He's in third grade and this is the first year I've ever really disliked his teachers. Decided to just give them a generic thank you card and candy. Put gift cards in his other teachers' and nurse's cards. Don't even care anymore.

They don’t really care either. They don’t know who does or does not contribute to the class gift.