While National Teacher Appreciation Day is celebrated each May, showing teachers how thankful you are for everything they do to shape the future of tomorrow’s leaders can happen any day of the year! Here are three ways to show teachers how much you appreciate them.
1. Organize a Meal in the Teachers’ Lounge
Organizing a meal for teachers is one impactful way to show gratitude. Planning is key–start by coordinating with the school’s administration to select a date and secure a space. The teachers’ lounge is always a good choice.
Consider dietary restrictions and preferences by sending out a survey to teachers beforehand. Instead of catering, consider ordering a variety of sandwiches, salads, fruit trays and snacks. Walmart Business offers a wide selection to cater to different dietary needs and preferences.
Be sure to set a meal schedule to accommodate different lunch periods, ensuring every teacher can participate without disrupting their classroom schedule. To add a personal touch, include thank-you notes or small tokens of appreciation from students and parents at each table setting.
2. Give a Gift
Sending a gift to teachers is always a nice way to show how much you appreciate them and can help brighten their day. Think about what they might need. For example, if they don’t often have the luxury of refilling their coffee mugs or brewing a fresh cup of tea whenever they want to, an insulated mug or tumbler will keep their drinks hot or cold throughout their morning and afternoon schedules with back-to-back-to-back classes.
Here is a collection of gifts that parents and school PTAs can give to all teachers to support their need for both practicality and relaxation during their busy schedules.
You’ll find many other great gift ideas for all teachers in Expressing Gratitude: 7 Gifts for Teachers That Make a Lasting Impression.
Don’t forget that teachers hold a special place in their hearts for gifts that their students make themselves. They might cherish handmade cards decorated with drawings, stickers, poems or short notes. You can find thank-you card templates in National PTA’s Teacher Appreciation Toolkit. Students could also create personalized bookmarks with cardstock, paints, markers and ribbons, or use beads to craft bracelets, necklaces or keychains customized with the teacher’s initials. You can find all the arts and crafts supplies you need at Walmart Business.
3. Volunteer in the Classroom
Teachers can always use an extra set of hands! Show your appreciation for them by volunteering. Ask them what support they need. Spending time volunteering at the school is a great way to stay connected and engaged with your child’s education while helping the school community.
While you are there, you could also decorate the school with teacher appreciation banners if the administration allows it. Hanging signs at the entrance and throughout the hallways proclaiming, “Thank You, Teachers!” can help them feel appreciated for the work they do every day. Recruit students to help liven up their classrooms by making paper flowers, drawing portraits of their teachers or working together on large art pieces to hang on the walls.
If there are no opportunities to volunteer in the classroom – join the PTA and support their efforts!
Support from the Community
Since teachers do so much for our communities by inspiring and shaping tomorrow’s leaders, reach out to local businesses, alumni, families and community leaders to participate in any teacher appreciation activities and celebrations. Whether it’s through donating supplies, offering services or volunteering time to assist with event preparations, every contribution counts.
Walmart Business helps the school community organizations like PTA save time, money and hassle while buying supplies for the classroom and other school activities. They offer low prices on a wide selection of fundraiser essentials, STEAM products, art supplies, snacks and furniture for the classroom and teachers’ lounge.
Walmart Business makes it easy for PTA members to access the products they need online, via their app or in-store. With pickup or delivery from more than 4,000 stores nationwide, they can get the products they need as soon as today, sometimes within a few hours.
Other benefits of using Walmart Business include placing eligible items on automatic delivery and accessing manufacturer-offered rewards while shopping online. Setting up multiuser accounts lets PTAs add additional users to each account with individual login credentials, plus the ability to share a payment method without sharing the card’s sensitive information.
PTAs can also benefit from seamless tax-exempt shopping online and in-store when they enroll in the Walmart Tax-Exemption Program (WTEP) through Walmart Business and check out in-store with Walmart Pay in the Walmart Business app. Additionally, Walmart Pay helps with expense reconciliation by adding in-store purchases to the account purchase history. This provides one location to view all in-store and online purchases. Learn about all the ways Walmart Business supports PTA in showing appreciation for teachers and the school community.
Together, we can all demonstrate the profound impact of gratitude for our teachers and school administrators.
