Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up around the corner (usually the first week of May) and after having worked as a student teacher, I came up with a list of items that might not immediately come to mind to help a teacher.  Here is what I would put in a care package for teachers:

• Extra ream of paper – It might be hard to believe, but sometimes a school’s copy room will run out of paper!  It’s hard enough when a copy machine goes down, but when paper started to run out one morning minutes before the bell rang, I searched all the cabinets in the teacher’s workroom and finally found some blue colored copy paper.  In my writing lesson later that day, I had writing templates printed out on both white and blue paper, but at least every student had a template.  As a substitute teacher, some blank copy paper in the classroom is always a good thing to have on hand because there are a number of time-filler activities in case students are done with the activities the teacher has written down in the substitute lesson plans.  When a teacher isn’t feeling well and has to call in a substitute at the last minute, I’ve asked students to make Get Well Soon cards for the teacher on blank paper.
• Lice kit – When working in an environment with a lot of children, it is good to have a lice kit on hand because getting one at the drugstore when you need it immediately will cost a lot more.  I learned this first hand when a student was sent home when the school nurse found lice.  At the drugstore, lice kits currently sell for $30-$40, but the same kit can be found online for about half the price.  These kits could be quite pricey for the family, so it’s possible that the school nurse might have vouchers to make these kits more affordable.
• Baby wipes – I thought as a parent that I was done with baby wipes, but these wet wipes are so useful in the classroom for students to clean frosting off their fingers when someone brings in birthday cupcakes or wipe down their desks at the end of the week.  With small children, it’s not recommended to have them use Clorox wipes due to the chemicals.  School janitors will take care of emptying trash and vacuuming the floors, but I’m not sure they clean desk tops.  So, I’ve learned from my mentor teacher that you can ask your students on a Friday afternoon to have a weekly cleaning up ritual right before dismissal, so the classroom is ready for Monday morning!
• Zip lock bags or Small Tupperware – Zip lock bags of all sizes, like snack, sandwich and gallon bags, are so useful to organize materials in the classroom!  I’ve been teaching a 1st grade math unit about measurement and the lessons call for all sorts of objects around the classroom to use as problem solving manipulatives.  In our measurement baggies, we’ve placed paper clips, unsharpened pencils and connecting cubes as objects students can use to measure, so organizing that beforehand and handing out a baggie to each student group has worked out really well!  Teachers will also sometimes have different types of instructional cards for sorting games, and organizing those in baggies, or plastic sandwich tupperware boxes makes them easy to find.
• Nut-free snacks – You might be thinking that I’m recommending nut-free snacks for teachers, but I’m actually recommending them for students!  Sometimes, I will hear students complain that they are hungry.  Although our school provides free lunch and snacks, hunger is a distraction and most times, I will encourage a student to wait until the recess break or lunch break.  Otherwise, a case of student hunger could be solved with a little snack, but some teachers are reluctant to provide them because they might not have enough on hand for the entire class.  In another instance, my class went on a field trip where the students were still hungry even after eating the school-provided lunches of sunbutter and jelly sandwiches.  Thankfully, my mentor teacher had a package of Oreo cookies back in the classroom, so she was able to provide a snack for the students when we got back to school.
• Toiletries Emergency Kit – When I was working in an office, if I started to feel unwell, I would go home for the day.  As a teacher, if this same situation happened, I would feel very reluctant to leave school early because I don’t want to leave my students stranded.  Plus, doing so would leave other school staff to scramble to cover the class.  Now, in my teacher’s bag, I keep a few drugstore medicines to help me get through any headaches, allergies or other discomforts that might come up, so I can continue to be present for my students. Also, during the winter days, my hands would get really cracked, so keeping some hand lotion in my bag kept me comfortable.

Other ways that parents can show their appreciation to teachers through a gift of service is to do the following:

• Volunteering at school – When a parent helps out at school, it could take a variety of forms, including helping teachers make copies or helping to organize a classroom.  The school where I currently work used to have a single copy machine, which meant that often times, there would be a queue to use the machine, especially during recess and lunch breaks for any last-minute handouts needed for class.  It would be immensely helpful to get copies done by a volunteer while teachers are in class and the machine is sitting idle.
• Storytime in the classroom – As a parent, I participated in a program sponsored by the YMCA called Project Cornerstone where I got to read books in my son’s class about socio-emotional topics like how to invite friends to play and how to read body language.  I also led students through art projects connected to the story I read, sang songs about friendship and gave students the opportunity to try their acting skills through some role-playing games.
• Helping out with field trips – Students love to take field trips, but teachers have a lot of added responsibility to make sure they come back to school with the same number of students they left with, so having some extra parent volunteers is very helpful!  Field trips are often planned far in advance so parents who are able to can plan to take a PTO day.

Of all of the teacher appreciation gifts, the ones that make the most impact are the heart-felt written notes or student-created art.  They bring a smile to teacher’s faces and serve as a nice reminder even on the toughest days.  While this is not unconventional, it does make a huge impact for very minimal cost.