PTA & Teacher Appreciation

For the past two years, I have had the opportunity to serve on not only the PTA Board but also the committee at Midas Creek Elementary. Last year, I was asked by a gal in my ward (Ardis Bird) if I would be her Secretary (she was the President). Then this year, another gal in my ward (Becca Hyer) took over as President and asked if I would help out with Teacher Appreciation and the Teacher Appreciation Weeks for the Teachers at the school. We have two weeks of Teacher Appreciation because we are on the track system and there is always one track that isn't on during the two weeks.

I have had fun this year being involved at the school and helping out with Teacher Appreciation. I was also glad to be able to have my friend and neighbor, Nicole Rowe, help me execute everything. It's always fun when you have a friend to work with.

For the Teacher's gifts this year we have done a few nice things. As Nicole and I talked about what we wanted to do for the year, we decided that we wanted to give the teachers nicer gifts but just less often. In years past, the teachers have been given small things, like a fun-size candy bar, smarties, etc. Something little each month to let them know that they were being thought of and appreciated. This year, I feel like Nicole and I went above and beyond and did some really nice gifts for the teachers.

In September 2012, (at the beginning of the school year) we worked with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got each teacher and staff members their own Chocolate covered apples. We also were able to have Chick-Fil-A come and cater lunch for the teachers and staff for FREE!! The staff was so grateful and it was so nice for Nicole and I because they Chick-fil-a came and set everything up and also brought their own table decor. We just showed up and helped with anything they needed from us. We also got a FREE lunch out of it which was nice!

In December 2012, we got each of the teachers and the rest of the staff soaps from Bath & Body Works. We paired the soaps up with a free Book from our book fair. (I wish I took a picture of this). We made cute tags that said, "We hope you have a Scent-Sational Holiday Season." We tied the soaps and the books together with holiday ribbon.

My Gallbladder surgery at the first of the year kind of through things for a loop after the first of the year, so we ended up not doing anything for the teachers until May. Its was a struggle for me to feel well enough to do much of anything let alone think about teacher appreciation. This ended working out, because our budget was limited and we wanted to save the majority of our budget for the actual week of Teacher Appreciation Week for all the tracks.

Here is what we ended up doing for Teacher Appreciation Week for the tracks:

Monday: Doors Decorated and Notes from the Students to the teachers (I ended up doing a couple decorating a couple of doors myself.)

Tuesday: Large Candy Bars

Wednesday: We gave each Teacher and staff a Book from our schools book fair. Each Teacher and staff member got to pick their own book.

Thursday: Each Teacher got a gift certificate for a free salad at McDonalds. (The PTA President arranged this for us!)

Friday: For C track teacher appreciation week it was a little tricky because we only had 9 teachers to get lunch for. It is hard finding businesses who will cater to just 9 people so we opted for having Kneaders cater. They put together the cutest brown boxed lunches for us. Each lunch included: a sandwich, potato salad, chips, drink and a cookie/brownie. I came up with the table decor and made the cute clip boards to display on the tables. I think it turned out nice. We used the same table decor for the following week for the second teachers lunch.

For the rest of the teachers the following week we had over 85+ faculty and staff and we had Costa Vida cater the lunch. The teachers got to make their own salad. We had several options for them. They got to choose what type of meat (chicken or pork) and what type of beans(black or pinto). We also had drinks and chips and salsa for the teachers as well.

For our last gift for the year for the teachers, I found some cute Fluorescent water bottles at the dollar store. My friend Nicole and I worked on the tags together and came up with the cute saying, "Thanks for helping "Quench" your students thirst for Knowledge this year!" Have a Cool Summer.

I am so glad to have Teacher Appreciation over with. It was a lot of work and a good Learning experience. I have enjoyed serving on the PTA for the past two years. It has been a wonderful way to serve others, get to know new people and be involved in the community. However, I have decided to take a break from it this next year. It was to hard to do both Teacher Appreciation and volunteer every other week in Kaleb and Karmindy's classes. This next year, I am really looking forward to helping in Kaleb and Karmindy's class each week and being a Room Mother for Karmindy's class.