No matter, if you are an educator, parent group leader, or community volunteer, school appreciation days offer an excellent way to show your support.
This year, Teacher Appreciation activities will take place during the first whole week in May. Read on to gain more insight into these national recognition days and how you can commemorate them.
Teacher Appreciation Week
Teacher Appreciation Week, observed every May, is an ideal opportunity to show our teachers the appreciation they so richly deserve. Teachers play a critical role in shaping young minds while often going unappreciated for all they do – without them, society would not exist today! Teachers teach children reading skills, conflict resolution strategies, critical thinking techniques, and much more while often working alone for long periods. Teacher appreciation deserves celebration and rewards galore!
Plan a fun week of celebrations for your school staff and teachers by sending out an email or flyer with event dates and descriptions. Posters could also be put up around the hallways or cafeteria, as well as digital versions that parents could print off if desired.
Consider including a small token of appreciation for each teacher or staff member in your program. A survey by Leap of Faith Crafting showed that many educators prefer gifts like handmade or handwritten presents, tote bags, Crayola items or flash drives as items of appreciation.
Make an effort to show your teachers just how much you appreciate their efforts by recruiting volunteers to assist with various tasks they usually have to manage on their own, like sending out flyers for activities and grading papers, copying documents, making copies, or decorating the classroom. Volunteers are an ideal way of showing them your appreciation.
Teachers value feeling appreciated and valued, and receiving a personal note or message from students or parents is one way to show it. Signs with simple phrases like, “Thank you for teaching my child” can also do just as much to show teachers they matter!
So why not surprise them with a delicious lunch during Teacher Appreciation Week? Create an exciting theme around their lunch, such as serving taco, burrito, or nacho bars, or offer dessert carts featuring flavors from around the world (for instance, Venezuela’s dulce de leche churros, Russia’s blini, and churros); the possibilities are endless!
Employee Appreciation Day
Employee Appreciation Day, celebrated annually on March 1st, is an essential event to foster a healthy workplace culture. When employees feel valued by their managers and company leaders, engagement increases, leading to greater productivity and improved morale in the workplace.
Recognizing employees is easy! There are various activities you can do to show how much you appreciate their hard work, such as organizing a special lunch for them. This provides an ideal opportunity to bond more closely and get to know one another better or host a trivia night to challenge their knowledge and create an entertaining atmosphere.
One way of showing your team that you value them is with a gift. A personalized coffee mug or swag box with a long-sleeved tee and earbuds could serve as a reminder of just how valuable they are to the company, or you could offer discounts on future events, like webinars or training sessions.
Show your team you appreciate them by giving someone on your team the “boss for a day” experience. This can help build team morale while simultaneously developing leadership abilities. Additionally, this provides a chance for someone else to step back from everyday duties and focus on more pressing projects.
If you want a more formal way of showing appreciation to your team, why not bring in speakers or consultants for a professional development workshop? Not only will this teach them new skills that will benefit their career and personal lives, but it can be a fun and educational way for the whole office!
Your leadership team should recognize the contributions of team members at company-wide meetings or by sending each of them an acknowledgment letter acknowledging their hard work and positive outlook on work life. This gesture can have a tremendous impact on an individual’s perception of their employer while creating robust and long-lasting working relationships between teammates.
National School Counseling Week
National School Counseling Week is an opportunity to recognize school counselors nationwide. Held during the first whole week in February each year and initiated by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), this celebration honors their essential work while simultaneously raising awareness about their role and impact on student success, college planning, and career guidance.
As a school counselor, you may be expecting National School Counseling Week to bring parades of Starbucks gift cards, catered lunches, and lots of candy with you! Unfortunately, that isn’t how National School Counseling Week works – however, the ASCA provides fantastic ideas and resources that help celebrate and advocate for school counseling positions, such as certificates students can give their school counselors, sample morning announcements for use during this week, posters to display in classrooms as well as certificates that students can give back as rewards!
Please take this opportunity to showcase data with administrators and teachers about your programs’ impact, showing them that their funding and support of students has made a difference in their education. If there’s attendance or other student data that demonstrates your programs’ successes, now’s the time to share it!
On social media during the week, take advantage of using pictures and text about how important counselors’ work is; even post videos featuring students who have interacted with your counselor and what they have gained from it.
Parents, it would help if you encouraged their children to write letters or cards to their school counselors telling them what they appreciate about them and why. This can help your kids better appreciate school counselors and their work with students and families. Involve your kids by volunteering alongside your school counselor during Counselor Appreciation Week!
Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions made by women throughout history. Additionally, this celebration provides students with an understanding of the women’s rights movement and encourages them to fight for equal rights in our nation. There are various ways you can commemorate Women’s History Month; reading books or watching movies just aren’t enough!
An effective way to highlight the significance of women’s rights is through hosting a panel discussion. This event may take place either physically or virtually and should feature speakers from diverse backgrounds who can discuss their personal experiences related to women’s rights activism.
One way to honor the women’s rights movement is by giving something that will make a difference – such as offering women-owned business gift boxes to your employees as an expression of support and encouraging them to become advocates for this cause.
An additional way your school can celebrate the women’s rights movement is by organizing a suffragette march or hosting an in-person discussion with female leaders of local community organizations. Engage your students who are turning 18 this year by encouraging them to vote; it will carry on the legacy of Malala Yousafzai, Harriet Tubman, and Rosie the Riveter and help continue the fight for gender equality!
Women’s History Month provides an ideal opportunity for your team to educate itself about gender biases in the workplace. A gender bias is an unconscious prejudice that impacts both men and women equally; however, its effects may be more detrimental to female employees. Fostering an environment of inclusivity and equality within your company culture should be a top priority.
At work, an effective way of commemorating Women’s History Month is through engaging in themed team-building activities. These can range from in-person games to virtual ones, allowing all employees to play together, have fun, and feel included. You could also organize an event with women‘s rights organizations or find volunteering opportunities distributed teams can take advantage of to give back.