Virtual Teacher Appreciation Week 2021

We’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week this year – some will be virtual & some will be in person, but the main goal is to honor the educators who are working so hard to keep our kids learning while we try to figure it all out!

Even if your children are not physically in school, we’ve put together some ways that you can celebrate your favorite teachers and show your gratitude!

Welcome to Virtual Teacher Appreciation Week! 

What is Virtual Teacher Appreciation Week?

This year, Teacher Appreciation Week falls on May 3, 2021 – May 7th, 2021.

It is a week meant to honor teachers for their hard work, and how they truly love and care for all of our kids. In my opinion, pampering our teachers five days out of the year isn’t enough, but it’s a start.

Parents, children, and PTA generally work together to come up with a plan to celebrate over the course of the week by sharing teacher gift ideas, providing meals, and having themes each day to show school pride. 

What Gifts Do Teachers Really Want? 

When asked this question, my teacher friends usually say that they want their kids to be safe, healthy, happy, read to, and for mom and dad to support their learning at home. They also quickly follow those sentiments with “wine” as a favorite gift choice, haha! 

You can’t go wrong with digital gift cards for Teacher Appreciation Week (coffee, Netflix, Hulu, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Instacart, Kindle, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Target are great quarantine gifts that will be appreciated). Send teachers Tiff’s Treats or flowers. Have a yard card service set up a message in their yard, like “an awesome teacher lives here!”

Room parents and class volunteers can ask the teacher to set up an Amazon wish list of some of their favorite things or books they want to read and parents can purchase from there. Even some of the big name stores are getting in on the fun, like Target’s teacher discount! 

Thoughtful and Inexpensive Gifts for Teachers

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to give teachers something special. Kids crafts are a great place to start! Who doesn’t love a sweet memento like a video or slide show presentation?

Kids can write a nice thank you note and mail it to their teacher (if they are willing to give you their address), or you can scan and email it instead. Work together with other parents and arrange a car parade by the teacher’s house! You could even have your child record a video message for their teacher and email it to them. 

Virtual Teacher Appreciation Week Daily Schedule

We’ve put together a sample daily schedule for online Teacher Appreciation Week that includes five different prompts for students to share something special about their teacher. 

There are printable PDF versions that kids can fill out — take a picture of their creation, or scan it, and email it to your teacher, post on social media, or upload the picture to your child’s digital classroom in Google Classroom, SeeSaw, or whatever program your school uses. There are also links to each of these messages in Google Slides so you can edit them digitally to make them even easier to share!

Share your pictures and anything that you do for your teachers on social media, and make sure you tag us on Facebook or Instagram and include the hashtag #KABlovesteachers so we can check out all of the teacher love y’all are sharing! 

Online Teacher Appreciation Week Plan

Here is an example plan for the week:

Monday May 3rd:

• Share your favorite photos with Teachers and Staff on your school’s social media (and your own!).
• Today’s Special Message: Use this My Favorite Thing About My Teacher template to share what you love about your teacher. Click here for a digital version you can edit in Google Slides.

Tuesday May 4th, 2021:

• Record a video message or write a letter to your teacher! You can email it directly to them, upload to your digital classroom, or share a photo on your school’s social media. 

• Today’s Special Message: Use this You Taught Me template to share something special that you learned from your teacher. Click here for a digital version you can edit in Google Slides.

Wednesday May 5th, 2021:

• Dress up like your favorite teacher or staff member! Share a photo on your school’s social media.

• Today’s Special Message: Use this Making You Proud template to share a special moment when you knew you made your teacher proud. Click here for a digital version you can edit in Google Slides.

Thursday May 6th, 2021:

• Give your teacher something special! Students can draw a picture, write a poem, sing a song — the sky is the limit! Share a photo or video on your school’s social media.

• Today’s Special Message: Use this Favorite Memory template to share your favorite memory from your class this year. Click here for a digital version you can edit in Google Slides.

Friday May 7th, 2021:

• Decorate your neighborhood for the teachers and staff so they can feel the love as they visit the school. Use sidewalk chalk to leave messages on driveways and sidewalks, create fun signs and put them in your yard for when they drive by — anything is possible!  Share a photo or video on your school’s social media.
• Today’s Special Message: Use this What I’ll Miss template to share what you will miss most about your teacher. Click here for a digital version you can edit in Google Slides.

More Ways to Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week

• Printable teacher appreciation cards you can print and mail to your teacher. 
• Make a teacher appreciation gift they will use all the time!
• Some of our favorite DIY teacher appreciation gifts. 
• Teacher Appreciation Freebies and Deals 

Fun Things To Do While You’re Stuck at Home

• Check out these kids education websites offering free subscriptions.
• Help your kids learn how to make bubbles at home!
• My kids are obsessed with these active indoor games.
• These crafts for kids are so fun and easy!
• Learn how to make headbands with buttons.
• Make reading even more fun with this PB kids summer reading challenge. 
• You won’t believe why parents are gluing pennies on shoes.
• Rawr! Here are some of our favorite dinosaur crafts.
• Get kids off technology and back to basics with learning worksheets you can print at home.
• Make being stuck at home fun with our favorite indoor games for kids.
• Have fun coloring our awesome Fortnite coloring pages.
• Your will love these fun halloween games for kids! 

How are you celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week while social distancing?

Comment below, and make sure you tag us with #KABlovesteachers if you post any pictures or ideas on social media!