I have a great deal of respect for the hard and important work that teachers do. I am still currently involved in working with students, and there are many days I wonder how the teachers cope with so many young people on a daily basis.

I also know that the hours between 8:00 and 3:00 are only a part of the day teachers put in. With staff meetings, extra-curriculars, mentoring, and grading papers, their work day is long.

However, there are many schools that are getting absolutely zero cooperation from their teachers when it comes to fundraising or spirit building activities put on by the parent-teacher group in the school.

This lack of participation, especially when the parents have repeatedly asked for their involvement, can be very discouraging to the parents who are giving their time to the same cause the teachers are working for.

Nobody is accusing the teachers of not working hard. And nobody is asking the parents who are volunteering to give more of their time. But, what is the solution? What is fair to expect from the teachers?

Basically, I think the answer to this problem starts in the principal’s office.

I firmly believe that the principal sets the mood for fundraising at the school. If the principal thinks fundraising is “beneath” the faculty, then the teachers won’t be very helpful. But, if the principal sets an example, by being involved him- or herself, if he or she gets excited by the fundraiser at hand and makes an effort to pump up the students, if he or she verbally affirms the teachers who do get involved, then there will be a much more active participation from the teachers.

Teachers are employees, just like everybody else in the workforce. For the most part, employees tend to value what their boss values. They often reflect the taste of their supervisor. For example, if a principal arrives early to work on a regular basis, then the staff will recognize that punctuality is important at that school. If the principal chooses to be very formal in his or her wardrobe, it’s likely the teachers will follow suit (pun intended!).

So, if you are having a problem in your school with lack of teacher participation in fundraising activities, I suggest you start working on getting your principal to be much more active and enthused about raising the money needed to provide students with the education materials and experiences they need.

Photo by: by dumbledad

You would think that all principals would be super enthusiastic about raising as much money as possible to fund all of the things they want for their school.

However, this is not the case at all. I have learned this from experience.

First, there are principals who feel guilty asking parents that he knows are struggling financially to give money to the school. As a result, they keep fundraising to an absolute minimum, never try anything new, only go with what they know works, downplays the importance of the event or the sale, and never thinks big. While I don’t’ agree with this mindset, I can at least understand their feelings of compassion for those who might not be able to donate.

And, then there are the principals who are so academic, so up in their ivory tower, that they view fundraising as “beneath” them, so they keep anything to do with raising money at a great distance from themselves. It’s something to be handled by volunteers, because he, the principal, has much more important things to think about. Since I was a principal of a school myself, I do know that there are many important things to think about, but fundraising has to be included on that list. And, it is my view that the principal should be the schools number one cheerleader for fundraising, simply because he or she sets the tone that everyone else follows.

A third kind of principal is the one who figured it all out years ago, created a system that seems to work for him or her and refuses to change it or put in any more thought to it. This kind of principal is not hostile toward fundraising, it’s just that he or she believes fundraising is a necessary evil, not that difficult to figure out, and they simply came up with a solution. End of story. I’ve seen this at a middle school that’s run the same candy bar sale for 25 years in the fall and the same fruit sale in the spring. Nothing has changed in a quarter century. They always hit their goal, but they never push any higher. This just shows me a stunning lack of creativity on the part of the principal. And I have to believe that it extends into everything else he or she does at the school.

So, if you are volunteering with a parent-teacher type organization, and it is your job to run a fundraiser, you should very quickly find out what kind of principal you are dealing with. Hopefully, he or she will be very helpful, understanding, and supportive of your efforts.

In the next post, I will offer some suggestions as to how you can possibly help your principal see things a little differently.

Photo by: falcon1961

As you are planning your school carnival, you must start to think of them in this capacity, as well.

The simple truth is, if the teachers want something to happen, it happens. If they don’t see the importance of an issue, it “mysteriously” fades away.

This is why you do not want to alienate the staff in any way. You are counting on these people to make sure fliers get passed out on time, important announcements are stressed to the students, auction projects are well-thought out, well-crafted, and done on time, and that they actually show up to help on the day of the carnival with big smiles on their faces.

With the many responsibilities a teacher has, you’ve really got to make a strong effort to gain their full attention. Here are some suggestions:

1. Butter them up- a cup of gourmet coffee, a small plant, a modest gift card, or just a simple note of appreciation goes a long way toward winning a person over. You should have volunteers whose sole job it is to sprinkle the teachers with affection.

2. Be clear with your expectations- put everything that you want the teachers to do in writing. It’s way too easy for them to make a verbal promise and then get busy and forget. Teachers need clarity and specificity from us. If you want them to remind students to make sure their money is in for the pre-sale wristbands next Friday, put it in a memo and hand it to each teacher individually. Don’t ever assume that a teacher knows what we actually want to happen and when.

3. Give them plenty of lead time- Don’t hand them that memo on Thursday, expecting them to do something the very next day. Give them at least a week to make something happen. Of course, emergencies do arise when you’ll need immediate help, but don’t go to that well very often.

4. Follow up regularly- So many things get piled on top of teachers that it is very wise to keep checking in on them. Be careful not to become a stalker, but keep sending them a warm, positive message that you want to help. If you become “top of mind” -in a good way- they will come to appreciate you.

5. Don’t take teachers for granted!- If you ever start to think that teachers are simply going to help you out, just because they love the school, you will be sadly mistaken and sorely disappointed. Remember that a teacher’s first priority is to teach. Raising money, even when it benefits their classroom, doesn’t rank as high. You’re going to have to work at winning the teachers to your cause.

In a similar fashion, you will also need to communicate effectively with the principal. Having worked in this office myself, I can speak with experience that the most important thing for me was to know that things were getting accomplished and nobody was complaining.

Make sure the principal knows what you are up to as you are scurrying about the hallways, but you don’t need to bog him or her down with details. Just send a message that you are taking care of business, and in most cases, you’ll be left alone to do your work.

Be careful, however, not to abuse the trust of a principal. This man or woman is the key to your freedom of movement. If you are seen to be a loose canon or a general disruption, you will find your ability to move freely sharply curtailed.

Photo by: mikebaird

However, that said, I still UNDERSTAND why fundraising is important, and I don’t want my kids missing out on the important opportunities that fundraising can bring, so I do my best to play along. But, I wanted you all to know that I, like everyone else, have fallen victim to the dreaded affliction- Fundraising Fatigue.

So, if I, a veteran of several fundraising campaigns, am tired of being hit up for dollars, I can imagine the frustration of someone not used to the fire of a non-profit in need.

This article, therefore is addressed to school fundraising committees. Here are some ways you can show mercy on your students’ parents. Please do.

1. Create a fundraising plan at the beginning of the year and stick to it. If you’re always changing things around or just coming up with a surprise fundraiser, people will start to hate you.

2. Announce your specific goals for the money. People need to know WHY they are raising money. The fundraising letters that I throw right in the garbage are the ones that don’t clearly state the reason for the ask. If they don’t tell me, I’m not going to bother to ask.

3. Be sure everyone knows the plan and the goals. It’s not enough for just you to know. You have to launch an entire marketing campaign with the goal of 100% saturation. Every single person you ask for money has to know goal of each individual fundraiser, how many fundraisers there will be during the year, what kind of fundraiser it will be, and when they’re coming. I think a huge part of fundraising fatigue comes from the not knowing what’s coming when and why. Clear up those questions and you take away a great source of frustration.

4. Vary the kinds of fundraisers you have. Not everyone loves a walk-a-thon. Not everyone has a green-thumb (for a plant sale). Some people can’t eat sugar for medical reasons, so candy sales are out. Some people are afraid of clowns, so nix to the carnival. But, if you have all of these various kinds of fundraisers, you’re more likely to get everyone to participate in at least one of your events throughout the year.

5. Announce the results of your efforts every step of the way so people feel there is some kind of resolution. I once heard a story about a group of cloistered nuns who were told to pray for the country during the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, the nuns were never told when the situation was resolved, so they just kept praying for months at a very heightened state of alarm. Don’t do that to your students’ parents. Keep them in the loop.

6. Give people the option to just write you one check and be done with it for the entire year. Some people just don’t’ want to be bothered, but they can still make the effort to contribute without all the rigmarole.

Photo by: www.aaacaricatures.com

Here is a list of just some of the responsibilities a school fundraising leader must accomplish:

1. Assess school needs that are not covered by budgetary spending.

2. Communicate with the teaching staff and the school administration to find out what the fundraising priorities should be.

3. Come up with a well-balanced plan of fundraising attack that lasts the entire year long.

4. Have an excellent grasp of when other schools or non-profits are holding their fundraisers, so there’s no conflict.

5. Communicate the school’s need to the parents of the students in several different manners, making sure they understand the goals of the school’s fundraising campaign.

6. Research any fundraising companies the school might be working with and find the right combination of popular product, good price, solid customer service, and high profit sharing percentage.

7. Put together a competent and enthusiastic fundraising team of assistants, from which future leaders will emerge.

8. Organize and delegate responsibilities for all fundraising events through out the year.

9. Keep the students motivated during all fundraising activities.

10. Keep the parents updated on fundraising progress.

11. Make sure the teachers are promoting fundraising events in the classroom.

12. Keep track of all bookkeeping records.

13. Make sure all financial systems are safe from embezzlement or general mis-management.

14. Develop healthy relationships with local merchants for donations, discounts, and support with things like ad sales in yearbooks.

15. Keep excellent records of all fundraising activities so that future fundraising leaders will know where to begin.

Now, some of these responsibilities would seem to fall squarely into the purview of the parent-teacher organization. Teachers and principals should spend most of their time concerned about the student’s educational experience.

However, the question I posed in the headline of this article was “Who Sets the Fundraising Tone in your School?” Setting a tone is much different than actually having a specific job to do, like one from the list above. Tone is about attitude and perception. And tone isn’t necessarily set by the person doing the bulk of the fundraising work.

People respond to tone more than they do to a fundraising letter. Or an event. Or a product sale. If your school doesn’t have a very enthusiastic tone set about fundraising, then it’s never going to have much success in any kind of a fundraiser it runs.

So, how is a tone set? First of all, the tone can be set by the way teachers either talk or don’t talk about a fundraiser in the classroom and in the newsletters they send home to parents. If the teachers are enthused about raising money, then the kids will be enthused, and there’s a better chance parents will be enthused, as well. If teachers don’t encourage the kids to take part in the fundraisers, even if it’s just by not mentioning it, it sets a negative tone, and the fundraisers simply languish.

Tone is also set by the willingness of the principal to hold school-wide fundraisers and how he or she talks to the parents about them. Some principals are very uncomfortable asking parents for money, and that comes through clearly. That’s a negative tone. Some principals realize that if he or she has a positive feeling about fundraising, however, that will rub off on everyone else.

So, back to the question: Who sets the fundraising tone in your school? Is it the teaching staff? Is it the principal? Or is it a really motivated individual on the parent-teacher committee?

Whether you like it or not, a tone about your fundraising at school exists. It’s up to the adults in the school to make sure it’s a positive tone and that it allows the people actually doing the fundraising work to accomplish all of the tasks listed above.

Photo by: chrisbb@prodigy.net

“Seussical” was a long-time property on Broadway. But it has now become available for high schools to produce.

However, there are a number of differences between “Seussical” and other high school musicals done in the past. The most important difference that I read about was the price tag. Schools have to pay royalty fees when they put on a play or musical. For many shows in previous years, these royalties ran between $10,000 and $15,000.

“Seussical” however comes in at a shocking $30,000!

To cover this enormous cost increase, the music department has decided to run a series of fundraisers, in addition to a hike in the ticket prices, and selling pages and pages of ads in the program. The fundraisers include events like spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, and singing telegrams from cast members in costume.

Supporters of the musical defend their decision to chose a production that is double the cost of previous shows.

According to the article on PennLive.com, director Charles Masters explains that “Students are more talented today and are more professional, dedicated and hard-working when it comes to the musical. They are aspiring to levels of excellence that forces you to continually raise the bar.

Students today are familiar with Broadway shows and have high expectations for themselves. The pit is playing the same score as on Broadway, and the leads are singing the same songs.”

Ok, does anyone else have a problem with this?

I have children, as well. I want them to have the best, just like every other parent. However, do we really need extra fundraisers thrown at us, just because the kids and their teacher want to do something fancy? Even though the level of special effects on Broadway has gotten more elaborate and more expensive, does that mean that our local high schools have to follow suit? Will high schools try to book SpiderMan next year and pay $100,000 in royalties to U2?

I have always been solidly against spontaneous and “elective” fundraising. Paying an extra $15,000 just to do a modern Broadway play is irresponsible when so many other educational programs are in financial jeopardy.

What concerns me is the attitude that whenever a school runs into something they want but can’t pay for, they just say “Let’s have a fundraiser!”. Like it’s no big deal. “Let’s raise ticket prices!” “Let’s sell more ads to local businesses and let’s charge more for each ad!”  There doesn’t seem to be any kind of critical thinking involved in these decisions.

It also doesn’t seem as if there is a master fundraising plan, district wide. I wonder how many different school groups sell ads in some kind of program. Let’s see: there’s the school play/musical, every sports team, yearbook, and I’ve even seen ads sold in the school district’s calendar. Doesn’t anyone think this has got to be hard on our small business owners?

So, what’s my point, other than to rant against out of control fundraisers?

Well, if you are involved in school fundraising, does your school have a master plan that you stick to?

Is there a pervasive attitude that makes fundraising “no big deal”? If there is, it seems to me that you have a case of the tail wagging the dog on your hands.

What do you think? Am I over-reacting? Please share your thoughts in our comment section. I’d love to read your opinion!

Photo by: Montemayor M

I’ve read about things like shaving the principal’s head and making the principal sit on the roof of the school in a lawn chair for the entire school day. These things sounded fun and unique, and I really didn’t see the harm.

But, now I’m wondering about that. In recent weeks, I’ve come across a handful of news articles that are reporting incidents of principal fundraising torture that perhaps go a bit too far. But, then again, maybe I’m way off-base here, and you might not agree. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Here are four separate cases:

An elementary school in Alabama recently held a fundraiser for the Red Cross Heroes Campaign. Students were told that if they met their goal, they would have a chance to duct tape their principal to a wall in the school gym.

Well, the students held up their end of the bargain. So shortly after the end of the fundraiser, the student body gathered in their gymnasium. The principal stepped up onto a bucket, which was placed next to a wall. Then each student was handed a two foot long strip of duct tape. They formed a giant single file line, and one by one, each student placed his or her tape over the principal’s body.

When every student had accomplished this task, a couple of teachers removed the bucket, upon which the principal had been standing. Because he was secured so firmly against the wall, he did not fall, when the bucket was removed. The reporting website said that the kids howled with delight (at their little display of sadism). Hmmm.

(Take a minute to watch the video of this event, embedded below. I, myself, felt a little differently about this after having watched the video.)

The second event took place in my old hometown, Saline, Michigan. Here, the elementary school students were participating in an American Heart Society fundraiser. Their reward for meeting their goal was the opportunity to pour green slime over the heads of their principal and a few of the teaching staff. Of course, the students met the goal, and the sliming was on.

According to the newspaper report, over 700 students got to take a turn at teacher target practice. The American Heart Society said that their program “Hoops for Heart” promotes the value of healthy habits and empowers students to contribute to their community’s welfare”.  Really?  By shooting hoops and then pouring slime on the heads of people they are supposed to respect?  Hmmm.

A third case of principal torture (or denigration) happened at an Oregon elementary school. Here, the students raised over $3,000 for their school’s PTA in a jog-a-thon. Because this amount surpassed the stated fundraising goal, the principal agreed to be hit in the face by three cream pies and then be washed down by a fire hose.

In the newspaper report, while the principal was being hit in the face with the pies, the students began chanting, “Pie in the face! Pie in the face!”

Once he was being hit with the water cannon, the students changed their cheer to: “Hose him down! Hose him down!”

The principal was a good sport about this and was quoted as saying, “They earned it, all $3,000 worth.” Hmmm.

The last incident I read about maybe isn’t so bad, but I still wonder about the implications of it going forward. At a middle school in Pennsylvania, the students were challenged to raise money to help out a number of disadvantaged families in their community. Well, as you can imagine, the students met their goal and as a reward, they were treated to a Sumo wrestling match between their school principal and vice-principal. Each man agreed to dress up in those inflatable sumo suits.

The principal won two out of three matches and was declared the champion. Students were said to have been screaming, yelling, and stomping during the bout. The newspaper reported the student body was “ablaze with excitement”. Hmmm.

Conclusion

Well, I hate to come off sounding like a party pooper. I really do like to have fun myself. In fact, once, when I was a school principal, I held a pizza and ice cream party for the students, and I created a new sandwich idea. I plopped a scoop of vanilla right between two slices of pepperoni pie. I ate it and encouraged everybody else to try it too, so I guess I can be accused of promoting gluttony.

However, is being duct taped to a wall by students, being hit in the face by pie and then hosed down like an animal, having green slime poured over your head by 700 kids, or participating in a sumo wrestling match the best ways to earn the respect of the students? Are these individual cases going too far?

Does a principal have a harder time disciplining students, when the students have seen him pinned down in a fat suit? Or hosed down in the parking lot?

I, myself, am struggling with these questions. What do you think? Please let us know in the comment section!

P.S.  Dedicated readers of this blog might have noticed that three of the four cases I cited in this post were school fundraisers for outside groups, not for the school itself, a practice that I’m not very fond of.

Keep these ideas in mind to get parents involved and energized while working on your school project.

1. Clear Goals - When working on a school fundraiser, make sure that parents understand why you are doing this project. Do they know that the band needs new uniforms and funds to attend a special competition? Do they know your school needs new computers? Whatever the need is, make is specific and clear so that parents see a deadline and parents see a specific goal. Giving parents (or anyone), a specific goal makes it feel more achievable. Making your message clear helps them to fully understand the need for the fundraiser.

2. Make It Easy – Some parents may feel confident stepping into a fundraising assignment, but others may not have any experience. If you break down tasks into measurable goals, they may realize that this is something that they can achieve. Sometimes they may also realize that they have done something similar to this at work or for another organization – and this will make them feel more confident going into the task. Breaking down the task also gives them the opportunity to ask questions about what they feel most challenged about.

3. Good Leaders - Every project should have a leader that is concerned with the project, but they should also be concerned with developing future fundraisers for the school. How can they help new parents get involved and do their best for the school? By listening, by being available and by responding to questions. Sometimes simply knowing that someone is there to answer your questions and to listen to you gives you the confidence to go forward with your project.  So choose leaders carefully.

4. Do Less Fundraising - According to the Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers doing less fundraising is truly “less is more” in many ways for your fundraising efforts. If you make many fundraising “pleas” during the year, parents will grow weary of the drives and working on them. Those that donate will also grow tired of giving, or will be unable to give as often as you’d like. Having one or two fundraising efforts a year could be far more successful than many, smaller efforts.

5. Keep the Energy Up – Make your project seem exciting and stay positive about it. No one wants to work on something that is a real drag. Make meetings seem inviting by offering refreshments (coffee and cookies are quite inexpensive). Even if there are parts of your project that are challenging, keep a positive attitude about your fundraising project for your school and remind people that making an effort will have an impact.

6. Listen – Sometimes new volunteers come onto a project and they have ideas that could make a difference. They may be ideas that are a little off-the-beaten path, or they are not from the “tried and true” members of the Committee. Change is often necessary to be successful, and a good school fundraising project is open to change. Simply by listening to your volunteers you can be aware if changes need to be made. This will help you raise more funds and will most importantly, help you have strong relationships with your volunteers. This will keep them quite motivated.

7. Say “Thank You” – Thank volunteers early and often. What would you feel like if you gave your time to a project and people did not even say thank you when you completed it? Probably you would think twice about volunteering for them. Saying “Thank You” is a critical step in motivating volunteers each step of the way. At the end of a project it would be nice to send thank you notes, too. Parents who feel appreciated are more likely to volunteer for the next project.

Keeping volunteers motivated for your school fundraising project can take a little time and a little effort. But volunteers are valuable and our schools need terrific volunteers involved and dedicated to their success!

It’s called “The USA Character Approved Awards” and our very own topic of school fundraising has landed right in the middle of this extraordinary promotion.

For a little background, here is their mission statement, as I found it on their website:

The Character Approved Awards honor the characters of the U.S.A. who are changing the face of American culture. Character Approved honorees are innovators in their field who influence our opinions, our style, and our view of the world. They surprise and inspire us with fresh ideas. They are celebrated by their peers. And they have an authentic style that’s all their own.

This year, in what they claim is their inaugural campaign, they have announced seven honorees, one each from the worlds of music, art, food, architecture, fashion, new media, and giving.

I spent a little time and looked at the write-ups on all of these individuals, but it was the honoree from the world of giving that jumped off the page for me.

His name is Charles Best, and he is the founder and director of an organization called DonorsChoose.org. This is a website that connects actual schools and classroom teachers with real donors, people who are looking to make a difference by making a financial contribuation that has a direct impact on the recipient.

As an example, here is a recent entry on the Donors Choose site:

 NURTURING FUTURE AUTHORS

“I teach first grade in a large, urban district. Over 90% of my students receive free or reduced lunch. My students live in a high need community. They would benefit from a wide variety of materials that make learning fun and accessible to all of them.

My first graders love to write. They are always authoring their own stories and writing notes to each other. I feel that they could be future authors and novelists. The materials requested would enhance their writing skills and continue to foster their natural affinity toward writing.

I am requesting a wide range of materials, from sentence builders to paragraph writing activities to story writing helpers. These materials will help my students learn the writing process. This will also help them becoming better writers.

Your generous donation will help my students hone the craft of writing. You will make it possible for my students to become better writers and future authors. Your gift would be greatly appreciated by not only me, but the eager writers in my classroom.

There is then an opportunity for a private citizen from anywhere in the world to make a secure donation directly for this classroom. Any amount can be given and the site actually keeps track of how close to the goal this request is getting. As of this post, the above class has received $270 of the $425 needed. Donors also have the chance to leave an encouraging message for the class to read.

This is really a visionary use of the Internet for the public good. I can definitely see why USA has decided to include Charles Best in their list of “Character Approved” honorees for this year.

Below is a video of the on-air commercial they are running, featuring Charles Best. Enjoy!

I would also guess that you have a pretty good relationship with your child’s teacher. After all, the teacher sees your child for six or seven hours a day for 180 days per year. That’s a lot of influence he or she can have on your offspring. Of course, it’s a good idea to know who that person is.

As a former elementary school principal, I witnessed the spectrum of relationships that parents have with teachers, and I’ve heard the “secret” teacher lounge chatter about those relationships. Therefore, I think I can offer a few suggestions on ways for parents to say thank you that will be truly meaningful to and appreciated by your child’s teacher.

1. Volunteer in the Classroom
Most classrooms are overcrowded. That is to say that the ratio of teachers and aides to students is higher than anyone would want. This isn’t only distressing to the parents, but it is also a source of great concern for the teachers. By and large, teachers really do desire excellence, but many times, the numbers make that an elusive goal.

Therefore, I would find a way to volunteer your time as a part-time classroom aid. I’ve seen a mom volunteer one hour per week to listen to students read. The teacher really appreciated that, because the kids got more individualized instruction.

Maybe it’s something you can only do once per month. However, if you pool your time with three other parents, that’s a once-per-week help the teacher is getting, and that’s significant.

2. Volunteer to Sub
This idea may work more easily in a smaller private school. At the school I worked in, we could only offer our teachers a handful of paid days-off per year. It wasn’t fair, but we didn’t have the budget to pay the teacher and a sub for the same time.

Therefore, on a few occasions, we had parents volunteer to sub for the teacher with no pay. Of course, the parents had to meet our guidelines for substitute teachers, but we didn’t have to take a hit in our budget. The teachers felt like they were playing hooky. It was great for morale. This was easily one of the most popular gifts any teacher received all year.

In a public school setting, I’m not sure if this would work, given teacher union issues or concerns by state regulations. If this interests you however, discuss it with the principal of your child’s school to see if it’s feasible.

3. Volunteer to Grade Papers, Prepare Craft Projects, Etc.
One of the biggest drags on a teacher is the whole paper grading thing. I was always seeing teachers lug around big stacks of papers they had to grade. They graded during staff meetings, they graded during lunch, they graded during dental appointments. (Just kidding.)

I also noticed that for teachers of younger students, craft projects usurped a lot of their time. They always seemed to be cutting out odd shapes from colored construction paper. Some people carry a cell phone on their belt. Kindergarten teachers carry a scissors holster.

Therefore, I would propose that a great way to express your thanks to your child’s teacher would be to volunteer to take some of this burden away from them. Offer to grade a stack of papers or to prepare two dozen art projects. This will be a huge time-saver and will allow the teacher to focus more on teaching and less on the busy work.

4. Gift Card to Wal-Mart
Ok, I know this will sound a little bit cheesy, but I’ve seen a lot of gifts given to teachers and while I don’t want to be a spokesman for Wal-Mart, I would have to say that the most popular token of appreciation given to a teacher was a simple gift card to Wal-Mart.

I think it’s ok to forego the need to get a personalized gift somehow. Teachers have enough mugs. They have enough paperweights. They have their own schedule books. Trust me. A $25 gift card to Wal-Mart is very much appreciated. It’s practical, useful, and flexible. You don’t have to worry about getting the wrong size or wondering if someone else already gave them one of “those”.

5. Make Sure To Send in Snacks
Before I had kids, I read all the parenting books. I was a lit major in college, so I love to read, and I thought I would learn everything I would ever need to know though these guides.

However in all the books I read, there was one item that was consistently omitted, forgotten about, and dismissed. And, here I’m going to give it to you free: The Snack. The second your child becomes part of a group activity involving other children, “The Snack” becomes the central focus of all attention. When my son joined soccer, he was first handed the snack schedule and then the game schedule. I’m not kidding.

Anyway, many teachers ask that parents take turns sending in a healthy snack for the entire class. A lot of parents blow this off and the cupboard is often bare. This puts the teacher in a tough spot of either not giving the kids a snack or else she has to spring for it herself.

So, if you can remember to send in a box of Goldfish crackers once a month or so, you’ll be doing the teacher a great favor she will really appreciate it.

6. Volunteer to Be a Chaperon/Driver for Field Trips
Because so many parents have to work, this is a much harder role to fill. However, classrooms do need volunteers to chaperon field trips or in some cases act as drivers for these outings. Teachers are often put in the tough position to have to find these people. Trust me; this is a thankless job, and not one the teachers were dreaming about when they first decided to enter the teaching profession.

If you are able to be a reliable chaperone/driver, you will make a friend for life in the teacher!

7. Stay in Touch, Be Involved
This may seem like a cop-out when it comes to an expression of thanks, but in all actuality, this one’s very important to teachers. Being a teacher is more than just a job. It’s a calling. Therefore, teachers really pour their hearts and souls into what they do. But, this isn’t a one-way street. If they send home a newsletter, read it. If they ask you to sign a report card, sign it and send it back the next day. So many times, even at a private school, I’d hear the teachers talking about parents who never sent stuff back. Or about those who had no clue what was going on. It really depressed them.

The thing is, I knew these “deadbeat” parents, and they weren’t bad people. Most were just busy. If this description applies to you, please find a way to carve out a few minutes each day to go though your child’s backpack. Most nights, there won’t be anything to worry about. But on those occasions when the teacher does send something home, you’ll be on top of it, and that will be a huge gift to your child’s teacher.

8. Take Lots of Photos
If you are a parent who is able to spend some regular time in the classroom or on field trips, I would suggest that you bring along a digital camera. Take lots of photos of all the kids in the class. Get lots of close-ups and action shots. Make sure you don’t miss anybody.

At the end of the year, organize the best of the pictures and organize them onto a CD or even a scrapbook that you will give to the teacher. This kind of a virtual scrapbook is a wonderful keepsake.

9. A Cuppa Joe
Here’s one that’s pure pleasure. Find out what kind of morning drink your child’s teacher likes and make a point to pick one up for her on occasion. A specialty coffee or tea is really a nice way to let the teachers know how much you appreciate them on a daily basis.

10. Introduce Her to Top School Fundraisers
Finally, if you really love not only your child’s teacher, but all of the teachers and administrators at the school, I would whole-heartedly recommend turning them on to TopSchoolFundriasers.com. You already know what a great resource this is. Plese share the love with anyone who would benefit from our unique brand of educational wit and wisdom!

Conclusion
Even though there is a whole week devoted to Teacher Appreciation, I would suggest that you engage in this practice during the entire school year. Think about all the times your own kids have caused you some stress. Now imagine 25 of them all day long! Have a heart! Love your kids’ teachers!