Education is a team effort and kids rely on teachers and all school staff to help them thrive and succeed. It’s essential to let teachers and staff at your school know how much they’re valued and that their efforts make a difference in school every day and beyond. Recognize their contributions with these fun, thoughtful activities.

1. Thank teachers and staff for always putting their best foot forward. Put together a gift bag of items they can use to pamper their feet. Put in it socks, peppermint lotion, and a gift certificate to a local shoe store. Include in each gift bag a small thank-you card that says, “Thanks For Helping Us Take A Step In The Right Direction!”

2. Let everyone know that not all superheroes wear capes, some of them work at your school! Have a superhero theme day one day during the week and have students create posters that read, “Our Teachers & Staff Are Superheroes!” On that day, have a special soup and salad luncheon for teachers and staff. Give each person who attends a soup mug (for being “souper”) and food container to use for the meal.

3. Create a “café” at your school and cater a coffee and snack cart. Go into every classroom to help teachers fuel up and then make deliveries to non-teaching staff, too. Serve coffee and tea in mugs that teachers and staff can keep.

4. Challenge each classroom to enter a door decorating contest. Have students come up with their own teacher appreciation theme and decorate their classroom door accordingly. Ask a committee of staff, volunteers, and parents to vote for a winner. Reward the winning classroom with a pizza party.

5. Take individual photos of teachers and staff, or one group shot, to go in the local newspaper. Give each member of your team a matching T-shirt to wear for the photo. Then, work with representatives from the newspaper to run an article or an advertisement during Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week that features the photo(s) and information about your dedicated team.

6. Hold a special pep rally to honor teachers and your school staff and invite the entire student body to attend. Have the student chorus, band, and drama club provide entertainment. Ask a few students to give a speech or presentation about the importance of teachers and present your school’s teachers with tokens of appreciation.

7. Assign a different color to each day of Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week and ask your employees to wear clothes that follow the color code. Hold a daily prize drawing for the people who are dressed in the right color. Have the prizes match each day’s color. For example, choose red for Monday and give away an apple-themed gift.

8. Remind teachers and staff that they’re appreciated rain or shine. Decorate a bulletin board in your school lobby with weather-related shapes (suns, clouds, raindrops, and rainbows) made of construction paper. Add pictures of all teachers and staff members to it. Top it off with a sign above that says, “No Matter The Weather, We’re All In This Together: Thanks Teachers & Staff!” Then, surprise teachers and staff members with gifts they can use in all types of weather, such as umbrellas.

9. Send messages of thanks the old-fashioned way—through the mailbox! Each day of the week, put a token of appreciation in each teacher’s mailbox, such as a sticky note pad, pen, stress ball, or highlighter. Don’t forget to include a special thank-you note, too.

10. Remember to thank school volunteers during Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week. Organize a special luncheon for them and have students make them thank-you cards in art class. Have a card and a treat pack at each table setting, and be sure to give a special speech at the event letting them know how much they contribute to your school.