Parents play an important role at the elementary level. You can find them in the work room copying for their child's teachers, sponsoring field trips, and helping with all the numerous activities sponsored by the P.T.A. This month for the Bright Ideas Blog Hop I wanted to share ways to show them appreciation at the end of the year.
Through the years, I have been fortunate to have some really amazing parent and grandparent volunteers. I felt like my students benefitted in so many different ways from all of them. At the end of the year, I knew I wanted to do something to thank them but what makes the best gift for a volunteer?
Through trial and error, I think I found the answer. Hands down the class book seemed to be the most popular. I have done different versions but the books worked the same way. During journal time I have each of my students write a page about the volunteer. The students can write about a memory, how the volunteer helped our class or helped him/her personally. You will be pleasantly surprised about what your students will write about your helpers. I take a group picture of my class and put that on the front cover. These journal assignments are my students' bell work the last month of the school year when we have quite a few volunteers. All I have to do is write the name of the volunteer on the board.
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If your time is limited or your schedule is hectic, you may want to do a thank you picture. You have 8 students hold one of the letters that say "thank you". These students sit in the middle of the picture. The other students can line up behind and beside the letter holders.
Here is an example of how I had my students arranged. I had the ones holding the letters for "thank" sit in chairs. The students holding the letters for "you" sit on the floor. The others students stood behind the chair and sat next to the students on the floor.
How do you show appreciation?
I hope your have found a few new ideas that you can use in our Bright Ideas blog hop. There are so many great ones to choose from! Don't forget to pin these to your favorite boards so you'll remember all the ideas.
I hope you have enjoyed our Bright Ideas Blog Hop! Follow me on Bloglovin and Facebook so you don't miss out on my other ideas that I share! I also have more ideas for volunteers on this Pinterest board.
Don't forget to visit the other bloggers who are sharing their Bright Ideas, too. Come back and visit us next month, too.