Door Decorations Using Cars

Thank you ________ for putting us on the road to success! 

Here's the same saying but a variation to the look from Southland Elementary Volunteers.

This is a picture of a door that was sent to me.  I'm sorry, but I can't remember the source, but this door could work for either Teacher Appreciation Week or for Dr. Seuss Week.  In large print it says "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"  On the pictures of the cars, the students wrote or drew places they would like to visit.  In the upper left corner of the door, the sign says:  "Congratulations!!  Today is your day.  You're off to great places.  You're off and away!"

SUPER Teacher Water Bottle

Recently I was shopping at Old Navy when I spotted this water bottle near the check out.

As soon as I saw it, I knew what I could use it for.  With Teacher Appreciation Week approaching, I am always on the look out for ideas.  This year I have had the opportunity to be my son's first grade teacher.  It has been so fun to have this experience!  My older 2 children are at the middle school, where they have more than 10 teachers between them, so really I feel as though I have only one bigger teacher gift to buy this year.  Unless of course I want to buy myself something big!  Hmmm...not a bad idea!  :)
Anyway, my daughter's kindergarten teacher always has a water bottle with her so when I saw this water bottle with a Superman symbol I knew I had to grab it!

I attached a tag on it to read:  

You have been a SUPER teacher!  Thank you for all that you have taught me this year!

OWL Tell You Who's the Best Teacher

I know that owls are a popular theme these days.  If your child's teacher has an owl-themed classroom, this would be a perfect way to decorate their door to show appreciation!

Who

Who

Who is the best teacher?

OWL tell you...

Mr. _______________ .

Come Rain or Shine, You're A Great Teacher Anytime!

This is a picture of my classroom door from last year.  I thought it was really cute, clever, and original.

 Since the words on the door are a little hard to read in the top picture, here are close ups of the clouds...

Thanks For All You DEW!

It's that time again...time to start thinking of ideas for teacher appreciation week.  Yup that's right...ONE MONTH from now!  It scares me to think of the school year ending that soon!  There's still so much to do, so much to fit in, and nobody who wants to listen to me.  Ok so maybe that's how my day went today, but I do know that it gets that way as the weather gets warmer.
So for the next month I am going to focus on sharing some door decorating ideas or possible gift ideas.  If you have something you would like to share that relates to this topic; pictures of doors, appreciation/gift ideas, or a link to your site, please feel free to leave a comment.
Check out this awesome 3-D door from my school last year.  (Thanks for all you DEW!)  From what I could tell, the Mountain Dew can was created using a poster board, bent to form an arch.  The arch was then taped onto another poster board to hold its' form and then painted.  The yellow "Mountain Dew" coming out of the top of the can was crinkled (yellow) tissue paper.  I can't remember how the straw was created.  Any guesses?  I'm sure you could roll up red poster board or some kind of plastic to form one though??  What do you think?

Doors, Doors and More Doors For Teacher Appreciation Week

Still looking for door decoration ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week?  Here are a few more ideas I dug up that were done at my school last year.  Honestly, the doors turn out to be masterpieces!  It's almost like looking at a large scrapbook page when you see some of the details!  I think it's safe to safe the teachers always feel very appreciated during the week!

The first picture was my door last year.  See what I mean?  Tons of work and details!  In case you are unable to read the message on the door, it says:  "The wind told the grasses, and the grasses told the trees.  The trees told the bushes, and the bushes told the bees.  The bees told the birds and the birds sang clear, Mrs. _______ is the best teacher of the year!" 

I don't care what you say; Cricut or no Cricut, cutting out all those letters and gluing them to the door would take FOREVER!  All of my students had their picture taken and placed either in a flower (at the bottom) or in an apple on the tree.  I must say, I was super impressed!!

"Mrs. __________ COOKS up great classroom fun!"

On the door are attached some small kitchen items with sayings. 

"Thanks for OPENING our minds and filling them with knowledge." - can opener

"You have showed us love and SERVED us well." - spatula

"Your RECIPE as a teacher wins the grand prize." - recipe cards

"Here's the SCOOP, you're the best! - ice cream scoop

"There's not a GRATEr teacher than you!" - small grater

"There's no way to MEASURE your influence in our lives." - measuring cups/spoons.

If you wanted to use this theme, I am sure you could come up more sayings, but those were the ones posted on this door.  Oh and yes, that is also a real apron hanging on the teacher on the door.  Way cute!

"Mrs. _________, we're NUTS about all you do for our school."  Various packages of nuts were them taped and glued all over the door.  With this phrase, it would be perfect if you needed to decorate a secretary's door.

 "Tweets and Twitters for Mr. _________ the cool guy."

The students were able to decorate a bird to attach with a special message of thanks for their teacher.

 "We aren't LION Mr. __________ is the PRIDE of our school."

If you happen to snap a few pictures of doors around your school and would like them to be featured, please send me an e-mail or leave me a comment.  I love to see the creativity going on in other schools!

Thirsty? Grab a Drink to Give as a Gift!

Since my last post included a pop bottle, I thought I would continue on with the pop theme.  Here are some more gift suggestions including pop (or soda, depending on where you live!)

First of all I have to send a shout out to one of my college friends, Adrianne, who is the author of Cog Works.  Not only did she provide you with FREE printables for parent volunteer gifts, but some of these could even be adapted to become a teacher thank you gift.  Thanks Adrianne for sharing!

Source: (Volunteer) Thank You Gifts

Make a tag that reads:  "My teacher is AWesome!"  and attach to the top of an A&W 6 pack or liter bottle.

Source:  My Mix of 6

"You're the apple of my eye" and other catchy sayings to attach to (non-pop)drinks from Darling Doodles.  Soda pop tags can also be found HERE.  Oh and can I just say, she has the greatest ideas for gift baskets for all occasions!?!  I will definitely be visiting her site the next time I am in need of giving a gift!!

Even though this next one isn't pop, it's close enough.  I wish I knew where this idea came from, but I found it on Pinterest without a link back to the source. :(  Let me know if you know where to find this idea so I can give credit.  Anyway, judging from the picture, I would say to fill a cello bag with lemon flavored items such as Minute Maid pink lemonade, Lemon Heads, lemon drops, crystal lite packets, lemonade flavored bubble gum, etc. and attach a tag saying: "When life hands you LEMONS, make lemonade!"

To the BEARY best teacher!

Here are 2 examples of how you could incorporate bears to your teacher appreciation door.

"__________ is the BEARY best teacher!"

You could add the students' names to die cut bears or even a head shot of each student.  If you wanted to add a treat, you could glue on some cinnamon bears, gummy bears or even Teddy Grahams.

Fish Themed Doors For Teacher Appreciation

"Mrs. Moon's School is cool!"

Use die cut fish to write each student's name on.

This door is a little blurry, but it reads:

"We think you are the greatest!  From all your little fish in the sea."

This door involves the students.  They choose a fish to decorate as they wish and then it is added to the door.

"Thank you for helping us swim through the deep waters!"

Fishing for FUN!  This wall display, which could be adapted to a door, looks as though it was created for an office staff.  I love the 3-D fish suspended in the air!

"What a great catch!"

To be honest with you, I 'm not so sure about the phrase on this door, which reads:  "Little fish, big blue sea", but I LOVE the 3-D look of all the elements added.  Check out the sand bucket in the bottom left corner and the streamers that could be used as seaweed.  Super cute!

Extra, Extra, Great Teacher Appreciation Doors!

Keeping with the Teacher Appreciation Door theme, here are a couple of EXTRA ideas...sorry, bad joke!
We think you're EXTRA cool!  (Attach pieces of Extra gum to the door.  I love how there is tin foil on the top and bottom of the door to represent a piece of gum.)

Using the same EXTRA word, you could do a door that reads:

"Thank you for going the extra mile!"

Celebrating Volunteers and Teachers

As the end of school is right around the corner, two very important weeks are coming up: April 15^th starts National Volunteer Week in the U.S. and May 7^th starts Teacher Appreciation Week.  I'm pleased to share that my friends at VolunteerSpot.com are celebrating your good work with a
$500 Do Good sweepstakes and Starbucks gift card giveaway.　
You can win for yourself and for your favorite school! (Must be 18 to enter. Promotion is U.S. and Canada only.)　

About VolunteerSpot:

VolunteerSpot saves time (and stress) and makes it easy to organize teachers, parents and volunteers with
FREE online signup sheets and volunteer scheduling.

Save time and plan all your end-of school activities online (without frustrating reply-all email chains!)!

Simply organize

• Special events like field day, carnivals, and graduation　
• End-of-school parties
• Field trip chaperones and supplies
• Club tournaments, concessions and swim meets
• Library, recess, garden and cafeteria volunteers

With all you’ve got to do in the last few months of school – get more help with less stress from VolunteerSpot.
Don’t forget! Enter the VolunteerSpot Do Good Sweepstakes NOW for a chance to win Starbucks gifts for you and cash for your favorite school!

Happy Planning and Happy Volunteer & Teacher Appreciation Weeks!

Candy Themed Door Decorations

Holy cow!  Has a month already passed since I have been on here?!?  Yikes!  I guess that can only mean one thing...it must be spring!May 7 - 11 marks Teacher Appreciation week and since that is a little less than a month away, I thought I would start getting some ideas out there, starting with door decorations.  I will also be posting some gift ideas for parent volunteers and teachers in the weeks to come, so check back for more ideas!  For now though, the pictures of doors I have to share are from talented volunteers from my school or pictures that have been e-mailed to me.  If I have a source, I will make sure to include a link.  If you have a picture of a door that you have done or one from your school, and you would like it to be shared with others, please feel free to send me an e-mail too so that I may feature you! 

You're A Life Saver!  Tape or glue individually wrapped life savers to the door.

 Mrs./Mr. ________'s class are the flavors of the rainbow.  Attach rainbow circles to the door with a picture of each student inside of a circle.

 Many & Many Thanks! (M&M's)

 Thank you for helping us become SMARTIES!

Happy Halloween Pencil Gift Holder

Halloween Idea # 6 - Happy Halloween Pencil:

I am all about giving gifts in a create way.  Something about makes me almost more excited to give the wrapped object than the gift itself!  This idea from Craftberry Bush is just too stinkin' cute.  I am sharing this idea as a Halloween idea because of the fact that the label on the pencil reads "Happy Halloween", but truthfully that could be changed to read Happy Birthday, Welcome Back to School, Merry Christmas, A #2 Pencil for #1 Teacher, etc.  This pencil is made from an empty cardboard tube...wrapping paper to be more exact, but I am thinking that I would use a paper towel tube instead.  Fill the cardboard tube with candy or other gift items pinch the tip to a close...pencil tip.

Back to School Gifts

Holy-moly-guacamole!  Can you tell that school has started back up for me...along with my cheesy sayings! LOL  I forgot just HOW BUSY the months of August and May are for me.  I am sure whether or not you are a teacher, you probably can relate to the chaos of it all!?!  I know I can't be alone on this!  Anyway...I did have a few back to school ideas to share.  Not so sure if all of you have headed back to school yet.  If so, you can file these ideas away for next year.  If you haven't, then you are in luck! 
From First Grade and Fancy Free, there are 4 different ideas with the printables, making this idea just too easy not to use!  What a fun idea to have these on the students' desks for back to school night or for the first day of school!

2 Clever Blog has a great way to enhance a book given to the teacher.  On the inside cover of the book, trace your child's had and write a little about what you did over the summer.  The girl who gave this gift, fed the monkeys over the summer, so the mom glued a picture of that even inside and chose the book 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.  I love how personal this gift is!  So cute!!

The Crafting Chicks has several great ideas.  If you like the "fry" container, there is a template to make one!

And a tutorial for this little magnet board.  Perfect for getting those notes on the {teacher's} desk out of the way!

From What's the Buzz in 1st comes this simply idea.  Put some Lucky Charms cereal in a baggie and attach one of her FREE downloadable tags!

Good luck to each of you as you enter a new school year!

Back to School Gifts for the Teacher

If you are interested in giving your child's teacher something small to start the year, here are a few suggestions:
Oops!  I Craft My Pants (by the way I can't help but smile everytime I read her blog title!) has an idea of giving a bottle of lotion with the saying:  "We hope your school year goes smoothly."  Interested in a label?  She has them all ready for you to use, just head on over!

Eighteen25 used a jumbo calculator (which the dollar store carries) and attached a tag saying:  "According to my calculations...this is going to be a good year!"  Yup, you guessed it, the tag is there and ready for you to print!

The Rachel Berry Blog made these cute pencil bouquets for the teachers.  I think these would be for at any point during the year though.

And finally, this last idea is just completely RIDICULOUS!  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought about how completely AMAZING this supply cake looks, but seriously, I think you would have to L-O-V-E your child's teacher!!  It might be a fun gift for the PTA to give to the office staff or have as a centerpiece at a back to school lunch though!

Thank A Coach (or Teacher) with a SOBE!

I thought this idea was worth sharing.  My husband received this Sobe drink from a player on his softball team.  The same idea would also work for a teacher appreciation gift though!

Home Depot Door Decoration

Sometimes I feel that male teachers can be more difficult to do things for.  It can be hard to show appreciation in a way that is not too cutesy or girly.  You know what I mean??  Well I have to say that I LOVE this idea for decorating a MALE teacher's door during Teacher Appreciation week!  The best part is that I am sure Home Depot would be willing to donate all or most of the items you would need for the door.
The close up...

 Looking from down the hall...

These ideas came from reader, Cindy Wilkinson.  She sent me lots of great pictures of the doors from her school so I will be sharing more!  Thanks Cindy for letting us see what's going on at your school!!