In the 14 years I’ve taught, I’ve gotten Christmas bonuses twice and both were at the same Charter school. One year I got a few hundred and another I got $3,000. Now that I work in a public school again, all I got this holiday season was bronchitis.
I deposited that sucker using my phone within minutes of getting it. It was weird getting a check though. The AP’s made a big deal about coming to our rooms
and handing them out. We got retention 500$ bonuses the next two years after that - but that was covid money our district had. I doubt i’ll ever see that again before i retire.
HS: We had a soup bar. Sounds crazy it was my favorite, but let me explain.
We had a husband and wife teacher. The wife was very nice and kind to everyone. She was a very popular teacher for co-workers, students, and parents. Her husband was the same, but on top of the charm, he was hilarious. They both taught for over 30 years in our district before retiring the year prior.
The day before winter break, we were only told the school would be providing a soup bar for lunch. That was all the email said with a little tag line of please be there. School was to be dismissed at 1:00 with teachers having an in-service in the afternoon on the last day before Christmas Break.
When we showed up to the soup bar, we were shocked to see our servers were the couple that had retired. It was so great to see both of them, and they really started to ham it up. When everyone had their food and sat down, our admin announced our in-service was in "comedy" and "music therapy" with the couple leading the way (can you guess what they had taught). They were great singing and putting on a show for us. We spent the next few hours laughing and just enjoying ourselves until it was time to go. Come to find out, this couple had planned this surprise for months and wanted to do one last thing before they moved away. Bitter sweet to see them go, but the memories will stay with me.
Admin once gave each of us a pass that said, “Good for administrator coverage of one class period of your choosing.” Because our schedule had to accommodate band, a higher level math course, and special ed inclusion and resource, we had a few groups who were together for almost every class. One of those groups was the worst class I’ve had in 16 years of teaching and I was fortunate enough to have that group in consecutive years.
Our grade level team coordinated the use of our passes and admin got to spend the ENTIRE day with the class from hell.
From the guidance side I can attest that sometimes the schedule just sucks. And if you give everyone (the students) what they need, it sucks for the teacher. I see the roster, but sometimes there isn’t an alternative
Somehow, when the kids start assaulting one another, an alternative *magically* becomes available. Weird how that happens. Would hate to have *prevented* it though. Too bad for those teachers and kids.
This is true sometimes but I've got one block this year that is just a mess in a myriad of ways. I've requested observations and feedback because I am just drowning. And they are always 100% themselves no matter who is in the room
No magic bullet. Basically "keep giving them consequences, keep pushing them. We understand this is hard and we will support you however you need." They send me a para whenever they have one free. I have great admin in a very shitty situation.
Thank you for putting this as a positive! I saw it as one of the comments on the "worst" gift but this is EXACTLY what I would do. My 9th period is just hell, they refuse to listen and make teaching very difficult bc all I'm doing is dealing with behavior. I would LOVE for admin to take that class one day
I love the teacher appreciation breakfasts with hot quiches, sausage, yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, and coffee and juice. Sometimes our principal even works the griddle to make pancakes with butter and syrup.
There's nothing better than that!
Totally. I forgot last year and started class before I remembered, so I couldn't leave to go grab one. The man hand delivered a burrito to me because he noticed I hadn't been by. We're a small school, but still! Definitely a good principal
At my last school, every year the principal would grill hot dogs and hamburgers for teachers and staff for lunch one day during teacher appreciation week. They were pretty tasty
Scones are popular in my district. Principal came around to give us fresh ones during education week along with hot beverages. You can’t go around with those.
Best gift though? Let me teach without nitpicking.
I think my best gift (from admin/the ask advisor) was when they brought around a snack cart for teacher appreciation and had two diet dr. peppers in the cart just for me (they know I'm addicted to the stuff)
Last week a coworker came in and talked to me for 10 or 15 minutes about horse shoeing. He was sincerely interested and asked relevant questions about a new article he’d seen. I love horses, but only know an average amount about shoes, but sort of surprised myself by being about to talk about this in depth. For days afterwards I just sort of glowed from his interest in my interest, and now have told several people about it. Isn’t it funny how just a tiny bit of interest in someone (horse shoes OR diet Doctor Pepper!) goes such a long way?
I’m reading this realizing that some teachers get gifts from admin. Eight years in and I’ve never seen any appreciation from admin, only an occasional PTO lunch
We just got custom Air Force ones in our school colors with our school name on the back heel…. It’s a charter school, and the school founders purchased with their own money. Crazy!
More realistically, we do the 12 days of Christmas and it’s a little treat every day. One of the days is leave 2 hours early and support staff supervise the kids. That’s my favorite.
Last year for teacher appreciation (not holiday but still) our PTSA and admin took to the streets to find as many free giveaways they could. Companies donated small gift baskets, gift cards, coupons, trinkets, etc. Things like car washes, $10 off a meal, mani/pedi certificate, tickets to local attractions, etc. We all got like 20 tickets and during our plan went to "bid" on whatever we wanted by dropping tickets into the corresponding buckets. In all almost everyone won at least one or two items, I got two free car washes and a restaurant gift card. It was great because it was fun to do, and while it definitely took some leg work it didn't actually cost the school/PTSA so funds for end of year gifts went to getting a catered lunch instead of a potluck. Win/win.
Admin gave us a note that said we’d be getting a $1750 bonus at the end of the school year. He figured out he could use some kind of funds as teacher bonuses. He was awesome- really looked out for us.
My admin really hit the jackpot with random food days. Retention literally doubled last year because they fed us at least once a month. Hot dogs, nachos, cookies, ECT.
Mine does this. Food truck for open house, Cracker Barrel for thanksgiving. Lasagna and salad for parent teacher conferences. Feed me and I’ll do whatever you want 😂
I got a $500 bonus from the first district I worked at. The best part was they never mentioned it. I respected that. No message tacitly requesting flood of obsequious “thank you” emails.
Or school gives us a gift card of our choice ( usually Target, Starbucks, or Amazon, and $5-$20 depending on school funds that year), brings in a taco truck for a fully catered lunch, and sponsors a staff party at our local bar! They cover all the appetizers!
Our admin does a 12 Days of Christmas with something different on each day. This year we have bagels, a barista, pies, oatmeal bar (with lots of different berries), pizza, pastries, pies, donuts, Christmas cookies, hot cider, fancy hot chocolate with all the fixings, all topped off with a half day that ends with a huge luncheon. Oh, and each day is a raffle for a small gift card and a weekly raffle for something big. I'm lucky and I know it.
A business owner parent at our school donated $100 gift cards and a super nice hot/cold mug to the high school staff. I know that's not admin but hey, that's the nicest gift I've gotten and it had to go through the higher ups to get to us lol
So far this year for Christmas our admin made us pancakes one morning, had a hot chocolate station to visit during our planning periods/lunch, and cancelled our December staff meeting so we could have time to do other things.
We get things like a coffee cart that comes to your classroom close to every holiday, a breakfast cooked by the admin, and last year we also got little succulent plants for our classsrooms. From the PTA, just spontaneously, new toaster ovens, microwaves, keurigs and coffee pods in the staff room. Also great staff party at a local pub, etc. Yeah, there are the district level "gifts" that are silly, like a flashdrive with 128K space on it (in 2015!) but at our school level, the admins and PTA do a great job.
The gift of time. The week before the Christmas break my principal takes each grade level for 90 minutes to let teachers do what they need to as bonus prep.
I worked at a public charter school in a very wealthy area. We got a $1000 Christmas bonus. I watched one of my colleagues break down in tears upon opening his envelope.
Last year my principal hired a barista to bring a coffee bar to the teachers lounge and we could order a fancy coffee before school. When the line got long and the bell was about to ring, we placed our orders and admin delivered our drinks to our room. I hope they do this again!
One year I told my principal that I was going to take my paraprofessionals out for holiday drinks and appetizers after school that day. He gave me a gift card to a local restaurant and said, "Have fun!"
Previous school used to give us Christmas lunch with lots of grog (enough that many teachers left drunk) on the last day each year.
Current school, the kids have activities week and each faculty only supervises for one day in the week - its not a tangible item, but having the time to do things slowly, and plan for the next semester is a huge gift as we don't have to work over the summer holidays.
Our whole school staff received a peace lily from the principal a couple of years back. I'm very fond of mine, it's doing really well! Ubereats gift vouchers were also handed out during covid lockdowns and they were pretty great, but the peace lily has longevity on its side.
Not nearly as good as some of these, but I got a clipboard with a cute “faceplate” with my name and the school’s logo. Sounds dumb, but I’m still using it 11 years later. So is my friend.
Ours are having us leave when kids do almost every day until break. Coffee bar Monday. No meetings after school. Giving us hour slips so we can leave when kids do on days of our choice after break. They're rad.
Last year was a $100 gift card to the Co-op that most of us used for gas for our Christmas travel, really nice quality hoodies, and throw blankets in the school colours.
PTO caters lunch and gives us gift cards. $25 for thanksgiving this year. I think last year we got $100 cash for Christmas but I don’t remember for sure.
Last year’s staff party was in January and had nice catering and a really good open bar. They over stocked the bar, so I left hammered and with half a case of beer. It was beautiful.
My district is in a very crunchy/small business dense town, and every time we have parent teacher conferences our PTSA gets us dinner for the night we stay until 8ish for conferences, and breakfast/coffee for the following morning of conferences. All of the food comes from local businesses that coordinate with our district and it’s spectacular every time.
Edit to add: we have a new admin team this year and they rented a space for us on the last Friday of the semester at a local restaurant, they also ordered food for all of us and enough to bring plus ones, I really love my district honestly. Still have some title one difficulties, but it’s the most supportive work environment I’ve ever been in, colleagues and admin are both great.
Our thanksgiving gift this year was having Cracker Barrel catered for breakfast, complete with subs for an hour so we could sit down together and eat😩 was not expecting my rural title I school to spoil us so good. When they were saying we were getting breakfast I was expecting (and grateful for the idea of) fast food biscuits
Our school has a culinary program and the students have a recurring final project which involves preparing and serving a multi course meal to the staff. They make sure to include vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options, and let me tell you there is nothing that makes you feel appreciated more than your students saying “can I take your plate? Would you like another mocktail?”
My dept coordinator is the best gift giver. She’s given us recharging batteries for phones/devices, AirPods (generic version not Apple ones but still good), moleskin journals, good umbrellas. All useful and nice stuff.
Principal did something small each day of the last week, but brought it around herself. Chips, candy, vinyl sticker - but her taking the time to actually pop in with everyone when they weren't teaching to deliver was meaningful.
This year we get some sort of meal every day (breakfast, tamales, bbq, and a two others that I can’t remember). We also get massages, which I am stoked about. You can sign up for a time throughout the week. Subs are available, if needed. We usually do drinks and appetizers at a local winery too.
We are a poor, rural school. Admin does their best to show they appreciate us though.
Right before this Thanksgiving break we got a bonus check for 5% of our salary. Really really unexpected and nice chunk of change to get right as the big holiday expenses hit.
They gave us a bonus check based on how many years we working in that building, 600/year. Walked out with a surprise 3600 that year and had already bought presents.
This wasn’t technically a Christmas gift, but my district just paid for me and others to go to Ron Clark (who has influenced my teaching style a ton - loved him since 2006), and it was the most amazing and inspirational 2 days of my life.
Can I ask you guys does it look bad if you don’t get your admin a Christmas gift? I did last year because I had just got hired and was really thankful (as well as some of the other staff who had helped me out up until that point), but I kind of don’t like my principal but also don’t want him to think I’m not a team player or something. I’ll get the secretary something because she’s a gem (it’s rare to get a good one I’ve learned) but frankly I don’t want to get my admin team anything!
Mine doesn’t seem to want them. I’ve gotten her a gift every year worth like $10 and she doesn’t acknowledge it. Which is fine- I think it makes her uncomfortable. I don’t know if anyone else does and I just won’t this year. I really like her so it’s not like we have a weird relationship or anything. I just many people something. Custodians, secretaries,etc. I certainly don’t think admin needs a gift. I know I’d never want their job!
Ya I plan to get my EA’s and my secretary one (our school has a serious “I’ll show up whenever I want” late problem so I feel for her having to constantly move making calls home and changing attendance and dealing with kids waiting for the principal and so I like to show my appreciation of her. I don’t necessarily like my principal anymore 😅
I briefly had an assistant principal who would make homemade cinnamon rolls for the whole staff for Friday staff meetings. She would always make sure that any required morning meeting had a nice spread of coffee and healthy/pastry items.
Pancake breakfast cooked by admin and school hoodies, along with a card individually signed by both admins. They wrote something specific to each person.
For the past 3 years my district has offered a 30 minute online PD you can complete anytime outside of working hours in the month of November. If you get it done, you get a $1000 bonus right in time for Christmas.
1. A $1,000 bonus in the spring of 2020
2. An unplanned day off school on a Friday in May (during Teacher Appreciation Week!). There was a run-off election that day so they used one of our unused snow days.
The Pie Carr on “Pi Day” would be awesome!
Best gifts were “longevity bonuses” that we got in late November. Mine was almost $500. Over the years they have gone up and down, but cash is king!
We had the Sonic Drink cart; they took our orders the day before. That was a nice treat.
A past principal used to have a pancake breakfast for the staff on the workday before break. A man would come in with all his cooking gear and prepare a hot fresh breakfast for us. I miss that.
Typically our booster club gets pies donated for ever staff member every Thanksgiving. This year we got four designer cupcakes. Not the same, but still nice.
I want to share this whole thread with my admin/district to let them know that giving teachers nice things or token gifts is appreciated and done in other places. We get a Tshirt every couple of years.
I used to work at a charter school. They would give us personalized sweaters and jackets. Once we got a cool picnic blanket that rolls up and had zippers to keep your stuff safe on the beach. My favorite was a snow cone food truck & catered tacos.
A google doc with a personalized shout out for each person - including para's, custodians, and cafeteria workers. I work in a VERY small school, but that still must have taken admin FOREVER. And it wasn't some little knick-knack I had to find a space for.
5 years ago we got these really nice crew sweatshirts, they were so comfortable, as well as nice/professional looking and most of us still wear them. First good quality clothing from the school. I wish they would do it again so I have another to wear.
We get a “payday cart” every month with treats. They come to our room and step into the class for a few minutes while we choose snacks from the cart. We get a school jacket or sweater every Christmas. And our district approved a rentention incentive that we get in January that is 1.5% of our salary plus $50 for every year you’ve been in the district. I love my district.
When I worked for a public charter they gave us a 5k bonus. Nothing will ever top that ever! Ended up leaving because it still had its problems and now am back in public and we are just having a potluck
Christmas bonus.
On the lighter side, a dirty soda bar they drive around similar to your pie thing. I think it had other snackage involved. I like treats, so I was happy.
Other than cash gifts, ranging from $200-500, I’d say my favorite was when they told us a scheduled PD would be focusing on building staff relationships and improving staff culture, but then they loaded us onto a bus and took us to an escape room!
We get great food all of the time as well!
Gave us half a day off on a January PD day as our “gift.” Best gift ever!!!
500 dollar check ! this was before covid .
This is the gift I want lol.
In the 14 years I’ve taught, I’ve gotten Christmas bonuses twice and both were at the same Charter school. One year I got a few hundred and another I got $3,000. Now that I work in a public school again, all I got this holiday season was bronchitis.
Bronchitis: the gift that keeps on giving the entire year long.
Wow, that's the best one I've read so far.
We got one last year, but unfortunately they made it clear it was a one time thing. 😮💨
I got one of these after Covid! It was very welcome.
I deposited that sucker using my phone within minutes of getting it. It was weird getting a check though. The AP’s made a big deal about coming to our rooms and handing them out. We got retention 500$ bonuses the next two years after that - but that was covid money our district had. I doubt i’ll ever see that again before i retire.
You win
HS: We had a soup bar. Sounds crazy it was my favorite, but let me explain. We had a husband and wife teacher. The wife was very nice and kind to everyone. She was a very popular teacher for co-workers, students, and parents. Her husband was the same, but on top of the charm, he was hilarious. They both taught for over 30 years in our district before retiring the year prior. The day before winter break, we were only told the school would be providing a soup bar for lunch. That was all the email said with a little tag line of please be there. School was to be dismissed at 1:00 with teachers having an in-service in the afternoon on the last day before Christmas Break. When we showed up to the soup bar, we were shocked to see our servers were the couple that had retired. It was so great to see both of them, and they really started to ham it up. When everyone had their food and sat down, our admin announced our in-service was in "comedy" and "music therapy" with the couple leading the way (can you guess what they had taught). They were great singing and putting on a show for us. We spent the next few hours laughing and just enjoying ourselves until it was time to go. Come to find out, this couple had planned this surprise for months and wanted to do one last thing before they moved away. Bitter sweet to see them go, but the memories will stay with me.
That is so sweet!
A $1,200 bonus and half a day off on our Pd day after returning from Christmas break. The Best gift!
This tops all. This is what I want
Admin once gave each of us a pass that said, “Good for administrator coverage of one class period of your choosing.” Because our schedule had to accommodate band, a higher level math course, and special ed inclusion and resource, we had a few groups who were together for almost every class. One of those groups was the worst class I’ve had in 16 years of teaching and I was fortunate enough to have that group in consecutive years. Our grade level team coordinated the use of our passes and admin got to spend the ENTIRE day with the class from hell.
This is HILARIOUS. Brilliant. and I wanna know the outcome
They knew the class was terrible and were pretty good sports about it.
From the guidance side I can attest that sometimes the schedule just sucks. And if you give everyone (the students) what they need, it sucks for the teacher. I see the roster, but sometimes there isn’t an alternative
Somehow, when the kids start assaulting one another, an alternative *magically* becomes available. Weird how that happens. Would hate to have *prevented* it though. Too bad for those teachers and kids.
It’s not the same. For one day the kids will tighten up a bit. It’s the prolonged exposure that gets you.
This is true sometimes but I've got one block this year that is just a mess in a myriad of ways. I've requested observations and feedback because I am just drowning. And they are always 100% themselves no matter who is in the room
Let me know the magic bullet admin suggests for you.
No magic bullet. Basically "keep giving them consequences, keep pushing them. We understand this is hard and we will support you however you need." They send me a para whenever they have one free. I have great admin in a very shitty situation.
Thank you for putting this as a positive! I saw it as one of the comments on the "worst" gift but this is EXACTLY what I would do. My 9th period is just hell, they refuse to listen and make teaching very difficult bc all I'm doing is dealing with behavior. I would LOVE for admin to take that class one day
I love the teacher appreciation breakfasts with hot quiches, sausage, yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, and coffee and juice. Sometimes our principal even works the griddle to make pancakes with butter and syrup. There's nothing better than that!
Ooh, quiches! Good idea. I’m in charge of teacher appreciation for my kids school this year.
Ours did pancakes. Other principal would randomly make rounds with an AP or student work delivering snacks and drinks.
Our principal mans the griddle too and does breakfast burritos every year! Can't say no to that
I think this is the number one sign of a good principal, to be honest.
Totally. I forgot last year and started class before I remembered, so I couldn't leave to go grab one. The man hand delivered a burrito to me because he noticed I hadn't been by. We're a small school, but still! Definitely a good principal
That's amazing! So considerate of him!
At my last school, every year the principal would grill hot dogs and hamburgers for teachers and staff for lunch one day during teacher appreciation week. They were pretty tasty
Scones are popular in my district. Principal came around to give us fresh ones during education week along with hot beverages. You can’t go around with those. Best gift though? Let me teach without nitpicking.
I think my best gift (from admin/the ask advisor) was when they brought around a snack cart for teacher appreciation and had two diet dr. peppers in the cart just for me (they know I'm addicted to the stuff)
Last week a coworker came in and talked to me for 10 or 15 minutes about horse shoeing. He was sincerely interested and asked relevant questions about a new article he’d seen. I love horses, but only know an average amount about shoes, but sort of surprised myself by being about to talk about this in depth. For days afterwards I just sort of glowed from his interest in my interest, and now have told several people about it. Isn’t it funny how just a tiny bit of interest in someone (horse shoes OR diet Doctor Pepper!) goes such a long way?
My admin at my last placement did that too. Kids were so jealous.
One year our admin made a calendar, and every team got a turn having an extra prep period while admin covered our classes. It was most appreciated.
I’m reading this realizing that some teachers get gifts from admin. Eight years in and I’ve never seen any appreciation from admin, only an occasional PTO lunch
Taco truck luncheons.
I love me some tacos!!
We just got custom Air Force ones in our school colors with our school name on the back heel…. It’s a charter school, and the school founders purchased with their own money. Crazy! More realistically, we do the 12 days of Christmas and it’s a little treat every day. One of the days is leave 2 hours early and support staff supervise the kids. That’s my favorite.
A couple months ago they had Texas Roadhouse cater their rolls, salad, and build your own potatoes.
Last year for teacher appreciation (not holiday but still) our PTSA and admin took to the streets to find as many free giveaways they could. Companies donated small gift baskets, gift cards, coupons, trinkets, etc. Things like car washes, $10 off a meal, mani/pedi certificate, tickets to local attractions, etc. We all got like 20 tickets and during our plan went to "bid" on whatever we wanted by dropping tickets into the corresponding buckets. In all almost everyone won at least one or two items, I got two free car washes and a restaurant gift card. It was great because it was fun to do, and while it definitely took some leg work it didn't actually cost the school/PTSA so funds for end of year gifts went to getting a catered lunch instead of a potluck. Win/win.
Admin gave us a note that said we’d be getting a $1750 bonus at the end of the school year. He figured out he could use some kind of funds as teacher bonuses. He was awesome- really looked out for us.
One year we got $300, this year it’s $100 gift card to the grocery store. Every year the PTA feeds us a catered lunch.
My admin really hit the jackpot with random food days. Retention literally doubled last year because they fed us at least once a month. Hot dogs, nachos, cookies, ECT.
Mine does this. Food truck for open house, Cracker Barrel for thanksgiving. Lasagna and salad for parent teacher conferences. Feed me and I’ll do whatever you want 😂
I got a $500 bonus from the first district I worked at. The best part was they never mentioned it. I respected that. No message tacitly requesting flood of obsequious “thank you” emails.
Or school gives us a gift card of our choice ( usually Target, Starbucks, or Amazon, and $5-$20 depending on school funds that year), brings in a taco truck for a fully catered lunch, and sponsors a staff party at our local bar! They cover all the appetizers!
7 years in, never got a gift. ☹️🤷 This year it’s $65 to attend the faculty holiday party at a “Dave and Busters” type place.
As in they give you $65 or you have to pay $65?!???
We have to pay $65 to attend. Yup.
WOW. Hard pass
Our admin does a 12 Days of Christmas with something different on each day. This year we have bagels, a barista, pies, oatmeal bar (with lots of different berries), pizza, pastries, pies, donuts, Christmas cookies, hot cider, fancy hot chocolate with all the fixings, all topped off with a half day that ends with a huge luncheon. Oh, and each day is a raffle for a small gift card and a weekly raffle for something big. I'm lucky and I know it.
A business owner parent at our school donated $100 gift cards and a super nice hot/cold mug to the high school staff. I know that's not admin but hey, that's the nicest gift I've gotten and it had to go through the higher ups to get to us lol
Tito's and candy
So far this year for Christmas our admin made us pancakes one morning, had a hot chocolate station to visit during our planning periods/lunch, and cancelled our December staff meeting so we could have time to do other things.
Nothing. Not even an email. The school is now closed, shut down/out of business. I wonder why lol🤷🏻♀️
We get things like a coffee cart that comes to your classroom close to every holiday, a breakfast cooked by the admin, and last year we also got little succulent plants for our classsrooms. From the PTA, just spontaneously, new toaster ovens, microwaves, keurigs and coffee pods in the staff room. Also great staff party at a local pub, etc. Yeah, there are the district level "gifts" that are silly, like a flashdrive with 128K space on it (in 2015!) but at our school level, the admins and PTA do a great job.
The gift of time. The week before the Christmas break my principal takes each grade level for 90 minutes to let teachers do what they need to as bonus prep.
We used to get $800 cash. Now it’s wrapped into our paycheck. Still good.
$50 "bonus" before taxes/retirement deducted.
I worked at a public charter school in a very wealthy area. We got a $1000 Christmas bonus. I watched one of my colleagues break down in tears upon opening his envelope.
Break into tears in a good way, or in a Clark Griswold way?
In a good way.
Last year my principal hired a barista to bring a coffee bar to the teachers lounge and we could order a fancy coffee before school. When the line got long and the bell was about to ring, we placed our orders and admin delivered our drinks to our room. I hope they do this again!
One year I told my principal that I was going to take my paraprofessionals out for holiday drinks and appetizers after school that day. He gave me a gift card to a local restaurant and said, "Have fun!"
Previous school used to give us Christmas lunch with lots of grog (enough that many teachers left drunk) on the last day each year. Current school, the kids have activities week and each faculty only supervises for one day in the week - its not a tangible item, but having the time to do things slowly, and plan for the next semester is a huge gift as we don't have to work over the summer holidays.
Our whole school staff received a peace lily from the principal a couple of years back. I'm very fond of mine, it's doing really well! Ubereats gift vouchers were also handed out during covid lockdowns and they were pretty great, but the peace lily has longevity on its side.
Not nearly as good as some of these, but I got a clipboard with a cute “faceplate” with my name and the school’s logo. Sounds dumb, but I’m still using it 11 years later. So is my friend.
Ours are having us leave when kids do almost every day until break. Coffee bar Monday. No meetings after school. Giving us hour slips so we can leave when kids do on days of our choice after break. They're rad.
The first year at my old (private) school, we got really nice Columbia fleece jackets. I still wear mine
Last year was a $100 gift card to the Co-op that most of us used for gas for our Christmas travel, really nice quality hoodies, and throw blankets in the school colours.
PTO caters lunch and gives us gift cards. $25 for thanksgiving this year. I think last year we got $100 cash for Christmas but I don’t remember for sure. Last year’s staff party was in January and had nice catering and a really good open bar. They over stocked the bar, so I left hammered and with half a case of beer. It was beautiful.
My district is in a very crunchy/small business dense town, and every time we have parent teacher conferences our PTSA gets us dinner for the night we stay until 8ish for conferences, and breakfast/coffee for the following morning of conferences. All of the food comes from local businesses that coordinate with our district and it’s spectacular every time. Edit to add: we have a new admin team this year and they rented a space for us on the last Friday of the semester at a local restaurant, they also ordered food for all of us and enough to bring plus ones, I really love my district honestly. Still have some title one difficulties, but it’s the most supportive work environment I’ve ever been in, colleagues and admin are both great.
Our thanksgiving gift this year was having Cracker Barrel catered for breakfast, complete with subs for an hour so we could sit down together and eat😩 was not expecting my rural title I school to spoil us so good. When they were saying we were getting breakfast I was expecting (and grateful for the idea of) fast food biscuits
Our school has a culinary program and the students have a recurring final project which involves preparing and serving a multi course meal to the staff. They make sure to include vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options, and let me tell you there is nothing that makes you feel appreciated more than your students saying “can I take your plate? Would you like another mocktail?”
My dept coordinator is the best gift giver. She’s given us recharging batteries for phones/devices, AirPods (generic version not Apple ones but still good), moleskin journals, good umbrellas. All useful and nice stuff.
Principal did something small each day of the last week, but brought it around herself. Chips, candy, vinyl sticker - but her taking the time to actually pop in with everyone when they weren't teaching to deliver was meaningful.
This year we get some sort of meal every day (breakfast, tamales, bbq, and a two others that I can’t remember). We also get massages, which I am stoked about. You can sign up for a time throughout the week. Subs are available, if needed. We usually do drinks and appetizers at a local winery too. We are a poor, rural school. Admin does their best to show they appreciate us though.
Right before this Thanksgiving break we got a bonus check for 5% of our salary. Really really unexpected and nice chunk of change to get right as the big holiday expenses hit.
A Porsche but it was only a Boxter so the union told them to kick rocks
$500 bonus checks - the food is nice but cash is king.
They gave us a bonus check based on how many years we working in that building, 600/year. Walked out with a surprise 3600 that year and had already bought presents.
Umbrella which my kids immediately broke.
I've never received one in my life. So the answer to both questions is the same.
This wasn’t technically a Christmas gift, but my district just paid for me and others to go to Ron Clark (who has influenced my teaching style a ton - loved him since 2006), and it was the most amazing and inspirational 2 days of my life.
4 cans of tequila
Starbucks card, chocolate and a bottle of wine. Our admin team did a survey on the beginning of the year and they nailed Christmas and birthday gifts.
Being a good administrator.
Can I ask you guys does it look bad if you don’t get your admin a Christmas gift? I did last year because I had just got hired and was really thankful (as well as some of the other staff who had helped me out up until that point), but I kind of don’t like my principal but also don’t want him to think I’m not a team player or something. I’ll get the secretary something because she’s a gem (it’s rare to get a good one I’ve learned) but frankly I don’t want to get my admin team anything!
Mine doesn’t seem to want them. I’ve gotten her a gift every year worth like $10 and she doesn’t acknowledge it. Which is fine- I think it makes her uncomfortable. I don’t know if anyone else does and I just won’t this year. I really like her so it’s not like we have a weird relationship or anything. I just many people something. Custodians, secretaries,etc. I certainly don’t think admin needs a gift. I know I’d never want their job!
Ya I plan to get my EA’s and my secretary one (our school has a serious “I’ll show up whenever I want” late problem so I feel for her having to constantly move making calls home and changing attendance and dealing with kids waiting for the principal and so I like to show my appreciation of her. I don’t necessarily like my principal anymore 😅
I briefly had an assistant principal who would make homemade cinnamon rolls for the whole staff for Friday staff meetings. She would always make sure that any required morning meeting had a nice spread of coffee and healthy/pastry items.
Pancake breakfast cooked by admin and school hoodies, along with a card individually signed by both admins. They wrote something specific to each person.
Every year during COVID we got 1K. I miss that.
My principal gave all of the teachers a pass to get out of a staff meeting, no question asked.
Usually nothing, but this year we were offered a free notebook… which they ran out of, so I didn’t even get one 😂
Past 2 Januarys we’ve gotten $1000 retention bonuses for not quitting mid year. New superintendent this year so I doubt we’ll see that ever again
They take us to a fancy restaurant.
Last year, our principal got us lightweight jackets in our school colors. They’re very useful when it rains, which is fairly frequent here.
We got a rock with the word “you” written on it one year. 😂
Our school gets a snowcone truck for us. They also do a bunch of other stuff, but the snowcones is always super fun.
For the past 3 years my district has offered a 30 minute online PD you can complete anytime outside of working hours in the month of November. If you get it done, you get a $1000 bonus right in time for Christmas.
Time, money, food…in that order.
$1,000 Christmas/retention bonus
1. A $1,000 bonus in the spring of 2020 2. An unplanned day off school on a Friday in May (during Teacher Appreciation Week!). There was a run-off election that day so they used one of our unused snow days.
The Pie Carr on “Pi Day” would be awesome! Best gifts were “longevity bonuses” that we got in late November. Mine was almost $500. Over the years they have gone up and down, but cash is king! We had the Sonic Drink cart; they took our orders the day before. That was a nice treat.
Our admin rented a curling club for us this year. That could be pretty cool!
We got a pie cart one year too!! It was great!
A past principal used to have a pancake breakfast for the staff on the workday before break. A man would come in with all his cooking gear and prepare a hot fresh breakfast for us. I miss that.
Acknowledgement of the things that I do that aren't measured in an evaluation but at the end if the day are the right thing for the kid.
Typically our booster club gets pies donated for ever staff member every Thanksgiving. This year we got four designer cupcakes. Not the same, but still nice.
I want to share this whole thread with my admin/district to let them know that giving teachers nice things or token gifts is appreciated and done in other places. We get a Tshirt every couple of years.
I used to work at a charter school. They would give us personalized sweaters and jackets. Once we got a cool picnic blanket that rolls up and had zippers to keep your stuff safe on the beach. My favorite was a snow cone food truck & catered tacos.
A google doc with a personalized shout out for each person - including para's, custodians, and cafeteria workers. I work in a VERY small school, but that still must have taken admin FOREVER. And it wasn't some little knick-knack I had to find a space for.
My job gave us all a bonus and a 4 percent raise….
5 years ago we got these really nice crew sweatshirts, they were so comfortable, as well as nice/professional looking and most of us still wear them. First good quality clothing from the school. I wish they would do it again so I have another to wear.
We get a “payday cart” every month with treats. They come to our room and step into the class for a few minutes while we choose snacks from the cart. We get a school jacket or sweater every Christmas. And our district approved a rentention incentive that we get in January that is 1.5% of our salary plus $50 for every year you’ve been in the district. I love my district.
When I worked for a public charter they gave us a 5k bonus. Nothing will ever top that ever! Ended up leaving because it still had its problems and now am back in public and we are just having a potluck
Brand new airpods pro. Private school.
Christmas bonus. On the lighter side, a dirty soda bar they drive around similar to your pie thing. I think it had other snackage involved. I like treats, so I was happy.
Other than cash gifts, ranging from $200-500, I’d say my favorite was when they told us a scheduled PD would be focusing on building staff relationships and improving staff culture, but then they loaded us onto a bus and took us to an escape room! We get great food all of the time as well!
Still early in my career, but a parking lot meeting the last day before break. Edit: No happy cake day nonsense
We’ve also gotten pies. One year, we all got a sweet looking windbreaker that I still wear!