“Not all superheroes have capes, some have teaching degrees.”
-Unknown
It’s almost that time of year again where the community comes together to thank their teachers for all of their hard work.
Teacher Appreciation Week is that wonderful time of year where students, parents, administrators, and even other teachers take time to thank teachers for their service.
Some of the common gifts teachers will receive around this time would be:
- Mugs
- Gift Cards
- Cards
- Letters
- And More!
But maybe this year you are wanting something a little different. This year especially has been crazy and teachers have struggled to prioritize their self-care.
So why not help teachers prioritize themselves with these 9 Teacher Appreciation Week Self-Care Gifts For Teachers.
Whether you are getting a gift for your teacher bestie, your student’s teacher or your staff these gifts are a great way to show that you care about their wellbeing.
Today we are going to cover:
- What is Teacher Appreciation Week?
- What is Self-Care For Teachers
- Why are Self-Care Gifts for Teachers Important
- 12 Teacher Appreciation Week Self-Care Gifts for Teachers
So let’s get started!
(This post may contain affiliate or external links. Meaning I get a commision if you purchase anything through my links at no cost to you. Read full disclosure here.)
What is Teacher Appreciation Week?
Teacher Appreciation Week is a week where the nation honors its teachers.
It originated in 1953 thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt who convinced Congress that there was a need for a specific day in which teachers were celebrated.
Since then, the nation has continued to celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week and National Teacher Appreciation Day during the first week of May.
Teacher Appreciation Day is within the first Tuesday of that week of National Teacher Appreciation Week.
According to The National Association, National Teacher Day or Teacher Appreciation Week should be known as a “day for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives.”
What is Self-Care for Teachers?
Self-Care is the action of preserving or improving one’s health.
In other words, it is prioritizing your health first so that you can better preserve your energy and perform better as a teacher.
It’s the ability to make habits that make sure all the different aspects of your health are taken care of.
What many people don’t know is that there are four different kinds of self-care. These include physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual self-care.
In other words, teacher self-care is incorporating and maintaining healthy habits that allow teachers to preserve their health.
Teacher self-care is the act of prioritizing one’s health and setting healthy boundaries to achieve a healthy work and life balance.
Why are Self-Care Gifts For Teachers Important?
So often, teachers struggle to maintain and incorporate self-care practices that allow them to prevent burnout.
In fact, a recent study was done by the Middle-Class Dad found that 41.3% of teachers new teachers leave the profession within the first five years.
One of the top reasons teachers leave the profession is because of the burnout rate teachers reach during the school year.
Therefore by giving your teachers a gift that helps them prioritize their health, you are showing your support in their journey to maintaining self-care.
Hence, many teachers struggle to set prioritizing their health and need their community support in advocating for their health.
That’s why giving your teacher a gift that symbolizes that you care about their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health is so important!
Teacher Appreciation Week Self-Care Gifts for Teachers
Here are the top Teacher Appreciation Week Gifts that you can give your teachers to show that you care about their self-care.
Teacher Appreciation Week Gift #1: Journal
One of the best ideas for a Teacher Appreciation Gift is a Journal.
While teaching, teachers can experience a lot of devastating things that they cannot share or can be hard to talk about.
That’s why having a journal is so important for emotional and psychological self-care.
Another reason a journal is a great gift for teacher appreciation week is teachers can reflect on their day and write down 3 to 5 things that they are grateful for.
This can be very impactful while trying to have a positive or abundant mindset as a teacher.
Personal Note or Card
While this may not seem like one of the best self-care gifts for teachers, it is, and here is why!
Teachers may struggle with imposter syndrome or feeling like no one notices all the things that they do.
Hence why a personal note thanking them for something makes a great gift for Teacher Appreciation Week.
Therefore by sending them a handmade card you are reassuring them what a huge impact they are making.
Water Bottle Accountability
Another great gift for Teacher Appreciation Week is an accountability water bottle.
Very often teachers do not drink enough water because they may simply forget or be too busy.
Hence why giving them an Accountability Water Bottle makes such great self-care gifts for teachers!
This helps teachers prioritize their physical self-care by ensuring they have the appropriate water intake.
Inspirational Posters
Another option for self-care gifts for teachers is to get inspirational posters.
Teachers sometimes need the extra reminder of how extraordinary they are. Hence why inspirational posters make such great gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week.
This is a great gift to help support emotional and physiological teacher self-care.
Pro Tip: If you are a parent have your student sign the back of the poster and date it so that your teacher will always see it and reflect on how much of an impact your student had on them.
Books
It’s no surprise that many teachers like to read. Hence why a great gift for Teacher Appreciation Week or Day is a good book.
There are so many great books out there for teachers, especially when it comes to maintaining habits and avoiding teacher burnout in the classroom.
Here are a couple of the best books that would make wonderful self-care gifts for teachers.
Subscription
Is your Yoga bestie big into meditating? Perhaps you could give them a subscription to an app like Simple Habit.
I am not an affiliate but this app is amazing!
You just pick how long you want to meditate, do yoga for and what you want to work on and the app does the rest.
A subscription like this is a great way to help teachers prioritize spiritual and emotional self-care!
Gift Card
Want to get something easy that you don’t have to think about?
Gift cards can be great self-care gifts for teachers.
If you know your teacher is a reader you can always get them a Barnes and Noble Gift Card for psychological self-care.
Or are they really big into outdoors or fitness? What about a Big 5 Gift Card?
There are so many ways a gift card can say a thousand words.
Personalized Teacher Bag
Teachers LOVE teacher bags!
Why not get them a personalized one that tells them how amazing they are?
A bag with a powerful quote can help remind their teachers of their worth and emotional self-care.
Hence, why personalized items in general make great Teacher Appreciation gifts!
The Final Teacher Appreciation Week Gift: A Class for two!
Are you looking for a gift for your teacher Bestie and want to do something together?
Why not consider doing a class together!
You can get anything from a Yoga Class, Kickboxing, Sip, and Paint, all of these make great teacher self-care gifts while incorporating healthy habits for both of you.
Plus who doesn’t like spending quality time with one another?
Overall
Overall there are so many things that make wonderful gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week or Teacher Appreciation Day.
Things like journals, classes, personalized items, accountability items, and more make great self-care gifts for teachers.
And if you are a teacher yourself and need some help with burnout download this “Ultimate Self-Care Guide for Primary Teachers” where you get over 40 ideas for incorporating self-care into your life.
I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed creating it, and I will talk to you soon!
Love,
Helena
AKA
