When is Teacher Appreciation Week 2025? How to celebrate the educators in your life
Second to parents, teachers probably spend the most time with youngsters, playing a huge role in shaping the minds of tomorrow. And now it's time to show them a little love by celebrating them during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Here's what to know about Teacher Appreciation Week and what you can do for the teachers in your life.
In 2025, Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5 to 9. It's always the first full week of May, according to Teachers of Tomorrow.
The week is a time to show teachers and educators appreciation for their dedication and hard work. According to Teachers of Tomorrow, they take on a "tremendous responsibility" shaping the minds of their students and preparing them for the future.
In the 1950s, a teacher named Mattie Whyte Woodridge began a push for a national day to honor teachers, according to Teachers of Tomorrow.
Eleanor Roosevelt took up the cause, and in 1953 persuaded Congress to establish a day of recognition. Then, in 1986, the National Education Association successfully lobbied to turn it into a full week.
Teachers of Tomorrow has many suggestions on how parents and students can show their appreciation.
Students can write a letter to their teacher or create a presentation. They can bring a meaningful gift, like the teacher's favorite candy, a personalized coffee mug or gift certificate to the teacher's favorite store. Students can also organize a surprise celebration or a class gift.
Teach Appreciation Week isn't just for students.
Parents can volunteer at the school, write a letter or create a social media post supporting their child's favorite teacher, or help decorate the classroom.
The National PTA also suggests donating school supplies. The PTA has a toolkit available to help throw a little creativity into cards, certificates, fliers and social media graphics to thank teachers.
The National Education Association is looking for stories of extraordinary educators. You can submit one online as well as share a message on social media, tagging @NEAToday, and using the hashtag #ThankATeacher.
Teach for America has a long list of deals available for Teacher Appreciation Week, including:
: For faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels, Apple offers a range of special savings and pricing on Apple Music, Macs and iPads, select accessories, and more.
: Avid's software is an industry leader in video mixing, sound engineering, and music writing. The company offers educational pricing on Avid's Media Composer Ultimate, Pro Tools Ultimate, and Sibelius Ultimate.
: Teachers can receive free custom quotes for their classrooms, special pricing on shipping, bulk orders and more when they sign up for the BAM Educator Card.
: Costco provides a Costco Shop Card worth up to $40 to teachers who join as new members.
: Save 10% year-round with HPB's Educator's Discount Card.
: Create beautiful instructional walkthroughs and explainers for students using Loom's video messaging tool. Sign up with a .edu email address to get a free Loom Education plan.
: Teachers get 15% off purchases at the craft superstore.
: Find affordable Windows 10 devices that are built for education and get access to offers and discounts on software and tools designed to meet the needs of every student.
: Educators can get up to 45% off classroom subscriptions.
Meanwhile, Teachers of Tomorrow's list of deals includes discounts for vacations, software, school supplies and more. The organization said these were the best deals of 2025:
Office Depot/OfficeMax: Offering 30% back in Bonus Rewards on qualifying in-store purchases. This is a great opportunity to stock up on classroom essentials.
Staples: Teachers can save 20% off their in-store purchases at Staples by showing a teacher ID and using a coupon. You can also earn rewards through the Staples Classroom Rewards Program.
Buffalo Wild Wings: Buffalo Wild Wings offers teachers and school staff a 20% discount on their entire order with a valid ID.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Teacher Appreciation Week 2025: Deals, discounts, gift ideas and more
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Its front includes the color purple, an imprint of The Great Seal of the United States to the right of Lincoln's face, and a band of stars. On the back, the bold purple '5' watermark at the bottom right stands most conspicuously, along with a sprinkle of yellow 5s to the top right, among its security features. Prior to Alexander Hamilton, a variety of notable figures appeared on the $10 bill, including politician Daniel Webster, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and President Andrew Jackson. But starting in 1929, Hamilton became the statesman of choice, and the imprinted portrait you see of him today is based on a 1805 painting by John Trumbull. As the nation's first Treasury secretary, Hamilton is one of two non-presidents to be featured on U.S. paper currency (the other is Benjamin Franklin). While Hamilton's portrait is seen on the front, the reverse shows the U.S. Treasury Building. 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President Joe Biden's administration said it was 'exploring ways to speed up' the release of the Tubman $20 in January 2021, but the change isn't scheduled to take effect until 2030. Since 1913, Civil War hero and the 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant has been the face of the $50. While many people wonder why Grant was chosen to be on this particular bill, no one really knows the answer. The reverse side of Grant's portrait features the U.S. Capitol, though the earliest iterations included images of Panama, a merchant, and a battleship. Blue and red colors were added on both sides of the bill beginning in 2004, and micro-printed words such as 'Fifty' and 'USA' surround Grant's face, along with a watermark of the American flag to his right. Benjamin Franklin had many titles—Founding Father, inventor, diplomat—but U.S. president wasn't one of them. Still, Franklin began gracing one of the most desirable of denominations, the $100 bill, starting in 1914. 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Santa Fe teachers need affordable housing, but plans to build it have stalled
Retired Santa Fe art teacher and longtime union leader Grace Mayer has watched for years as her fellow educators get priced out of housing in the city. 'Pretty soon it's just going to be an exclusive community, like Aspen. If the people who make this place work — the nurses, teachers, bus drivers — can't afford to live here, then what's left?' said Mayer, who served for a decade as president of the National Education Association's Santa Fe branch. While some rural school districts in New Mexico are building state-funded housing to help ensure teachers can live in the communities where they work, larger districts like Santa Fe Public Schools face similar challenges but don't have access to funds from New Mexico's Teacher Housing Pilot Program, reserved for more remote locales. Rising rents have been outpacing teacher salary growth in Santa Fe for years, spurring plans for a housing complex on district-owned land. But so far, fundraising efforts have fallen short. The Santa Fe school board declared a 'staffing crisis' in 2021, calling on the Legislature to boost teacher salaries and urging local governments to create affordable housing for educators. In 2023, the board passed a 'housing crisis' resolution, warning housing costs were threatening high-quality learning. Work groups began plans for a 40-unit housing complex on a 7-acre lot between Sweeney Elementary School and Ortiz Middle School on the city's south side, and the district secured $815,000 in state capital outlay in 2023 and $750,000 in 2024 toward the estimated $15 million project. But it wasn't nearly enough to begin construction. 'We kind of stalled because we hadn't received enough money to fully build out the program,' said Josh Granata, general counsel and head of government relations for Santa Fe Public Schools. 'So, we were looking at ways to raise money and just kind of reached a point where we have to kind of switch gears.' Although board resolutions had advocated for collaboration with the city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County governments, Granata said those talks have gone silent. ' Prior to this, we've worked with the city and the county to try to see if we could collaborate,' he said. 'But we were running into problems because of the definition of affordable housing — and how school employees kind of fall outside of that federal definition in terms of how much money they make.' 4984994_022018SchoolBoard_80_CMYK.jpg (copy) Santa Fe Public Schools interim Superintendent Veronica García Still, interim Superintendent Veronica García said housing remains 'a board priority.' The district plans to revisit the project this summer and determine next steps for funds earmarked for the project. The district, García noted, also has a partnership with Homewise Inc., a nonprofit that offers up to $40,000 in down payment assistance to qualifying educators through an anonymous donor-funded program. Mayer argued such programs, while valuable, favor families with children and don't fully serve the needs of younger professionals — many of whom earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but not enough to afford Santa Fe's market rates. 'The city sort of doesn't look at middle-income people or professionals,' she said. 'We keep telling them: 'We don't qualify.' ' According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the median gross rent for a Santa Fe one-bedroom was $945 in 2014. From 2019 to 2023, the agency reported, the number ballooned to $1,380 — the most recent data available. Since then, reports indicate rent has only increased in the city, with an average of $1,799 in April 2025, according to the website RentCafe. At a 2023 school board meeting, Mayer pointed out 60% of the district's staff lived outside Santa Fe. Current residency rates were not available from the district or NEA-Santa Fe. That high commuter rate affects retention, Mayer and the district have noted. Mayer said some educators working in Santa Fe and living elsewhere reluctantly left for jobs in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho to cut down on the daily commute. For those commuters who stick it out — enduring long drives and train rides — there's a limit in their ability to participate in community life and school events like staff meetings, clubs and sports, she said. Now retired, Mayer continues to advocate for housing solutions at the city level — noting her frustration at what she called an 'absurd' belief in 'trickle-down' housing — the idea that building high-end rentals will eventually ease pressure on the market. It's a long-held idea by those in local government she said, and not one that has borne results. 'If you don't fix this,' she recalled telling a city councilor recently, 'and start building things immediately, your city's gonna die … because there are no people to work in these professions.'
