We encourage your students to be creative with their thank-yous and/or artwork! Depending on the students, we recommend a written note, a piece of artwork, or both. Your donors will love seeing the finished products, and it might inspire them to support your classroom again! Remember: regardless of grade level, a minimum of 5 individual student thank-yous must be sent for each donor who qualifies to receive student thank-yous.
Table of Contents:
Pre-K and Kindergarten Students:
- Individual drawings, posters, or artwork, made separately by each student (using the materials funded for your project, if possible!)
- Thank-you templates you prepare for each student, including the donor’s salutation and space for the student to draw a picture or write an individual note. You can always write captions on each letter to help explain what the student was trying to express!
- Coloring cut-outs: for example, if your classroom received books, you can print out basic coloring images of books for students to color or decorate. If possible, they can sign their first name!
Note: if students can’t yet write and only artwork will be sent, we encourage you to include a personal note to help explain how your classroom created their thank-yous and express the learning opportunities the donor helped make possible.
Students who are comfortable writing can include short thank-you notes along with their drawings.
For developing writers, a short thank-you can be accompanied by artwork that displays how the new materials were used or how the student felt about the donation.
Students who are unable to write can still show their appreciation by creating art using crayons, markers, finger-paints or other media. You can then include a brief description or caption for each piece explaining what the student was trying to express. In this example, the students sent in adorable paper bag puppets!
Elementary Students:
- Short thank-yous (roughly ½ of a page) written to the best of the students’ abilities
- Drawings to supplement
This thank-you is a little light on text, but more than makes up for it with incredible drawings. This student wrote a short message expressing his gratitude, and then drew some of the animals he learned about using his class’ new iPad.
Middle/High School Students:
- Notes that specifically mention the project or experience that the donation made possible (roughly ¾ to 1 page)
Students in middle and high school often write their thank-yous on computers, but hand-made thank-yous are still the gold standard. This student wrote a primarily verbal thank-you, but decorated her letter with artistic designs.
Even a thank-you without any artistic additions can still pack a punch. This particular letter has a grammar goofs, but the sentiment is clearly expressed and authentic.