• Give your teacher's aide a special gift.school image by Jerome Dancette from Fotolia.com
  
  At the end of the year, it is customary for students to give their teachers a gift. If you are a teacher who benefits from the help of a teacher's aide, then consider giving him or her a gift as well. Students may not remember to bring the teacher's aide a gift because he or she often works behind the scenes on work and projects for the class. Let the aide know how much you have appreciated his or her hard work with a special gift.
  
  

Dollar salad

• Buy a salad bowl with matching salad utensils from a store. Then ask each student to bring in a dollar bill, advises Thrifty Fun. Lightly crumple the dollar bills and put them in the bowl. The "dollar salad" will resemble a real salad. Place the salad tongs in the bowl with a note to the teacher's aide that you are thankful for his or her help through the "toss and turn" of the school year.
  
  

Appreciation basket

• Fill a basket with snack items that you can make or buy. You can mix up the selection, making some goodies and buying others. Place handwritten labels and tags on the goodies with school-themed names such as "A+ apple muffins," "ABC cookies" or "scientifically super sour candies." Be creative with naming your goodies. Include a greeting card thanking the teacher's aide for all of his or her hard work throughout the year.
  
  

First aid kit

• Fill a plastic or metal first aid kit, a model of which you can get at a local craft store, with treats and school-themed goodies. Some ideas include a bunch of lollipops to remind the aide that you appreciated his or her sweetness, a box of dark chocolate to remind the aide that he or she took the bitterness out of the day or a pack of bubblegum as a reminder that the aide really made the classroom pop with his or her creativity. In your greeting card, perhaps tell the aide how he or she helped bring the classroom together.