100+ Thank You Teacher Messages & Quotes

teacher appreciation header

A great teacher is a treasure to students, parents, and the community. Express your appreciation to excellent educators with a card of thanks – shared online, texted, or printed and posted.

  • Choose a message that suits this teacher, not just any teacher. What qualities, abilities, or character traits stand out? 
  • If your knowledge of the person is limited, elevate a generic “thank you” with a comment that’s true of every good teacher, such as “The example you set of a strong, capable, loving adult is a real gift to children. Thank you.” 
  • Most of all, follow through on your good intentions. A few words of gratitude lift up and encourage, but not if we never send them. 

Your message of appreciation on Teacher’s day, End-of-the-year or just because may help a teacher face the complex challenges students carry into the classroom every day for one more day. And, really, can’t we all use another smile?

Quick navigation:

colorful thank you card message teacher educator appreciation
Thank you

Thanks, Teach! 

We’ve collected 25 ways to tell a teacher “thank you” any day of the year and 25 more that express appreciation when the school year is ending. Text, email, Facebook, WhatsApp, USPS – all the choices. Encourage an educator with a card now and later and when the last book closes. 

25 Teacher Appreciation Messages to Send Any Time

  • We’ve never seen your cape or mask, but we see your superpowers every day!
    Thanks for being a super teacher!
  • You teach with love and effort and energy that draws in every student. 
    What a gift! What a teacher!
  • The best teachers teach from the heart. Thank you for all that you do!
  • Thank you, Mrs. Oliver! With appreciation, Alex
  • To the Best Teacher Ever! Thank you for making a difference! You are appreciated!
  • Thank you for being such a one-of-a-kind teacher!!!
  • Miss Michelle, you’re appreciated more than “Thank You” can ever express, but it’s a start!
  • …and the “Best Teacher Ever” is… MISS KAMISKY! Thanks for everything!
  • There is one teacher who stays in our minds forever. Thank you for being that teacher!
  • Your love of learning has drawn me into a whole new universe of exploring ideas! 
    Thank you, Mrs. Perry!
  • A teacher is a person who surrounds her students with inspiration to learn again every day. Thank you, Mrs. Falsetta!
  • Thanks a bunch, Mr. James, for being such a great teacher!
  • You’re a wonderful teacher and a wonderful person. Thank you, Miss Foster!
  • To teach a child to navigate through life is a true teacher’s gift. 
    Thank you for sharing your gifts with me.
  • Thank you for shaping Elizabeth’s growing mind. The world needs more teachers like you. Thank you, Mr. Milne!
  • Thank you for helping Harper blossom, Mrs. Hayworth. We can’t thank you enough.
  • Keep Calm, You’re a Born Teacher
    You make a positive impact on the lives and learning of your students.
    Thank you so much, Carolyn!
  • Thank you, Mrs. Schnepp, for being a teacher who cares about what we learn and who we are becoming.
  • You really know how to put a smile on someone’s face and knowledge in someone’s head. Thank you!
  • Thank you, Mrs. Sanders! With appreciation, Bobbe
  • Thank you for seeing the good in each and every one of your students. You are appreciated!
  • Thank you for all that you do. Your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. You’re appreciated!
  • It’s your day to shine! And our day to say, “Thank you!”
  • We love you, Jennifer! Thank you so much!
  • The wages they pay you won’t fill any banks,
    But your hard work really matters,
    And you deserve a big THANKS!
    Thank you so much!

25 End-of-the-Year Appreciation Messages

  • You’ve made this school year one of the best ever! Thank you so much, Miss Silva!
  • This is the year I started to care about learning, and you were the biggest reason my attitude changed. I’ll never forget you, Mr. Hodges! Thank you! 
  • Hunter has grown so much this year. Thank you for all that you do! 
  • The school year is ending, but your excitement about learning has changed us forever. 
    I’m so glad you were my teacher! Thank you, Mrs. LaSalle!
  • The world needs s’more great teachers like you! You’ve made this school year a whole lot sweeter, thank you!
  • From A to Z, it’s been a great year, Miss Foley! Thank you so much!
  • You’ve encouraged us to grow as students, and you’ve remembered we are growing people, too, delivering your instruction with love and warmth and caring. Thank you, Miss Blaylock!
  • Somehow, you made even the hardest lessons fun, Mr. McClure! Thanks for a great year!
  • Thank you, Miss Paschal! Here’s a great big THANKS from all of us for a great school year!
  • I’ve learned so much this year, and you’ve made learning fun, too! Thank you, Mrs. Clark!
  • Mrs. Roesler, Thank you for a fabulous year, for being such an amazing person and our inspiration!
  • You know a teacher is pretty great when they can interest you in your least favorite subject. Done. Thank you, Mrs. Patterson!
  • It’s been great having you as my teacher this year! Thanks for everything, Mr. Zaner!
  • We appreciate the job you do, and we love the person you are! Thank you for a great year!
  • From your teaching in our classroom to all the papers you correct,
    You’ve given every effort, and you’ve earned my deep respect.
    Thank you for a great year, Mr. Abrams!
  • You brought a world of learning into our classroom this year! Thank you, Mr. Becker!
  • Being in your class was so sweet! Thank you for being such a great teacher, Mrs. Smith!
    I’ll miss you next year! Love, Jaime
  • 5th Grade Year gets an A+ from me! Thanks, Mr. Lee!
  • A great school year happens when a great teacher does a great job.
    Thank you for a great year, Mrs. Fulton!
  • “To be or not to be…” I’m so glad you decided “to be” a teacher, Mr. Alexander!
  • You’ve taught me a bushel of information and given me a taste for learning even more!
    Thank you, Mr. Webster!
  • I loved being in your class this year! Thanks, Ms. Miller!
  • Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher, but you are! Thanks for everything, Mr. Kohn!
  • The best school year I’ve ever had? This one! Thank you, Ms. Chavez!
  • You’ve made it fun while we learned a ton! Thank you, Mr. Montgomery!

50 Quotes You Can Read, Thanks to a Teacher

These authors, speakers, educators, and anonymous wordsmiths have given us words that encourage, words that wisely observe, words we can use to enhance our card of thanks to an educator going the extra mile to teach and empower students.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
Henry Brooks Adams
“Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.”
Josef Albers
“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”
Alexander the Great
American proverb thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“If you can read this, thank a teacher.”
American Proverb
“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” 
Tom Brokaw
Carl w. buechner quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Carl W. Buechner
“A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.”
Thomas Carruthers
“The great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts, but the one in whose presence we become different people.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
Confucius
“The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate ‘apparently ordinary’ people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.” 
K. Patricia Cross
albert einstein thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” 
Anatole France
“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”
Benjamin Franklin
brad henry thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“A good teacher can inspire hope; ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.” 
Brad Henry
“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system.” 
Sidney Hook
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” 
Robert M. Hutchins
Japanese proverb thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” 
Japanese Proverb
“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”
Lady Bird Johnson
“To teach is to learn twice.” 
Joseph Joubert
carl jung quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.”
Carl Jung
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
B.B. King
“Great teachers empathize with kids, respect them, and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon.” 
Ann Lieberman
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
John C. Maxwell
thomas mckinnon quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“Be a wonderful role model because you will be the window through which many children will see their future.” 
Thomas Mckinnon
“What we learn with pleasure we never forget.”
Alfred Mercier
“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.”
Maria Montessori
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’”  
Maria Montessori
plato quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.” 
Plato
“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” 
Will Rodgers
“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”
Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers)
“Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.” 
Andy Rooney
president theodore roosevelt quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks…” 
William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene 3)
“My teacher thought I was smarter than I was – so I was.”
Six-Year-Old Child
Mary sublette quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“In order to be an effective teacher you have to love your students as human beings and you have to love teaching.”
Maribeth Sublette
“Students don’t deserve mediocre teachers… Students deserve great teachers.”
Maribeth Sublette
“Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” 
Bob Talbert
quote from the talmud thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
The Talmud
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
Alexandra K. Trenfor
“A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart.”
Unknown
unknown anonymous quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“It takes a big heart to help shape little minds.”
Unknown
“Not all superheroes have capes, some have Teaching Degrees.”
Unknown
“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”
Unknown
unknown anonymous quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased.” 
Unknown
“What a gift for any teacher to see the students smile and live up to their potential. That’s the reward. That’s humbling to be a witness to something like that.”
Mary Vallelonga
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”
Mark Van Doren
Voltaire quote thank you message appreciation for teachers educators
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
Voltaire
“I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.” 
John Wooden
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
William Butler Yeats