Creative and Thoughtful Teacher Gift

I think it depends on the teacher and what they like. Some things can just end up being clutter, especially if they get similar knick-knacks year after year. BUT, other teachers may love that sort of thing. A gift card is a terrific idea

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one year when I taught preschool one of the Moms, who had children in almost every class, made a booklet with each childs picture on a separate page and a saying that the children said. Some of the children said things like Ms. C. has the best lap for stories, another one said Ms. C. always helps me be good. One of them even said When Ms. C. gets that look, you better be good or you will be in time out! I thought it was great. We had a small preschool and even though we had rooms for the different age groups we did a lot. She put what each child said about each teacher on the page with the picture. The girl who made the comment about time out I saw about 5 years later at a car show I was working at for my car club, she asked me if I still put people in time out! LOL! I thought it was great. I know that it was very time consuming for the parent who did it. She talked to the director and told her what she wanted to do. The director helped her to talk to each child and take down his/her thoughts. You could possibly do this just for your childs teacher.

A few extra supplies never hurt. With the schools everywhere on a budget the extras like buttons, yarn, cotton balls will be appreciated.

LG

Storybooks are a great way to go! I am a consultant with Heritage Makers and my website is www.MyPhotobookStory.com.

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What about a book/binder of artwork from the kids. Each kid makes a picture.

I gave my daughter's teachers a $10 Starbucks gift card. They were all VERY appreciative of that. I think that sometimes teachers get lots of little knick knacks that end up becoming more clutter that they dont need -- If I were a teacher I would much prefer the chance to go get a latte or a hot cocoa and relax after work.

As a teacher, my favorite gifts are things like the collage you mentioned. Anything that's made by the kids and a reflection of how they feel about me is always the best. Maybe go to Color me Mine or similar place that does the firing and glazing on pottery you decorate and get a serving platter or something and have each kid put a hand print and their name on it :)

ONe year we gave one preschool teacher a rocking chair for her room, but hte class was maybe 20 kids.
I have made pens with flower heads: wrap the pens and a fake flower with floral tape, wrap a couple times. Then put in a pot with the kids fingerprints on them.
Make a tshirt with the kids hand prints
Make a paper bag book.
Take lunch bags and fold all together in half. Then secure them with a hle ounch and raffia
paste a picture of each child on a page and inside the pocket put a little saying from that child. We did this is 3rd grade so they wrote little poems. In PreK they can just tell you what they loved about this year.

I met a teacher this weekend at a festival. (I am a consultant with Homemade Gourmet). I asked her what teachers like to get and she said gift cards and food things. However, she told me she didn't like coffee and received a lot of coffee gift cards so she would pass them on to her sister. So my suggestion is to DEFINATELY find out what the teacher likes and buy some sort of consumeable product. I think a gift card would be sufficient....get one that is meaningful to the teacher or maybe that would supplement her income like a grocery gift card, as we all know teachers in NC aren't paid well. Think of how she will appreciate it instead of your perception of what you would want because they can be totally different. I know you are well meaning to get something personal but it may not be something she needs or wants. Go with practical. She will be getting many gifts and they will be given away one way or another as she may not like or want them. I have many friends who are teachers, too, and they say the same thing. You might consider a small gift bag with movie tickets/gift card or book with treats while they enjoy the book or movie. That would be especially good if you have many teachers to purchase for. Another thought was to get the children to go to one of those paint your own pottery places and do little thumb print characters with each childs name done on a plate or other usefule item. I saw this years ago when my son was in school and it was very much loved by the teacher, however, it was done by the room mom and given from the kids. Hope this helps with your decision.

We are working on a photo book for our teachers this year. We plan to have each child write or draw a picture for the teacher, then put a picture of that child, or one of them with their teacher. Then we are going to have some pages with pictures from throughout the year. We are doing ours at www.yourstoryforever.com (which is my website, I'm a Heritage Makers Consultant). Every gift I've given that's been made with Heritage Makers has been a HUGE hit, with lots of tears. If you have any questions about it, I would love to help you get started. It's digital scrapbooking at it's best!! You can start with a template and change/do anything, or you can start from sratch!

One year my son gave his Kindergarten teacher a perennial cone flower. It will come up every year and provide her with beautiful flowers in the summer - and remind her of how special we think she is. We did already know that she lived in a house with a yard and liked to garden a bit. She loved it!!