End of Year Teacher Gift - Leavenworth,KS

My younger son's teacher has been a teacher for a long time. She was also my older son's teacher. I gave her a gift certificate to a nicer local restaurant. She's married but her kids are grown, so it will be a fun night out for them.

I gave a newbie - both in the position and to the area - a summer membership to the Children's Museum, as he has young children they will enjoy it. I had them check to make sure his family didn't already have a membership.

I think your book idea is very nice!

Open letter to ALL parents from your child’s teacher.
It is that time of year again, time to “thank the teacher”. What to do, what to do?
First know it is not necessary to get me anything. This is my job and I love what I do.
But if you must…
As a retired teacher I can tell you I have received a LOT of gifts over the years.
I have more “world’s greatest teacher” mugs, and cups, ornaments and pens then I could ever use.
I have plenty of “home-made” pictures, scrapbook pages and “hand written” stories.
Now yes, they are wonderful and come from the heart, but where can I put them all? I can’t leave them in my classroom, that gets cleaned out every year. I don’t have the storage in my home and it breaks my heart to have to “recycle them”.
And treats and home-made goodies, yes, I love them, but they don’t love me. They add extra sugar and calories to my already challenged eating habits.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?

OPEN gift certificates are great, maybe a mall or VISA gift card. You may think you know where I shop or what I like but what if I want something different? What if I have secret hobbies or skills that I have never shared with my students or parents? That way I can buy the coffee, the clothes, the books or anything else I may want. I get to decide!

How about the promise of volunteering in my classroom or on a field trip?
What about all those stickers and pencils and “prizes” I give away…I buy them all out of my own money, I’d LOVE a basket of “those goodies”. And books for my classroom...good sturdy books that the kids can use and read again and again.

Parents, imagine that I have 30 kids… that’s 30 presents!! Imagine what wonderful things you could do me for me and my classroom.

Thank you,
Signed a well loved teacher.

Love the idea of an "autographed" book! I still have a copy of The Polar Express that was signed by all the kids in the kindergarten class I aided for my sr. year in high school (25 years ago!). I smile every time I read it and wonder where those kids are today. (Guess they aren't kids anymore!)

Is their a book that she read to the class that your child really loved? Otherwise maybe:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Miss Bindergarten books about a kindergarten teacher and her class
Chrysanthemum
An ABC book
Any book about kindergarten

As a teacher, that would be an end of year gift that I would always treasure.

I don't know if you'll have time, but we made a scrapbook/album for our kinder teacher last year. The room mom sent home a piece of paper for each child - it had a spot for a photo, a drawing, and a section that said "I love Mrs. Jones because..." that the kids could fill in. Each kid created a page and the room mom put it all together in a book (a three ring binder would work just fine - just make sure you punch the holes before you send home the paper). if your class is small enough, you could distribute the pages tomorrow after school and ask for them back on Wednesday.

Otherwise, having the kids sign a book for the classroom is a cute idea, too. The teacher will always have something special to remember the class and it'll be a nice donation to the class.

The other kinder class last year made a very cute family tree. They got a nice canvas and the room mom painted a tree trunk and branches on it. Each kid then dipped their thumb or finger in green paint and pressed it onto the branches to make leaves for the tree. They wrote their names on the leaves.

Was going to suggest mrs bindergarten too

book idea is great

might also suggest a flower pot with the kids signature or thumbprint etc filled w flowers or a house plant for her room.