Teacher advice...end of Year Gift

In my pre-K class, I get each child a silver and a gold pencil, ribbon together with the oem "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold." Then I type up a personalized message to each child...stuff about how they have grown, what I will miss about them, what I will always remember. This I roll up like a scroll and tie with a ribbon. I put it all in a goody bag with some cheap treats from the dollar store or the birthday section of Walmart.

Could you take a class picture and have them printed as cards? That costs very little through many picture websites and you can probably get them mostly free thought Vistaprint.com. Then you can write a personal note to each student inside.

Do you do Scholastic book orders in your classroom at all? I'm going to use my bonus points to order a new book for each of my kids. Yikes, I better get on that - thanks for the reminder! :)

Also, I take a lot of pictures in my classroom. In the past, I've done a little scrapbook page for each kid and laminated it. A very, very simple scrapbook page. I just put a picture of the class and a picture or two with the child in it and printed out "Mrs. R's Third Grade 2009-2010" or something like that. It's not free, but it's not super expensive. If you order the pics online you can get the for 9 cents a piece and you can use construction paper from the school. The kids have liked them and I'm told some use them as placemats at home. :)

ADDITION: I just had another idea... Maybe you could take just one class picture - a fun one instead of the stuffy professional one - and put it on a strip of cardstock and laminate it. A bookmark? You could even write/type and paste something on the back. Just a thought.

In past years, my children have come home with a class photo framed with an inexpensive plain frame that the teacher decorated with markers - with her name at the top like 'so-in-so's 1st grade class'. The teachers just take the photo in class one day so it's all casual. All my kids who have those pictures still have them displayed in their rooms and love them.

Another thing some teachers did was to buy a book for each child (Scholastic books - the classes earn lots of free books throughout the year) and write a note inside the front cover saying 'to student, thanks for being in my class this year' or something like that.

Maybe seeds & a little poem? You could just give a few to each kid...I would never have suggested this, but for the first time in my life, I've actually grown a few plants from seeds this spring, and my sons & I are totally excited about it!
Otherwise, I'm sure your students might enjoy a personal letter from you to each of them...it's amazing how much that can mean to a child.

Not sure what grade you teach, but you could make them each a bookmark. Pretty easy if you give out the same one to each student. Maybe you have a fun saying that you have used in the classroom all year or something as simple as Reading Rocks! that you can put on it. Then on the back you could write a personal note or just say "Enjoy your summer!", or "I've enjoyed having you in my class." etc. Make sure to include your name and the year-also make sure you hand write the personal message. My kids feel special when they feel their teacher wrote to them! Photocopy each one or print multiples on the computer, laminate them, punch a hole in the top, and put a ribbon through it. My daughter received this from one of her teachers years ago and still uses it. Very thoughtful and inexpensive. (I have also had my kids make these for their teachers and they seem to appreciate the gesture.) Good luck and enjoy your summer!

http://www.tipjunkie.com/2010/04/teacher-appreciation-gif... lots of cute ideas here.. love this website! :) i used to be a teachers and love these ideas!

I keep a binder of stuff my son has done through the year for each grade. But it's only worksheets and papers usually. Anything with photos that the parents don't get to see would be great. The entire scrapbook someone mentioned would be amazing, but more realistically for you, I like the one page idea.
Some kind of handwritten note with the positives about the child, things you learned from him/her, or your favorite memories of him/her would also mean a lot to anyone I think. It's also something the parent and child would both appreciate.
I think people appreciate your time spent more than money spent these days anyway.

The best gift my daughter got was a "thank you note" from the teacher at the end of the year. It was a note the teacher wrote to each student individually thanking them for being in her class. It was personal and mentioned her favorite memory she had of that child and one special strength or gift she thought that child possessed. Also, she ended it saying how much she thought my daughter would enjoy 2nd grade. My daughter treasured that card more than ANY gift she has ever received.

PS she has received lovely gifts; a class picture, a book, a pencil, a baby tree, seeds etc. from teachers but nothing beat that note.

One of my daughters teachers put together a scrapbook that the kids could fill in.. themselves about the school year..
I remember we copied the class photo on the school copying machine..
Inside included a Title page
Mrs. Smiths Second Grade Class
Super Elementary School
Austin, Texas

Inside it had a place for the students name.. She had a map of the classroom and the kids wrote in where everyone sat, even the pets and the teachers desk.

Field trips, parties, school fairs... studied subjects.. etc.. Then there were word games, coloring pages with the school Mascot, The school building.. etc.. It was cute, but best of all the kids loved working on it after school let out..

I and 2 other moms actually helped the teacher make the copies and correlate the pages and bind them with the binding machine.. I think it ended up being about 10 to 12 pages.. The school provides all of the construction paper, lamination, copying machine and binders, so it did not cost the teacher anything..

Write a nice letter to the class and maybe take a pic of the class for them to keep. I did this one year for my 5th graders. We made our own mattes for the picture and then they spent some time that last week decorating and signing each others mattes. Something for them to keep. I have also found autograph books in the $1 bin at Target, my age students LOVE to write notes to each other and sign each others books. Enjoy your last few weeks before summer break!

With the ability to take and print pictures so much more easily than in the past, I'd lean that direction - even if it's a personal picture of you with each student, take it to Walgreen's, Costco, etc. to print out really cheaply, write a hand written note for each student.

You can also get plastic acrylic picture frames (with or without magnets) at WalMart, HobbyLobby, etc. We give those to our family members each year for Christmas. We get pictures of the kids, write on the acrylic with paint pens, mount the pictures onto cute scrapbook paper, and we have a really cute gift for less than $2 each.

I'm a sentimental person, so I lean much more towards pictures, notes than "things".

Good luck!

I have no clue...but seems how you are a teacher I was wondering wha do you think would be a good gift for my 1st grader to give to his teacher?? she has done some pretty amazing things for this year..see for the past 2 years he has had a 1 on 1 aid all day because he is paralyzed chest down but this year his teacher has taken it upon herself to go above and beyond for him with out an aide..she has also set up a could of fundraisers throughout the school because we are rasing moey for him to have stem cell treatment....as a teacher what do you think is a great gift? :)

From working with teachers I can tell you the gift they love to get and remember for years is a letter from the student or parent telling them how much of an impact they made on the child's life, If you could get the address send it directly to their home. Don't worry about looking cheap. All those expensive gifts wind up in the yard sales for pennies or flat out in the trash.
I always made tote bags but realize not every one sews like I do.
Do the letter.
C.

I just finished student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom, and my coperating teacher just taught me how to make a movie from pictures taken over the last 15 weeks I was with the class. It's a Microsoft program that comes on most computers - just no one ever knows it or knows how to use it! It's quite easy and is called Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. You set up transitions to give emphasis, add music as the background, and can do titles, credits, etc. Then forward to their parents' email or whatever... good luck with your decision.