1) Make a letter to send home with each parent, hopefully you have access to the kids folders or cubbies or something, if you do not, fold your letter over and staple it and ask the teacher to hand out and tell her its a surprise and NO peeking.
My letter looks like this:
Dear parents, I am Erika, ____'s mom. I am looking to collect money for an end of year gift for our children's teacher. We all know how important our children are and how much time their teacher spends with them each day all school year and I would love to give a nice thank you. While homemade gifts are preferred and cherished by our teachers lets be realistic about how many ceramic apples, coffee mugs and pencil holders one teacher can use, times that by 20 kids for every year they teach. I was thinking a gift card specifically for our teacher to spend on her/himself would be lovely. If we all could give (you will know you area and the parents best and $3 may be appropriate maybe $5 maybe even $10) $__ each it would make a fabulous gesture. I will gather the money, purchase a gift card and buy a card for ALL the children to sign. If you choose not to participate thats ok too! ALL children will sign the card. If you have any ideas or would like to help me please feel free to call or email me at _____________. I have attached an empty envelope addressed to me for your convenience. Just turn the envelope in to the teacher, she doesn't know what it is for but she can make sure I get it. Thank you for letting me be of service to the class. Erika
So, you collect the money for as long as you see fit then go purchase a card with the $ and a gift card KEEP the receipts in case a parent wishes to see what you bought (do not be offended by this request). Bring the card in one morning and have the kids sign it. ***If you can, you can make a bigger card and trace the kids hands and write their names by it especially if the kids are too young to write their own name. I have gotten a piece of poster board and had the kids paint their hands and one at a time place their hand print on the board with a big THANK YOU in the middle as the card. This the teacher obviously had to know about but she had NO idea about the $100 VISA card we gave her the last day!
2) If you have time and funds you can go to Michaels or Arron Brothers and purchase a memory book. Bring in the memory book with the teachers permission) and either trace or hand paint each child's hand on their own page on the top or bottom NOT the middle. The easiest way is to ask the kids what they liked about their teacher or class this year, either you write it if they are younger or have them write their names its so cute when a Kindergardener writes their name :). If you want to take it further I have gone in and taken a digital photo of the face of each child, had them printed out and glued or taped them above or below the hand print. Or you could just do the picture and something they loved about class or their teacher, mix it up.
Try this or your own version of this BUT REMEMBER THIS your child spends 4-8 hours a day, 5 days a week 180 days a year with this person ***NO GUILT *** JUST LOVE people LOVE for the people who help us raise the MOST important people in the world OUR CHILDREN!
No comments:
Post a Comment