End of Year Teacher Gift Idea

My first year of teaching, the private school where I worked went bankrupt…mid-year. I was 22 and thought it was a noble cause to continue to work for the $600 stipend they were able to scrape together for each of us from the ginormous tuition the parents paid. Clearly the parents felt bad. They began to bring us food, presents…it was great!

Then I worked at public school – the real world – and realized that teachers often don’t get those little goodies that they deserve. Every year we try to reward our children’s teachers with a thoughtful gift to show our appreciation for the year and give them that little treat that they rarely receive.

This year I decided to have my daughter make a Thank You book that not only shows what she is thankful for from the year, but also showcases the writing skills that her pre-school teachers have worked so hard on this year.

I began by purchasing some wired ribbon and scrapbook refill pages. I chose a type made with heavy stock paper to give the book form and designed to hold one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Because my daughter is five and her writing skills are limited, I printed out pages that said, “Thank You…” and allowed space for sentence completion and a small drawing.

Next I had my daughter talk a little bit about her teachers. I didn’t want her to write the basics – “Thank you for being my teacher,” “Thank you for being nice,” so I asked her to tell me what she likes about each teacher as a person. The responses she gave were adorable. “Thank you for giving funny answers during Mystery Sharing.” “Thank you for good hugs.” I also asked her to draw a little picture to represent each statement, such as a heart with heart stickers around it for the hug page.

Once Emma completed all of the pages, I printed out a cover page, put each sheet in a scrapbook page, and tied the sheets together with the wired ribbon. Now each teacher will have a personalized gift to remember their year with my daughter and a testament to the skills that they taught her.

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