Teacher Gifts

Room Mom Rules

Posted by

1

I am a teacher and have held the position of room parent volunteer (aka The RoomMom). After many years of working with parents in my classroom and volunteering to help other teachers, here is the boiler plate of what has worked for me.

  1. Do not abuse the class e-mail list. I think e-mails to the families should be limited to holiday parties and class gifts unless the teacher has asked you to contact families. An example of an “extra” e-mail might be help with drivers for a field trip.
  2. Aside from teacher gift and party e-mails to parent volunteers, only send e-mails when requested by the classroom teacher.
  3. Offer to collect for a group gift at holidays/end of the year, but do not make the contribution mandatory. Suggest an amount for the donation to the gift fund but make it clear that the amount is a guideline. Parents should not feel obligated to contribute. And, if you know you have a community where contributing would be difficult, don’t even ask.
  4. This is an addendum to #3. If you are purchasing a group gift, use a generic but personal policy. In most cases, you probably do not have a personal relationship with the teacher. Generic gift cards are best (Visa, AmEx, etc.). Teachers love when the generic gift card is accompanied by a little something that shows you are aware the teacher works hard with your child every day. For the past several years, I created a Favorite Books Bookmark to go with the gift card at the end of the year, so the teacher has something with which to remember the class.
  5. If you are not the official room mom but want to help, sign up on the class volunteer sheets and wait to be contacted. Too many cooks in the kitchen creates confusion. Teachers can only handle so many parent volunteers.

If you have school aged children, what reminders and information would you like to receive from the room parent, and what information should be the classroom teacher’s domain?

Better Than a Brown Bag Lunch

Posted by

14

Bring your child’s teacher a really good lunch the first week of school! In fact, this is a great little sirsee for a teacher’s birthday, teacher appreciation week, standardized testing week, or any random day. As mentioned in the Teacher Emergency Kit post, teachers are trapped in the school building all day.  Unless a planning period aligns with the moon on a Tuesday in January, they are not getting out of that building to go pick up a lunch. Most teachers (read: me) hastily pack a half of a peanut butter sandwich along with their kids’ lunches as they are racing out the door in the morning. What a treat it would to receive a good lunch one day.

The Bag: I sewed the bag in the picture above modifying a pattern I had for an art bag. I would not recommend sewing your own lunch tote. After 7 hours at the sewing machine, I decided I do not like my children’s teachers THAT much. Pick up a lunch bag at any store where you purchase school supplies or even your local grocery store.  A cute disposable gift bag would work well too. I really like the neoprene lunch totes if you want to upgrade the gift. Almost all teachers have access to refrigerators, so you should not need an insulated lunch bag.

The Food: I made a really good pesto chicken salad and put it on a squishy roll with arugula. I included pretzel crisps, raw veggies, and a small container of cashews, almonds, and dried fruit. I added a bottle of water too. Teachers usually have a microwave available, so you could send something yummy in a tupperware with re-heating instructions instead of a sandwich.

You can click on Fancy Sandwiches for the pesto chicken salad recipe and a few others. I realized after I decided to post these recipes, they probably have a bad breath factor to them. No problem– include a mint with the lunch OR make sure your child’s teacher has the Emergency Kit, so he/she has a toothbrush.

The Extras: Do not forget to add a paper plate, napkin, and any plasticware that is needed.

Back to School Teacher Emergency Kits

Posted by

18

I cannot believe I am already preparing to go back to school, but I know it is right around the corner. I have been thinking about this little gift for awhile. It is something I would like a parent of one of my students to give me on the first day of school. Once teachers arrive at school, it is almost impossible to leave the building until after the students leave. There are days when you need a little something from CVS and there is no way to get there. I thought my children’s teachers might appreciate this little Teacher Emergency Kit; I know I would.

The Box: I purchased a few bead storage boxes from Michael’s. It has ten slots with removable dividers. I removed a few of the dividers to make one section of the box bigger.

The Contents: I chose the contents based on things I need when I am teaching. Below is the suggested list, but I also considered adding things like Band-aids, a good red pen, hair bands or a clippy, Tums, and even a feminine product or two since my children have female teachers this year (but the box was clear, and I thought that might have the potential for an embarrassing situation– although not having that item can create an embarrassing situation too, so you decide).

  • cough drops
  • Advil
  • chocolate
  • Tylenol
  • peppermints
  • soda money (quarters)
  • travel toothbrush and toothpaste
  • Aquaphor (or ChapStick of some kind)
  • emery board
  • travel lotion
  • Sharpie pen (I always need one of these at odd times and never have one in my classroom)

The Labels: I printed a 2″x 4″ label for the lid of the box using the Red Cross logo to make it look like an emergency kit. I created a table for the inside of the box and printed it on cardstock. Using a paper cutter, I cut it down to fit the inside lid and attached it with clear tape. I wanted the “map” on the inside to look like one of those lists they have in the big chocolate candy boxes, so you know what kind of chocolate you are eating. Here is a copy of the teacher emergency kit map.

Footnote: I did a little Pinterest research, and (big gasp) I am not the only one with the Teacher Emergency Kit idea. After analyzing my competition, I noticed a few flaws with the other kits’ contents. They often contain colorful paper clips or Starburst candies or things that make the packaging look better, but these items are not that useful. A Starburst is not going to make my breath better after I eat garlic-y hummus for lunch. I don’t need colorful paper clips; I can get a whole box of paper clips in the supply cabinet next to my school’s copy machine. When you fill your emergency kit, think about items that a teacher would not be able to access in a school building and might desperately need.

Favorite Books Bookmark

Posted by

1

This is a fun keepsake to help students and teachers remember their class from a specific school year.  It could also be used as a back to school activity to generate a reading list of recommended books for the start of the school year. Teachers survey the students for their favorite book title and author from the year.  This is also a project your class room parent can handle by sending a Group Email to all of the parents asking them to send one of their child’s favorite book names from the year.

Once all of the book titles are collected, create a list of the student names with their book selections in a Word document (landscape orientation, 3 column set-up).  You can also insert a class picture if you have any spare white space.  Your list should not exceed two columns in the Word document.  After printing, cut the lists into two strips and paste them onto 9×4 inch construction paper strips (front and back). Then, run the assembled bookmark through the laminating machine.

laminating bookmarks

Make enough copies for all the students and the teachers!

Teacher Tip: picture book titles appear in quotes, chapter book titles are underlined. Alternately, all titles could appear in italics.

favorite books bookmark in books

Ice Cream Sundae Kits

Posted by

0

If you need a lot of teacher gifts but don’t want to spend too much money, you can put together ice cream sundae kits.  My son and I needed about a dozen sirsees or little surprise gifts for the special area teachers, classroom teacher, school receptionist, etc.

We purchased small cake boxes, curly ribbon, cardstock paper, clear bags, and small ziploc jewelry bags at Michael’s.  We then bought sugar cones, fun ice cream toppings, and ink jet return address labels at Walmart/grocery store.  At home, we printed the labels, printed the cards to tie on the top of the box, and filled bags.

Our gift tag on the box said, “Thank you for teaching me this year. I hope you have a sweet summer.”