Teacher Appreciation Week

E.,
When my son was in day-care and/or pre-school with several teachers, I could not afford to buy everyone gifts or gift-cards. I went to Home Depot or Wal-Mart and bought small terra cotta pots and a small flowering plant. I also bought paints (maybe three colors) at Michaels or similar store. I let him paint the pots one color at a time. Then I planted a small flowering plant and used some type of paint pen to write "Love, Nathan". I don't think that each "gift" cost me $5 total and I can remember making them the night before giving them to the teachers. As a former teacher, we just like to know that we're appreciated.
E. J.

gift certificates are always great- for personal items like starbucks, manicures, or just walmart/target. Also, office depot type cards are great too to buy items for the classroom.

One of my favorite gift cards when I was a teacher was to a bookstore. I ended up buying some books that I needed for the classroom. It saved some of my own money and I was able to share it with the rest of the class.

Honestly, I really did appreciate some notes from parents that were positive. It seems like we always got the negative notes but I remember a few over the years that parents wrote that truly meant a lot to me and how they realized what impact I had on their child.