Hi Gang,

I am new to the group, as a matter of fact, this is my first post :0! My PTO did a bulletin board for the teachers with a Wish Upon a Star theme and gave each teacher 5 cut-out stars to put classroom wishes or requests on. We of course kept a listing of the requests. The bulletin board was in the entry way of the school and easy to see by all. If you chose to purchase a special request for a teacher, you removed the Star and took it to the office and they logged it off and put your name by it. It was fun to see the stars disappear and to know that the teachers were getting their "wishes".

As room mom, I had a questionaire that I had the teacher fill out at the begining of the year with their favorites--favorite color, hobbies, any special trips coming up, children?, married or single, classroom wish list, etc.
This gave me a good place to start when coming up with gifts. I usually asked parents to donate, and most liked this instead of trying to come up with something on their own.
Now i'm parent volunteer coordinator and am having all teachers fill one out, so that when we have our room paretn meeting, i can give these to the room parents and hopefully that will help them out.

Sounds like fun, missymom! Great idea!!

Debbie, what a lovely story. Thank you for sharing it with us. Your kids are blessed to have you for a teacher and their parents obviously appreciate you very much.

HI,BACK TO EASTSIDE,FOR END OF THE YEAR TEACHER GIFTS I FILL A BUCKET MOVIE RELATED CANDY POPCORN BOWLS AND A GIFT CARD TO BLOCKBUSTER,WRAP IT UP AND HAVE THE KIDS WRITE A THANK YOU NOTE.THE TEACHERS LOVE IT AND THE KIDS HAVE FUN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THIER TEACHERS FAVORTIE CANDY [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Thank you, CrewChief. You had me rotflol. I read your comment to my hubby and he was lol too. Now that I think about it, I may have to do something a little special for my kids' teachers too besides b-days, Christmas, and end of the year.

Although, I would like to add one important message to all you classroom/homeroom volunteers...You being there to support the teacher in all the ways that you do is really the BEST gift a teacher can get.

Here's a story about a gift from my classroom moms that was worth way more than any gift money could buy: My father was diagnosed with cancer in August and passed away April 2 of this year. His funeral was held the day before our grade level spring play. Because I am the one that pushed having a spring play, I am the one that was kind of left in charge of putting most of it together (stage decorations, notes sent home, pamphlet, popcorn, soda, etc... do you notice a trend in my life? ). Anyway, I took the week off of school, but I went in every morning to make sure my kids could practice their play on stage (I have contol issues and didn't think a sub could handle it - or do it my way). I was beginning to stress out about the backdrop and was talking to another teacher when she informed me that my two moms that come in all the time had gotten together, and even roped in a third mom, and had finished all the backdrops and my kids' costumes. They had also stayed after I left each morning and had the kids practice their little dance number in the classroom. Let me tell you how absolutely surprised, relieved, and thankful I felt. This was the best gift I could have ever gotten.

So to all you moms & dads out there that do all you do for the teachers and kids - YOU are the true heroes and are very much appreciated. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Deb

These are great ideas and comments! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I like the idea of donating supplies to the Teacher's Lounge. Maybe our PTO should purchase a basket of paper supplies for the lounge in addition to the usual homemade baked goods we bring in the week before school starts. Our PTO also gives each teacher (classroom, special ed and special subject) a handmade "Welcome Back" card with a Gift Card to use for their classroom needs. Our elementary school has cut teacher's "per student" budget IN HALF over the past two years. We are going with Target gift cards (instead of United Arts who gives a discount) so that teachers can buy lots of school supplies at dirt cheap August prices!