Teachers Appreciated

One of the things I enjoy doing is showing appreciation to my kids' teachers. Maybe it is because my mom always did when we were younger. Maybe it's because my mom and my sister Stacy are teachers. Anyway, I especially like to come up with cute ideas and things that I think they will really like and that are different from what others will get them.

Every year at the school there is a teacher appreciation week when the parents help show extra appreciation for all the hard work they do (and putting up with our kids).

At our school each teacher has their door decorated by a parent. This was a picture of Mathew's teacher's door...each of the cars on the road has a students name on it. Each teacher's is different. The parent decorates the door however they want. There are some fun and creative ideas that I have seen over the years.

So this year I choose to make a cute picture book with teacher quotes in it for Mathew's teacher. I included pictures of the students that had been taken throughout the year. I also did something a little different that I hadn't done in the past with picture/quote books. I had the kids all "sign" their names on a piece of paper and I scanned it into the computer and put them into the book next to their pictures. I also asked them questions and got some really fun answers.

I asked one 7 or 8 year old girl what she learned this year and she said "What's it called when there's a dot a line and a dot? Oh yeah, division." One boy told me he learned 1+1=3. When he tried to fix what he said he said another funny oops answer. It was HILARIOUS at the time!

So one of my favorite things about giving the gifts is seeing their joy! So I made sure I was at the school early enough on the last day of school so that she could open the book and show all the kids what they helped make for her. She had a little time to read some of it to the class.

Mathew and his teacher Miss Winkel.

He was sad at the beginning of the year because he didn't get the same teacher Allison had had in 2nd grade and one of his best friends got her as her teacher. But within about a day he was THRILLED and LOVED Miss Winkel.

Allison and her teacher Miss Morgan. Allison had her for 3rd and 4th grade.

We enjoyed having her for two years. I enjoyed working with her for the two years as well. I feel like I have a new friend...we enjoyed many an afternoons talking about books and ones to read for myself or for the kids. It was really nice because I have been trying to figure out what to have Mathew and Allison read. Mathew is more challenging because he is a boy and I don't know books for his age and reading level. Allison has been easier to try and find a book for, but she has gotten to the point where she wants to read all kinds of different books she has heard of. But I am not comfortable with her reading books that I don't know much about...especially when they are in the young adult section.

Last year I made the photo/quote book for Miss Morgan so this year I decided to make a swedish weave blanket for her. I knew her favorite colors are blue and green. This was a new tulip pattern I had never tried before...it was kind of difficult. I had to pull it out and do parts of it over again and again. But it turned out cute. I figured a lap blanket and a gift card to a bookstore would be perfect for her. She LOVED it. And I loved getting a picture of her with her blanket.

One sad thing is that she had to moved to a new school in Spanish Fork for this next year. We will miss seeing her throughout the year...luckily I have a connection with her on facebook. One happy, wonderful thing for her is that she is engaged to be married Oct. 15th in Oregon (where she's from). There is suppose to be an open house here in the beginning of November.

I can't believe how fast this last year went. We end up loving the teachers...we already know our teachers for next year and are ready to meet and love them too. :)