How many teachers do you buy for? Do you include "specials" teachers such as gym,art, music etc. ? I have a ton of teachers to buy for. My 4th grader has 2 regular teachers, 3 assistants that work with him an hour a day on alternanting days plus all the " specials" teachers and a once a week speech teacher. My 3rd grader has 2 regular teachers and a 3 day a week GT teacher as well as "specials" teachers.My first grader has only one teacher plus the specials teachers. I have bought gifts for the main teachers and the daily assistants but I havent bought for the others. Anyone have any ideas for something inexpensive ( under $5) for the others? I was thinking of maybe getting candy bar wrappers made from all 3 of the boys and letting them pass them out to gym,art,music etc teachers.

We have 7 teacher/ea's....dd#1 has 1 class room teacher, DD #2 has 2 class room teachers. 2 Ea's, and DD #3 has a classroom teacher, plus a EA...so I need to find something inexpensive, Im thinking candles though...

I did candles last yr as end of the year gifts. This year for the main teachers and daily assistants Im doing bath and body works hand sanitizer with the matching hand lotion. Im just having a hard time figuring out what to get all the extra teachers that work with them. I really appreciate all that they do and I dont want to leave anyone out

Now you all have me thinking about the speciality teachers. When me kids were in private school I collected $5. per child per grade level(about 300 kids in the school, you do the math) for these teachers and they loved getting the cash. But now my children are in public school and there are helpers in every class and some of my kids don't have the same speciality teachers, so I can't give them a family gift from us. This could get $$$, because I have 3 children and I can't even count how many aids and teachers I need to buy for! Plus I don't even know who they handle this in public school here. I hear you couldn't collect money over an amount and give it to the teacher. It has to be in gift cards and there is some other silly rule. It seemed crazy to me when I hear it, because I use to collect $20(or whatever you could give or wanted to give) per kid for the teacher. I always liked giving money because teachers do not get paid well for what they do and this time of year they could always use the cash.

[quote=coastiwife]a once a week speech teacher.

Do you buy the speech teacher something? I pay mine $60 per session, that is $2 a minute!($240 a month). My ds wants for Christmas is no more speech lessons! And I think he'll get that present because for months she has been saying he is almost ready to stop speech. I just don't know how to end speech lessons and my dh says she keep you coming for years if you don't end it.

Usually the teachers have trees outside their room with wishlists for their classrooms on which we take those ideas and buy for. I do that for the special teachers (art, gym, speech, music) as well. This year the PTO gave the teachers a bunch more money to spend so the principal did not let the teachers put up their wish lists, so now I have to come up with ideas. I have some marble magnets I'm making for them and I do plan on talking to the teachers to see what else they may want for their room. Usually it's board games for inside recess, playdoh, glue sticks and other simple things, but help out.

[quote=kathylun]My son has an IEP for learning disabilities and mild speech problems so he recieves services for speech for free through our school district. Thank goodness because I could never afford $240 a month

My kids go to a very small school so we usually buy a little something for everyone. We buy a nice gift for their main teachers. And at very least, we do cards for all the teachers in the school and I'll take in a cookie tray for everyone.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, so forgive me if it has. But for an inexpensive gift, I found cute coffee cups at Walmart for .60 each and put hot chocolate, tea, a Santa milky way, nutcracker snickers and a couple of candy canes in it. I found "tissue paper" at the dollar tree that is actually plastic sheets and has snowmen or candy canes on it. I wrapped the mugs in that and tied a bow on. They turned out so cute. The pack of "tissue paper" has 10 sheets in it and it only takes 1 sheet per mug. I think it was around $2 for the whole thing, card included!
BTW, the cups are in the seasonal aisle at Walmart. I got the ones with penguins but I think they had others with Santa and such too. You could also include a Starbucks gift card if you wanted to spend a little more.

I'm giving dd's teacher a GC to a teachers store. The specials teachers, reading consultant, and speech teacher don't get anything.

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I've never lied to you. I've always told you some version the of truth.

I do gift cards to our local teacher's supply store too. I only do classroom teachers.

My Mom and sister (I was until I had kids) are teachers. You just get so much "stuff" from the kids, not that it isn't appreciated, but after awhile it is like what do you do with it all. There is always neat stuff at the teacher's store that they'd like to have for their classrooms, but would have to pay out of pocket to purchase.

I would think the hand sanitizer would be welcome also .

I have sometimes given a red rose with a spray of Christmas greens, wrapped in cellophane.

You guys got me thinking. A Lakeshore Learning store just opened in our town. Do you think teachers would like gc's to this store? Are they expensive?

I googled it. It looks great. I think they'd love it. It didn't look overly expensive to me.

I have another question. Do any of your kids have a male teacher? My ds is in 3rd grade and his teacher is a man. I was thinking a gc to a restaurant.

That is my FAVORITE store... There are so many awesome things to buy from there. Both places I went over the summer had one, and I could just look around for hours.

I agree that trinkets get old after a while. I can only have space for so many knicknacks. But if it comes from the heart, I guess it shouldn't matter

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AKA: Airbornearmywife

We get DS's teacher a gift card! Its a lot easier since they get to pick out there own gifts~

I do Bath & Body Works stuff, or supplies for the classroom. Like dry erase markers, crayons, chapter books sets, stickers, stamps, fun scissors, stuff like that.

Teachers love gift cards. $5 is nice gift. Been a teacher for 25+ years.

I buy for 4 teachers, a few extra helpers and I give tins of cookies to a few teachers we have had over the years that I really like

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Dawnie
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If there is a will there is a way!

When my boys were in elementary, we did the theater bags. We had a six pack of pop, $5.00 GC to the local video store, 2 micro popcorns, and a couple of candy bars. We always got compliments from the teachers, since it started them off with some relaxation for Christmas break.

We usually do giftcards for the bookstore, which seem to be well received.

I am a teacher, currently staying home w/my 3 girls. I wanted to mention that every year when I was working in my (elementary) public school, the regular classroom teachers typically got gifts from more than half of our students. Most special education teachers as well as speech teachers and therapists got either no gifts, or only a very few gifts.

It was my experience that the classroom teachers felt almost guilty receiving so much, and that some of the special service teachers felt a little underappreciated, in comparison.

I just wanted to throw out that information. I am by no means suggesting people make their lists even more unmanageable, though! However, because it was my own personal experience, I try to remember to give a simple card, or an ornament. It means the world to school personnel to know that they were thought of. The school secretary, the lunch lady and a favorite "unified arts" teacher (like art, music, gym, library), and of course, the special education staff woulb probably appreciate the effort even more than the regular classroom teacher, who don't usually go ungifted.

My favorite gifts - small packages of flavored coffees, stickers, pretty notecards, small hand lotions, and homemade goodies! I keep all of my cards written by children in a special binder. That is special!

Wow- I had no idea there were so many speciality teachers out there. We don't have any of those other than speech and no assistants either just us volunteer parents.

My son has 1 teacher and a speech teacher. They will both get gifts. I doa basket with notecards with their initials, candles, lotions and other misc. items.

Last year during teacher appreciation week I gave the speech teacher a nice gift and she called me to thank me and told me it was the first time in years that anyone had thought to give her a gift. I was so surprised. She does so much for my son.

I usualy give my children's main teachers gift cards to the mall, restaurant or movie theater. A card would be nice for the other teachers like art, music and P.E. If you feel that the speech therapist or other aids that work directly with your child should receive a gift, a gift card to the video store, a box of candy, small potted pointsettas, some dollar store lotions would be nice. For a male teacher, I would do a gift card to a sporting goods store, restaurant, video store or to the movies.

One thing I buy when in a bind, is poinsettias. You can usually find them for about $4 and they are so pretty. I need to find really, really cheap gifts this year too.

DD only has 2 teachers, they are getting Yankee jar candles.

My niece is a teacher and I know she appreciates all the gifts her students give her. But I do know, too, there are only so many candles, mugs, things with apples on them, etc. they can handle!! I think the gift cards are a GREAT idea. Even if it's $5.00 to McDonalds, that's a nice little quick meal or two! Also, she has gotten so many ornaments over the years, that she has a special tree in her house just for the ornaments that have been given to her by her students.

I know she has had to give some of her gifts away because she has allergies, so if you're not sure if your teacher has allergies, you might want to steer clear of scented items.

In the years past, we have given a small gift to the Music, P.E. & Art teacher. I believe they deserve a gift too, and many times are forgotten. :O)