OK, not really a kid question, but you Mamas have great ideas! My sister is graduating later this month with a masters in special education (all types, but focuses on deaf and hard-of-hearing). She's been working at this off and on for years, through the loss of our mom, a significant bout with depression, and economic hardship that included foreclosure on her house. I'm truly proud of her achievement and would like to get her a really nice but functional gift to start her on her teaching career.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Especially parents who have special kids and know what such a teacher could really use?
A gift card to a local teacher store would really be the best option. In my first year of teaching, no kidding, I spent about $1800 on my classroom. Every little bit helps!
A nice leather tote bag/carry all
Stock in hand sanitizer
Stock in tissues.
an 'inspiration' card or magnet that she can turn to on the rough days.
Hi R., does it have to be a "surprise"? Why don't you take her out to lunch, tell her what you just told us and then go buy her something? Tell her what your budget is and let HER choose what she wants. You could guess and guess and get some great ideas, but in the end, only she knows what she really wants. It may just be the best gift she gets!
None of these are "nice" in a big or expensive way but there are a few ideas:
gift card so she can get what she needs for herself or her class
desk name plate
apple engraved w/ her name
stationary & pen set
various school supplies
Another route may be jewelry...a nice necklace or bracelet (if she likes bead/charm bracelets there are several nice products, like Troll, that special beads can be put on)
if she likes to decorate, get her bean bags for her classroom, fun decorative pillows for the floor for a reading corner, bulletin board borders, fabric to fit the bulletin boards, a bright/fun colored name plate (I made one for me out of wooden letters in the craft section at Walmart - painted each letter a different color).
You could spend a thousand bucks and still she'd need more stuff. It just accumulates as the years of teaching goes on. If she's super-organized, then maybe get her a lot of shoe-box bins and a label maker! Colored file-folders make organizing fun too. Buy her books for her "classroom library". Get her a pack of pencils that say "Teachers Pencil" because kids of all kinds will "borrow" her pencil and not return them! Better yet - get her pencils with her name on them!
At her new job, she will likely get the basics: black dry erase markers, tape, construction paper, paperclips, boring manilla file folders, etc.
