Teacher Gift Recognitions

Say its from the entire class. Being a former teacher myself I wouldn't have needed to know exactly who contributed. Frankly, teachers know more than they want to know about their students sometimes and are probably aware of whom would be able to or would want to contribute to a gift. And its not the child's fault that their parents didn't or wouldn't throw money in for the gift and they shouldn't feel left out.

Definitely from the class as a whole.

Another suggestion - last year I got an idea from Family Fun magazine (I think) and we made a "Joy Jar" where each child and parent wrote a note to the teacher and we put it in the jar. We also had the parents donate 50cents if they wanted to. We bought the teacher a gift card to see's candies and donated the rest to her favorite charity, Mercy Ships.

I received a note from the teacher later - the gift she enjoyed the most was the Joy Jar. When she had a particularly hard or trying day, she would pull a few notes out of the jar and it really cheered her up to know people cared. All this gift cost was a jar and a few minutes of my time to type a note and cut up some small pieces of paper for the parents/children to write notes on.

From the class.

People are losing their homes, eating via WIC and food banks, are 10's of thousands in debt for medical bills because they don't have insurance, living off credit cards because they have no income, dressing their kids on their parent's dime... sure there are always a few jerks... but for most who didn't contribute, it's probably because they COULDN'T. If you loved the teacher, but couldn't afford even $5 ... how would you feel? Broken hearted for your kids' sake at the very least.

BTW... a "handprint" card is a great way to go to get all the kids involved/feel special. And it only costs $2-4 dollars for the paper, and $2 for a bottle of tempra paint.

I would say that as a teacher I appreciate hand-made gifts from the kids over a gift purchased by the parents. Lots of kids are from families that have fallen on hard times, and that's not the kids' fault! I've been in that situation as well.

I got hand-made cards from my kids this year and I LOVED them all! I put them in a scrapbook and I flip through them whenever I'm having a particularly hard day.

The knicknacks and #1 teacher stuff, the mugs and the pens are all nice but they're just clutter. Something from the heart is all it takes.

Going with Kansas Mom on this one. The gift is from the class.

I do something similar from my kids' sports team. We get Coach end of season gift. It's from everyone. Some can afford it, some cannot.

Going to slightly disagree with Heather...... who wants to track down the people who donated for their signatures??? Headache in the making....

I would say the gift is from the class. I'm sure the kids would all get her something if they had the chance. The fact that they're parents decided not to particiapte should not mean the kiddos should be left out.

I can't believe some parents didn't contribute. Besides the point I know but really?!

I Would simply say that the gift is from the class. The children are not to blame if their parents chose not to donate and they deserve to be included. I am sure that the teacher is aware that not 100% of the students were able to give but there is no need to point that out to her.
We recently had one of our coworkers suffer a death in their immediate family. I was the one charge of taking up the collection to get a plant to send to the funeral. There are about a dozen people who work in the "office" and only about 8 or 9 actually gave me any money but when I passed the sympathy card around I asked EVERYONE to sign it. No need to cause any hard feelings.

From the class for sure. I feel really bad for the 3-4 kids in nearly every class my daughters have been in who seem to have parents that are just not supportive. I know sometimes it's about money but even when it's a project that doesn't require cash it seems the same few children just don't get support from home. They should not feel bad because mom or Dad didn't pitch in!

I've been room parent for a few years, and here's what I do now. If your school allows it, keep a card up at the front desk in a big envelope. Ask the parents to come by and sign it and put money in if they'd like. I always say to sign it no matter what. I don't want to know who contributes or how much-I realize some simply can't afford it. But I want them to feel like they can sign the card to express gratitude for the teacher.

I prefer this way because it's essentially anonymous, and there is no judgment. But you'll find there are some who just don't bother to even sign, there is always that bunch who just can't get it together!

are you a room mother? if so I think it needs to be from the class. if it a group of parents who have gotten together then it can be from those people who got together as a group to put the gift together.
When I donate for something like this I don't really want it out there how much or how little I put into the gift. I want that aspect of it to remain anonymous. I try to put in more than I would normally just so that the kids who don't have supportive parents or are in hard financial situations will not feel left our or bad, I contribute more to help make up for that lack, I would be devastated to know that a kids name had been left off of the card~if parents do something on their own the teachers have been around long enough to know that generally (although not always) means they didn't put in with the class gift, and I haven't met a teacher yet who cared. The teachers build a bond with all of the kids in the class, and I don't think they would want to see any child singled out either.
this is my 2 cents but having grown up in hard financial circumstances I know how it feels to be one of the kids singled out for not having financial means to contribute to things. Its one of the reasons we put in a little more, as I already said, I'd hate to see a child have to go through that when they aren't responsible for their financial situation. I don't think its about entitlement as it is care and respect for a child's feelings and that everyone comes from different circumstances. I feel if it is going to be a lets put names down on this gift instead of from the class that it should not be done through the class but privately. if it is advertised as we are doing a class gift please contribute if you can, then it should be from the entire class. IMHO

It should be from the whole class.

I'm really interested in what other people say on this question! My take on it is that if you were assigned the task of getting a gift on behalf of the class, then the gift needs to be from the entire class. In any group you always have those who cannot (or will not) contribute; yet it is still a group.

I agree with everyone who said it needs to be from the class. It would be unkind and in poor taste to exclude children because of family budgetary constraints or even a grumpy or spaced out mom or dad. Isn't the point of the gift to tell the teacher how much you appreciate her? This would be more effectively done from everyone rather than a select few.

Am I a big grump?? If this is only from half then i would just list them, sorry but it's not like there were just one or two. And it is always possible that the other parents are making a gift or had something else in mind.

No teacher is going to be rude to the kids that didn't contribute, She will say how great the class has been, or tell those others that she loves the gifts of their hugs and make them feel special.

even more so if this is a gift card,

I guess i'm a little sick of people being entitled to things without actually doign anything. so ok i am a big grump. but you asked for opinions.
If this really is a great teacher, it will not be a problem to just include names of the ones that were part of the gift.

It seems the overwhelming choice to do it as a class. I would like to add that another reason to do it this way is that some parents may not know about it (my own son didn't bring me the note from the room mom in time, so I wasn't able to contribute - argh!), and as for signing, some working parents aren't around before and after school to be able to sign anything and some kids take the bus. And at our school we drive through to pick up the kids (I would walk if it wasn't a 15 minute drive!). There are lots of reasons parents may or may not contribute or be able to participate as much as others. You can't fully know there situation and you wouldn't want to be left out for something you didn't feel you had control over.

Good luck, and I am sure that the teacher will be appreciative of whatever you choose to do.

We were asked to contribute $30 for our daughter's preschool end of year gifts--3 teachers teach the class--$10 per teacher. Honestly, I thought it seemed like a lot--but the mom who was in charge of this stuff has no shortage of money so I am sure she thought it was reasonable. I did come up with the $30. I think gifts should be given from the class as a whole and not worry about putting certain names or the card and leaving others out. Honestly, it sounds petty. If $$ is tight for some of the families and they couldn't contribute or if one of the moms spaced sending a check (that could EASILY have been me :) ) I don't think it would be very nice to leave them out. That's just my two cents.

From the class would be appropriate and fair. Not everyone can afford to contribute. Leaving certain people out could also hurt the reciever's feelings.

Personally, I'd assume that those who did not contribute will bring their own gift, so you would not want to include their names. You might clarify this with parents--that the class gift will be from contributers, so they can let you know if they want to participate or are doing their own thing.

I would offer to let the parents that contributed sign the card, but say that the gift is from the class. That way, those that gave get to make it personal.

I would say from the whole class...and then have all the kids do something, like put handprints on a pottery plate you picked up from the local pottey shop. After the kids decorate it the pottery shop will then fire it and it will be ready to use.

I vote for including everyone,since this promotes class unity and good feelings towards everyone. How nice of you to take that on.
Best wishes,
L.

I organized the gifts for so many years and I always tried to get the kids/parents sign themselves and if not I wrote their names on the card so that the teacher knew which parents to thank. Some parents chose not to give b/c they has already purchased an individual gift and this way teachers could thank appropriately (when they did-i am amazed at how many teachers through the years did not give the kids thank you cards-but that is a whole other topic!) I would try to get the kids/parents before/after school and not make it so obvious as to not get kids upset whose parents did not participate.

Hi Karen,

I did the same for the preschool teachers in my life. I had the parents who contributed sign the card. Often the parents who did not, in my experiences, did something else.

As a former teacher, thank you, we appreciate the thoughts.

R. Magby

Updated

Hi Karen,

I did the same for the preschool teachers in my life. I had the parents who contributed sign the card. Often the parents who did not, in my experiences, did something else.

As a former teacher, thank you, we appreciate the thoughts.

R. Magby