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End of the School Year

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  • End of the School Year

    I think we are probably the first on the forums to have school let out for summer. My children's last day was actually last Thursday 8O (boohoo for me...we will have nearly 4 months of summer vacation this year 8O ) The kids don't go back until the mid/end of September because of construction!!!!!!!!!!!1

    Anyone else feel sad at the end of the year...I actually cried while I wrote a letter to my daughter's teacher. She took Amanda so far this year...after Amanda started the first grade struggling to even know her letters (some of you may remember that she actually went to summer school last year after Kindergarten and we had talked about holding her back ), her teacher managed to have her reading in just a few short weeks...and Amanda finished the last SECOND GRADE reader the last week of class...Unbelievable. She became more confident and had made tons of friends. I literally sat there like a baby crying while I said my good-byes in a letter/card. My husband just rolle his eyes

    We did tons of homemade gifts again this year. In total, we had 8 teachers to 'buy' for which was just too much..So we went to Wal-Mart and bought those little decorative wooden boxes for .97 and 1.97 and some paintable wooden baskets (1.97). I let the kids paint them for their teachers and then when they were dry I sprayed them w/ polyurethane. Andrew's teacher was a man, so we filled his box with a couple of bags (.86$) of fishing lure and the others we filled with chocolate kisses. In addition, Amanda (who is really into drawing/writing) made a 30 page book for her teacher...She worked nearly two weeks on the drawings..first creating an outline for each page and then going back and coloring them in. We typed out the words on the computer and then I took them to Kinkos and had them put into a 'book'. (only $2.65). Unfortunately, I couldn't get a copy for myself because they wanted .99 a PAGE for color copies

    Anyway, I thought I'd share our end of the schoolyear craft ideas for anyone still searching for some ideas themselves...we already had the paint/poly on hand, so it ended up being much cheaper (and more personalized) than buying a gift.

    Some other ideas I considered were the tote bag from wal-mart (1.99 +) with fabric paing and the kids handprints...but they didn't want to do it.

    Anyway..to those of you who still have kidlets in school..

    1.I'm jealous
    2. Enjoy your last few days of freedom


    kris
    ~Mom of 5, married to an ID doc
    ~A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

  • #2
    Kris - You are always SO on top of things when it comes to school and teacher gifts! I am glad that your kids had such a good school year. I have 3 more days of kids in school. I must admit that I don't know what I am going to do with them all summer. We have plans but I also have to work so ... I will sit here on the computer working while four boys run around bored silly. I am trying to get projects set up before they get out of school but .... we shall see how it goes.

    Great ideas for teacher gifts. I ended up paying a little more for my kids teachers mostly out of laziness of doing something creative! I did find clear back in December, these beautiful resin teacher baskets regularly $20 for $3.99. I got a couple of those for the women teachers. Zachary told me his teacher loves candles so we bought candles for both baskets and surrounded them with Hershey kisses. Then the kids will write a letter and draw a picture tonight. That's the plan anyway.

    Jacob's teacher is a big football-player looking single guy and so we did something different. We bought a cheap plastic popcorn bowl (99 cents) that Jacob is going to decorate tonight. Then we bought his teacher's favorite candy, which happens to be Riesen and we added a big box of Junior Mints and microwave popcorn. His favorite pop is Mountain Dew so I am going to pick up a can of that too. Then we are going to get a $5 Blockbuster Video gift certificate with it. It comes out to almost $10. Jacob is also going to write a letter tonight.

    So ... between going to Sea World and the Zoo ... I have to find some other activities to keep my kids busy. I wish all of us luck!!!

    Robin

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    • #3
      Kris - You are always SO on top of things when it comes to school and teacher gifts!
      Actually, truth be told, I had procrastinated until the bitter end. I didn't make it to Wal-Mart until 8pm the night before the last day of school...and I actually had to wake Andrew and Alex UP to paint theirs....Once all of the painting was done, I shuttled them back off to bed...and I was up until 2am spraying them with polyurethane, waiting for them to dry, filling them with candy and then wrapping them

      It sounds like you were MUCH more together about this than I was. Are your boys out now too?????

      kris
      ~Mom of 5, married to an ID doc
      ~A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

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      • #4
        Three days and counting .... GULP!

        Robin

        By the way .... you are still on the ball. I didn't even think about making anything from scratch. AND ... when I asked my mom what she did when I was growing up she said "absolutely nothing." No one that she knows of ever did things for the teacher at the end of the year. SO ... you are WAY ahead of the game!

        Robin

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        • #5
          I've been sort of following this thread and I was thinking the same thing--I don't remember every doing anything nice for my teachers at the end of the year. You guys are so sweet to go to such effort and I'm sure the teachers really appreciate the gifts!
          Awake is the new sleep!

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          • #6
            two weeks!!

            I also have a countdown going . . . school's out two weeks from today!!! But, as a fifth grade teacher with no kids at home I guess I probably have a different view of it. Your gift ideas sound so thoughtful! In the three years I've taught, I would say that end-of-year gifts aren't the norm. Definitely not expected, but nice to receive. I've gotten flowers, apple paraphenalia and such, but the cards and letters (from students and parents!) are always the best to receive. I have a file full of them and reading them always brings back memories of their authors. They also provide some needed reassurance on tough days!

            I'm preparing to say good-bye to my best class yet. I'm going to hate to see them go! I've procrastinated on farewell gift for the class,and with two weeks left I need to get moving. Any ideas from things your kids have brought home? Thanks!

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            • #7
              Tonya -- thanks for the teacher perspective!

              I don't remember doing teacher gifts either.

              My daughter is still in preschool but we did a teacher gift this year and it may be well suited to the less crafty types among us. I am the room parent for her class so I organized a group gift from all the student families that wanted to participate. I suggested a donation of $10 total (more or less as desired) for the teacher and assistant. I collected enough to give both of them $80 gift certificates to the local mall -- the gift certificates are good for any stores including the restaurants and movie theaters. They seemed very pleased with the gift and it took very little time for me. And I didn't glue any fingers together or that sort of thing...

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              • #8
                I always do a gift card to a bookstore for teachers. I figure they will put it to good use and hopefully it will be a way for them to "recharge" during the summer. I often have thoughts of doing something crafty, but I take some Tylenol and lie down until they go away!

                I didn't get too many gifts when I was teaching, but then again, I was a middle school teacher, so it was a little different. I did get some heartfelt cards and notes from the students, though, which I treasured and still have to this day.

                Yesterday was Luke's last day and preschool ended last week, so we are officially DONE! I know I will be ready for school to start in the fall, but I am really glad to be released from the pressure of getting kids a certain place at a certain time, wearing a certain thing, and hoping they will turn in/bring home everything they are supposed to! (Can you tell that my oldest is "organizationally challenged"? ) I feel like every morning I have been lecturing and nagging at him and I hate starting the days like that. The preschool routine is obviously not so hard, but it will be nice to let Nathan take his nap whenever and wake up when he wants to without worrying about when we have to leave the house to pick up the other kids. Ah, freedom.......I suppose I should print out this post and read it in about 2 months when the novelty has worn off!

                Anyway, happy summer everyone! Now off to do laundry and pack so we can get out of here tomorrow!

                Sally
                Wife of an OB/Gyn, mom to three boys, middle school choir teacher.

                "I don't know when Dad will be home."

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                • #9
                  My grandpa is a silversmith (he makes jewelry out of sterling silver-- this is his retirement gig since he was a nuclear engineer during his actual career) and anyway I have given my daughter's teachers earrings each year. But, this year her teacher just doesn't wear any earrings at all or any other piece of jewelry (she is a marathon runner and so I guess her only jewelry she probably even owns is a sports watch!) Anyway, she's an awesome lady and has done an amazing job with my daughter who can be very challenging. I'm gonna give her a gift receipt to a bookstore here in town. No time for crafts--- too busy packing!!! 8) I love the ideas though!
                  Peggy

                  Aloha from paradise! And the other side of training!

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