end of the year teacher gifts

The end of the school year is here....no more papers to grade, report cards to do for 8 weeks....Byron made salsa last week and we canned it. I thought about how I could incorporate it into a teacher gift...

And, voila! Add some chips, some homemade fire-roasted salsa, and Martinelli's Prickly Pear-Passion fruit Lemonade....The tag is completely cheesy! I wanted to think of something quirky like "you are the cheese to my macaroni" but with chips and salsa....all I could think of was "You are the salsa of my life. Thank you for being such a spicy teacher."

I know...lame! But, here's to kicking off summer! Hope our teachers enjoy!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Warning: lots of pictures!!!

I have stolen a lot of cool ideas for this week and have come up with some on my own too...we absolutely love our teachers and love spoiling them every day of the week!

This year, I didn't make much, since I am going to be away...everything was done ahead of time and actually it is nice to think things are all wrapped up and ready to walk out the door each morning with the girls...

Monday...I am a room parent for one room. The PTA wanted the room mom's do write on these flowers and make a "thank you" card for the teachers...yeah....not going to work with me, so we decided to do this fun project instead to cover both days...I pulled the kids out in groups and I asked the kids some questions that I already had the answers to...favorite color, place to shop, vacation spot, etc....I wrote down everything the kids said...I mean everything - including what other group members interjected - it was pretty fun!
Since it was Teacher Trivia...we asked "Are you smarter than a 4th or 5th grader? We think so!"
For the other teacher that I am not the room parent for, I went with school supplies since state testing is just around the corner...I turned this...into this...."You're the write fit for me!"The rest of the week is just from our family...room parent responsibilities over...so, Tuesday is all about yummy root beer to share with their families...I turned this....into this....There were a couple of cute sayings that I saw for this one..."You're an AWesome teacher" for A&W root beer, or this one "I'm soda-lighted you're my teacher!" that you can use with any soda...Wednesday and Thursday are all about pampering...Love that Teacher Appreciation is right before Mother's Day so Bath and Body Works has lots of specials running...became this "I've got to hand it to you...I think you're great!"And a quick stop for Thursday....some bright, fun colors for summer...became this...."Thanks for adding color to my life!"With summer around the corner, Friday's gift couldn't be more perfect....who doesn't like s'mores in the summer?! So, with this....turned into "We need s'more teachers like you!"...Hope our teachers have a great week!

teacher valentines

I love scrabble letters...I love words....I found this project here and thought it would be a perfect little something for our teachers....Both of them LOVED it! And, I loved it so much I made one for me, too! Now I need to order more scrabble letters.

Jar of Joy

I originally saw a post similar to this for a Valentine gift for a teacher, but thought that this would be the perfect "ray of sunshine" for Mrs. Atkinson's birthday!

I had each of the kids in the class write a memory or something that makes their teacher special...each submitted 3 papers for the jar....
I added the instructions on the back....it was a perfect class gift!

waterless snowglobe

I am big time into jars and into creating a scene in jars or buying jars to display and hold things. Remember those houses that the girls made over Thanksgiving break? I saw those houses on the BHG website and thought that they would make a beautiful little winter wonderland....

You're going to need some basic supplies....a gallon glass jar, a thin piece of chipboard (like the kind you might find on the back of a paper slab), a craft knife, a corner-rounder punch or a lacing tool, a ruler, a bone folder, hot glue, glue dots, fake snow, fishing wire, patterned paper, and various decorative elements and embellishments that might suit your fancy...

Just create your own winter scene...I glittered the roofs and used a lace edger to give a Swiss "chalet" look...Once the glue had dried on the house and the trees in the jar, we filled it with some fake snow and iridescent flakes....You cant give out the jars without decorating the lid, too....I took fishing line and glued little stars from varying lengths and used glue dots on the lid to hold them in place. That way I could reposition them if I needed to....I love the results! Hope our teachers do too!

Halloween teacher goodies

So, both of our elementary teachers said that she wanted to have some of my Halloween decorations....okay, I thought...so, I'll start with one of my favorite ones!

I didn't take pictures of the banner as I was making it, but it basically came down to super cute scrapbook paper from here...I used just the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge on my cricut on shadow and cut out the "Boo"...Then I cut my triangles out in different sizes and pinking shear cut the bottom black layer....I took 3 silver pipe cleaners and twisted them together and added some decoration to cover the twisting bits....I think they turned out pretty cute! Hope the teachers enjoy!

End of the year teacher gifts

"End of the year gifts" for our teachers were really hard for me to think of this year....we've had 3 amazing women who have worked non-stop for the past 9 months and deserve a little something that will promote some R&R....So, I decided, for summer what's more R&R than a beach towel, a magazine, and some diet coke:-). I also decided to put in a little extra something expressing how much we have appreciated them this year....

I found this idea here...and modified it with a little more cuteness than just a jar using apothecary jars found at Walmart for $2 a piece! Score!...I like the way they turned out...bright, fun colors for summer! I hope they like them!

Teacher Appreciation Week 2009

So I'm posting this for my sister to see all the things we did, but I'd love to share it with all of you. This week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week....we had fun around here coming up with different things to give our teachers. Each day was a "theme"...some days we tweaked it just a little bit....below is a sampling of what we did...

Monday: Bring in a flower for your teacher.....well, I did bring in some flowers as fillers for vases, but I gave each of the teacher a basil plant, since I know they all love to cook....Tuesday: Bring in a fruit....this one was a little boring, but we tried to wrap it, so it looked cute....Wednesday: Wear your teacher's favorite color....I know... I couldn't have them show up empty handed! So, I made each of their favorite cookies and put them in a bag that was their favorite color...our house smelled so yummy!Thursday: Bring in a school supply...we brought in a box of pencils and some chocolate...what is more of a necessity for teachers than some chocolate?Friday: Bring in something homemade or a written note of appreciation....we did both. We made these mini magnet boards and some magnets, attached a little message, and wrote a note of appreciation!Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! We have loved our year with each of you ladies!