kindergarten teacher present

[mountaineer]

This is what I made for my DS teachers. All the kids in the class did a self portrait and even the teachers did one. There are 12 blocks on each side. We're giving them to the teachers tomorrow. I'm thinking of putting flowers inside the bags too. They've been great teachers.

 

[yummy72]

It's teacher appreciation week at our school too. We encouraged parents to help their children write a note to their teachers, send a small treat, etc...that's for each child to do what they wish for their individual teachers...

For the teachers and staff as a whole (since I'm the teacher's appreciation coordinator) Monday morning I took homemade muffins for them.

One parent made beaded bookmarks for all them (they are so cute I made some for Mother's Day!)

Today we had a salad and dessert luncheon

Tomorrow a parent that works at a coffee and chocolate shop is taking air pots of different coffees and platters of chocolates for them to sample.

DD and I are making bundt cakes for her teachers, since their mascot is the "All-Stars" I am using the nordicware American star bundt pan
Picture Here:

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=7363&src=Shopping



to make apricot nectar cakes for each of them (13 total I'll be baking all night) we got plain white cardboard cake boxes and made really cute signs for the tops. It's our last year at the school..It's going to be tough to move on!

 

[Mom2Ashli]

One parent made beaded bookmarks for all them (they are so cute I made some for Mother's Day!)

I would be interested in seeing how the beaded bookmarks are made. They sounds very cool.

 

[yummy72]

The beaded bookmarks were similar to this: (sorry I don't know how to post a picture)

http://www.giftsofthevine.com/themed_beaded_bookmarks.html



It was very thin leather string about 15 inches long with a few beads at each end. You just lay the string along the spine of the page to mark your place and the beaded parts hang out of the top and bottom of the book. They look really neat, especially with pretty beads and the silver "spacers" between them. I got the string and beads at Michael's to make them for Mother's Day.

 

[mountaineer]

Bookmarks are a great idea. I'll have to keep that idea in mind. The ones in the link are pretty.

I'm not sure of what they were doing for the teachers every day at my sons school. I know they had flowers one day but that was the only day I've been at school this week.

Your teachers sound like they are well appreciated. 13 cakes.....that's amazing.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Wow. Those bookmarks are so pretty and simple. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[christinadei]

That bag is soooooooo cool. How'd you set the whole thing up? Did the teacher know what you were doing? How'd you get the self portraits? how did you get them on the fabric and on the bag? Sorry for all the questions. I bet they love it!!!!

 

[yummy72]

Your teachers sound like they are well appreciated. 13 cakes.....that's amazing.[/QUOTE]

They are. We've been very fortunate to have great teachers at this school. DD has gone their since kindergarten, so many of them (music, pe, etc...) have watched her grow from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Your bag turned out darling. I wish I had the patience to sew. It did make me think that those of us that can't (or can but don't enjoy it in my case) sew could possible create something similar using those photo totes with the windows.

BTW, I only got 12 cakes baked. By the time each one baked for 45 minutes and then cooled in the pan for 30 minutes....it was 6:45 am when I put the last cake in the oven. The crossing guard is getting a cake next week

 

[mountaineer]

My sons teachers are still wowed that you were making 13 cakes.

I had the kids draw their own self portraits and write their names on 4" squares of paper. I didn't tell the teachers or the kids what I was doing, just that I wanted to try something with the computer. I scanned them into Photoshop. I erased the last names. There are 21 kids and 2 teachers so on the other block I wrote the school name and date. I bought printer fabric, the colorfast inkjet printer sheets to print the pictures on. I printed the pictures then cut them to a 4" square. Then I cut 1" strips for the sashing strips right around the pictures. The top and side strips are 1 1/2" cuts and the bottom was 3". I sewed all the strips on then quilted them. The bottom seam is sewn again to make it flat. I sewed the front and back sides together. Next you sew a lining together on 3 sides, leaving the top open and a 4" hole in one side to turn and sew again on that bottom seam so it will sit flat. I made the handles 3" x 25". I made them long enough to fit over the shoulder comfortably. You pin the handles to drape to the outside then slip the lining over, right sides together and sew. You turn it rightside out and stitch a topstitch around the top. The bag part itself was around 15" x 17".

The teachers really liked them.

I hope my directions make sense.

 

[virginiamama]

The bag is great. The teachers are lucky to have involved parents like you.

I was just shopping at North Carolina's Outer Banks this weekend and came across similar book marks. Guess what they were calling them?!? BOOK THONGS!

Anyone know how to make them?

 

[Trish Bessette]

I just love that bag!!! I bet the teachers were in awe!!!

I was in charge of Teacher Appreciation week at my DD's school last week, this is what we did:

Monday - Breakfast day, bagels, cream cheese, fruit platters, coffee, cream, juices plus 15 home baked goodies from various parents.

Tuesday - Soup and bread day. 4 different homemade soups for their lunch.

Wednesday - Dessert Day. We had about 30 different desserts come in from various parents.

Thursday - Catered lunch. I had a local caterer come in and cater a lunch for the staff at the school. We had parent volunteers watch their classrooms for an entire hour so they can relax and have a good time at lunch. Me and another lady served them since we are on the PTO. We had Lemon Chicken, Pasta Primavara, Oven roasted potatos, honey glazed carrots, salad, rolls plus 6 different desserts. It was wonderful! I decorated the tables with tablecloths and potted flowers in the middle.

Friday - Gift day. We bought a picnic table for the teachers to go out and have their lunch on. Plus I got 45 gifts donated from area businesses and each day we would draw teacher/staff names to match with a gift that was donated. That was the highlight of the week for each of them, waiting to see what they won

It truly was a wonderful week. I feel so strongly that they deserve it!

 

[yummy72]

Trish-

that sounds awesome! I'm sure the teachers and staff appreciated it very much. I haven't had much parent response this year, but things still turned out very nicely. We used to feed them lunch every day of the week for teacher's appreciation week but they decided that rather than wait and have everything in one week in May, they would like to have the occasions scattered throughout the year.

In October we served the "fall-themed" appetizers and snacks (like pumpkin dip, etc...) I made them little pumpkins made out of sections of orange slices put together to create a pumpkin and wrapped in cellophane

November we fed them an evening meal on the night they had parent/teacher conferences...It was a really nice dinner, a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, hot apple cider, etc... The Tuesday before Thanksgiving the each got a little Fall bag of "Leftover Turkey Soup Mix"

In December they all got really cute holiday tea towels that had holiday cookie recipes printed on them and cookie cutters attached to them

January we had a soup and chili luncheon for them, different parents brought crock pots of soups and chilis, crackers, etc...

February they each got a little valentine bag with a package of microwave popcorn inside with a tag attached that read "Don't be Corny Be My Valentine"

in April we did an evening meal again, this time it was an Easter typed meal with spiral sliced ham, deviled eggs, etc...

The biggest surprise of all is they will be getting cookbooks at the end of the year (they are being published right now!) with recipes submitted by students and parents. Everytime someone sends a dish to a school function that they like all of the staff asks for the recipe, and never seems to get it, so they are finally getting a compliation of them. It's our last year at this school, so I really wanted to do something special for them. We have such a small budget for teacher's appreciation I really worked to save a good part of the budget for the recipe book. They will be here in a couple of weeks, I can't wait.

Enjoy doing this, I know they all appreciate it very much. We're moving on to middle school and they don't have much in the way of parent volunteering (other than PTA...they don't have a teacher's apprecation coordinator or anything like that...they do block style schedule where your student moves from class to class on a MWF/ T-TH schedule like college so I guess they think the students see too many teachers to bother with it.)

Candi

 

[Trish Bessette]

Candi ~

I love all your ideas you did! And I love the concept of doing it all year long, that is clever!

The teachers sure will miss you once you leave. My DD's school is so small, it is Kindergarten through 8th grade and there are only 170 students! It is easy to spoil them since it is so small.