Teacher gifts

[havaneselover]

I live in Ontario, and have never heard of "class moms" either, nor would I contribute if there was one. The teachers themselves coordinate volunteers for class trips and in the classroom. We do have "extra teachers" such as gym, and French, but we have always had one main teacher per class.

Generally people around here give individual gifts to teachers, usually Tim Horton's (coffee/donuts) or LCBO (Liquor store - we can't buy booze at corner stores or grocery stores). We JUST got Target here, so that might be popular now. I have many teacher friends, and they all appreciate gift cards the most. Even if they don't drink coffee or booze, they can re-gift the gift card! It will never go to waste.
Our board would never allow parents to "solicit" money from other parents for teacher gifts. I know it's just to help and it's voluntary, but it seems odd to me. Just asking can put people in an awkward position. It's really putting people on the spot, I think. Also, then one person (the class mom) knows how much everyone contributes. It would never fly here. We can barely do pizza days at our school due to the fact that some kids feel left out when their families can't afford pizza on those days. They are very sensitive to the fact that not everyone can afford all the extras. There are no cupcakes on birthdays, no treats given out on Halloween or Valentine's Day either. I'm OK with that. Then no one feels like they have to keep up with the Jones'.
I say gift cards - you know it will be used (either by them or given away) and it's easy!

When my DD was in kindergarten, the class mom collected $ and bought her a large (maybe $300 or so) gift card to the local mall as well as a personal gift from the class.

The room mom in my DD's 2nd grade class was the worst--she would send out emails with the names of parents who had contributed and said that only their children's names would be on the class card.

At some point the policy was changed and room moms couldn't ask for $ for a class gift. As a single/working mom, I'd rather send cash in and know the teacher would get a large gift card. Now I just buy gift cards to Target for teachers/swim coaches. There are Targets everywhere and you can buy so much there. But I'm a painfully practical person : )

 

[jmkst58]

I need ideas for Christmas/thank you gifts for a volleyball coach and a basketball coach (but also a teacher and neighbor).

Volleyball coach- He is the local YMCA volleyball coach and my daughter would have only had 5 sessions with him total. She plays school volleyball too, but this YMCA coach is already her favorite coach ever (sorta says something about the school coaches too).

The other teacher/coach lives on our street and brought us vegetables this year from his garden. He was my oldest daughter's science teacher and this year he is teaching my youngest. Last year he also asked my older daughter to keep stats for his basketball team and then gave her an itunes card afterwards as a 'thank you.' Believe me- she would have paid HIM to do it- she had so much fun. I was really hoping to come up with something very nice and thoughtful for him- he's been so great to us.

Any ideas? I will appreciate anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ashlander]

I need ideas for Christmas/thank you gifts for a volleyball coach and a basketball coach (but also a teacher and neighbor).

Volleyball coach- He is the local YMCA volleyball coach and my daughter would have only had 5 sessions with him total. She plays school volleyball too, but this YMCA coach is already her favorite coach ever (sorta says something about the school coaches too).

The other teacher/coach lives on our street and brought us vegetables this year from his garden. He was my oldest daughter's science teacher and this year he is teaching my youngest. Last year he also asked my older daughter to keep stats for his basketball team and then gave her an itunes card afterwards as a 'thank you.' Believe me- she would have paid HIM to do it- she had so much fun. I was really hoping to come up with something very nice and thoughtful for him- he's been so great to us.

Any ideas? I will appreciate anything. Thanks in advance.

How about a personalized clipboard?

 

[mommyto3girls]

Our school send home a wish list for each teacher's classroom. We are discouraged from giving teachers personal gifts, but I still send a card and a Target giftcard. I figure they can use that to buy things for the class instead of using their own money. I have been asked by PTA to bring in 2 dozen cookies, brownies, etc. and they make up a goodie basket for teachers with those. I asked a teacher friend from another school about a cost limit and she said there wasn't one. that actually surprised me. I work for the state and cannot accept any gift that would be valued at more than $2.99. I don't get any gift or bonus at all for Christmas-we don't even get a Christmas party

 

[cari12]

My kids school collects money for the Christmas Wish Fund for less fortunate families in the community. A notice goes home and you can choose to donate $$ to the fund on behalf of your child's teacher in lieu of a gift. We love this idea and have done this for the past few years and then just give the teacher a card.

 

[dalyes]

Thats not possible...Assistants cannot legally be alone with the children without a teacher present. I think you are misunderstanding the situation, or else you don't realize that some of the "teachers" are actually Assistant Teachers.

Nope, I'm not misunderstanding. There are 2 teachers - a lead and an assistant. When one is on break, a floater comes in. There are many floaters that float in multiple classrooms. I never said that the lead/head teacher and assistant go and have lunch together, or take bathroom breaks together. Instead, one goes and a floater comes in. I'm not certain of their actual credentials but our dc recognizes a lead and an assistant as official to any one room.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Nope, I'm not misunderstanding. There are 2 teachers - a lead and an assistant. When one is on break, a floater comes in. There are many floaters that float in multiple classrooms. I never said that the lead/head teacher and assistant go and have lunch together, or take bathroom breaks together. Instead, one goes and a floater comes in. I'm not certain of their actual credentials but our dc recognizes a lead and an assistant as official to any one room.

Well that's different than what you originally said. It sounded like you were calling the assistants the "helpers" - assistants are not considered teachers. If the lead teacher leaves the room another lead teacher must come in.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Well that's different than what you originally said. It sounded like you were calling the assistants the "helpers" - assistants are not considered teachers. If the lead teacher leaves the room another lead teacher must come in.

Not where I worked. I routinely taught the class while the teachers were at ARCs and you know how long those last. I also taught small groups alone in the resource room. My first year as a para (with no training except for a three hour long behavioral issues seminar that all teachers and paras went to), I was alone with a student 90% of my/his day. I wasn't even given lesson plans. In fact, I had to search out the curriculum and come up with things on my own. Now, that was unusual (and wrong!), but the other stuff was completely normal here.