to buy the teacher a card and a cheap pen

[samithesausage]

The dreaded end of year presents. This year I've bought 3 "Best Teacher" pens and some cards for the children to write.
AIBU to think that this is an ok present and that the teachers probably will end up getting a load of mugs that they won't know what to do with anyway!

My Mam was a teacher, and at Christmas and at the end of the school year she'd have a black bin liner home full of boxes of chocolates. We loved that beyond reason. We would look at them and wonder which might get opened first...

Chocolates are the gift that keep on giving. Think of the children.

We're gonna make some flower fridge magnets, we made some fish ones at xmas for the family and they turned out really well, plus they are cheap to make! And we'll make a couple of cards whilst we're at it- cheap again.

Pens sounds great. SIL gets chocs, and likes the individually wrapped celebrations/heros type the best, as you can take a few out and the rest stay fresh so they last for ages- handy if you get 10 boxes! Big bars and things tend to go all white and get stolen by people like me picking after they're unwrapped.

Think a card made and written in by the child would be more treasured than a shop bought gift. A pen is very useful though. I'd go for a a pen, sonething stationery related, a plant for the garden would be nice.

Surely there can only be one best teacher in the world or is it like boxing where there are lots of governing bodies. Even so some degree of realism and nuance is needed.

I think you should be able to buy cards based on the teacher's last appraisal or ofsted's assessment of the lesson. How about a card wiith 'for the teacher who shows good classroom management skills , but fails to sufficiently account for different abilities within the class in the world' card.

why no like button? I feel strangely adrift

I have been both a secondary and a primary teacher and the best present ever is simply a nice letter saying how the teacher has helped, and copied to the Head.

Really.

I keep all my nice letters. But the parent that also rang the head and earned me a fantastic meeting pat on the back and kudos wins over wine. Just! Seriously, teachers get little positive feedback, so if you do one thing, do that at the end of term.

I still have every handwritten note from the child thanking me.

I've been given some lovely presents and cards over the years I've been teaching but the ones that I've enjoyed most are ones that are useful or personal e.g. the fancy, green, erasable pen a child gave me (I marked in green - he thought it would be nice for me to have a better pen), the blocks of paper that sit on my desk and are perfect as emergency bookmarks/quick notes/wrapping newly lost teeth in or the necklace I was given one Christmas because the child noticed I usually wore long necklaces.

Cards or scraps of paper with a personal message are always appreciated.

My children always make a card for the adults who've worked with them. Sometimes they will also want to give them a present. Last year, DD1's teacher (an NQT) received a staple remover and a gift voucher for the pub/restaurant I happened to know she likes - she'd been brilliant for DD1. DD2's teacher was given a bubble bar from Lush because DD2 wanted to give her a rainbow and that was what she came up with. Slightly odd, but usable as a science experiment if bubble bars aren't her thing!

I'm making notes here!

Ds at SN school, 1:1 in class so about half a dozen staff plus taxi driver and escorts, obviously I can't set my sights too high budgetwise but they are all so great I never want to miss anyone out. Some great ideas on this thread for useful little gifts. Does anyone have any for a sort of joint class gift for staff? I can only ever think of boxes of biscuits but they must get loads of those.

As a teacher, I would be happy with any token however if you want a suggestion, anything home made goes down a treat - cake, biscuits, chocolates, ornament etc. And it is even better if it is clear a child has helped and it is a bit rough around the edges! I love that. It doesn't have to be big or time consuming.

ex teacher. would love a pen as it is useful.

I gove the office staff something. helps to ease the pain of me going in with forgotten something or other for them to take to the classroom...

I'm smiling a little at pens. I can see they are hugely useful and I go through loads of them myself as I like doing puzzles and crosswords and can't work the printer, but it's funny when schools are putting more and more emphasis on ipads for the students, homework done on keyboards and emailed in etc, but the teachers are all desperate for pens .
I recently went to a computer tech and digital media fair with dd as she is doing A levels in those areas. Every single stall was giving away ballpoint pens and no one seemed to see the irony! and I came home with a bag full much to dd's disgust.

Pens are great though. Will go with pens or cakes. Sorry for jumping in your excellent thread Op!

My DC both had the same male teacher for their final year of primary and he was wonderful. He wrote a funny personal poem, only about 8 lines, about each of the kids in his class and read them out at the end of year event, along with giving them a copy of the poem. I sent him in a card and wrote him a funny poem when my youngest left the school, I think he liked it and I hope he kept it somewhere as my DC have certainly kept theirs

ComposHat