Teachers/former teachers
 

In another thread, I asked about what to make for my grandchildren's teachers. Several said tote bags, and that's what I've decided to make them. I plan on including a tissue holder and a small zippered pouch. My question to teachers/former teachers is: what other (inexpensive) items would be appreciated that I can include.
Thanks.

Hand sanitizer, chap six, hard candy or mints, etc

A lot depends upon what grade they teach. I taught elementary, middle and high school and the needs are different. If you're talking elementary a couple of things came to mind for me. I used to get a box of pencils from Office Depot for about $5.00 for kids who always lost pencils. I little bag with a zipper or velcro would be good for that.Teachers never get to leave for lunch. A fabric bag, maybe draw string, would be great to carry lunches in and then thrown into the fridge at work. I used to use plastic grocery bags!

There are fabrics out now that have teachers sayings on them. A friend of mine made a tote using them for her granddaughter's teacher. If you are interested, you can do a search on the sayings fabric. There are a lot of those out right now.

maybe book covers too?

I teach kdg...I second what someone earlier suggested...hand sanitizer, chap stick, hard candies or mints, stickers, pencils, cute binder clips, post it notes, etc. You are very kind to do this for your grand kids' teachers! I am retiring at the end of this year and our only grandchild (so far) is only 14 months old but I am taking notes from all you wonderful grammie's out there....I hope to be as wonderful, also!

I work as a speech pathologist in the schools. To be honest with you, teachers are often inundated with candies, candles, chocolates/cookies, coffee mugs, bath soaps/lotions, etc. the best gifts that i have seen have been gift cards for stores where they can buy themselves a small treat or get supplies for school. There are cute patterns for little change purses that you can make and put a gift card in.

My first grade sons teachers (inclusion class with a special ed teacher that assists the general ed teacher with math and language arts instruction) will get $20 gift cards. The related arts teachers will get a gift cert for a free hoagie at Wawa or $5 to dunkin donuts as will the teachers at my sons middle school. Maybe it is just the trend IN NJ. I asked the teachers I work with what their favorite gift is and they all said simultaneously, "gift cards."

On the other hand, I don't do gifts at any other times including end of year; instead, I write a letter to the principal and superintendent outlining all the wonderful things the teacher did to help my child. This is also greatly appreciated. I do this annually and the letter is well thought out.

So... Instead of the tissue holder, why not a little zippered wallet with a $5 gift card for a coffee shop? Here is a link for a pattern. I am sure there are free patterns too.

http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/sewin...--wallet/12793

I'm a retired 1st grade teacher, and I loved my chalk holder, especially since I seemed to be allergic to chalk. Also a nice thing for Elem. teachers who teach art in the classroom from time to time would be a cute coverup apron, I often forgot to take one when I had some messy art project in my lesson plans. I would NOT suggest markers or whiteboard pens, as some teachers may not be able to use them. I had major problems with these myself and had to give mine away due to allergies, I could not handle hand sanitizers either, instant headache when around some of these things. Pkgs of stickers are great, all ages seem to love stickers. Perhaps some cute rubber stamps with cute sayings to stamp student papers and a stamp pad- one of my favorite stamps I had that I used for so many years, until one of my students had big sticky fingers was a stamp with my name on it. I used this for all of my personal papers, and for anything I shared with others, so they would remember who they borrowed from - we shared a lot of materials and work pages over the years.

I am a retired teacher, and I think your gift of a tote bag is awesome! The items I used to have to spend my own $$ on were stickers and boxes of tissues. I can't tell you how many boxes of tissues I bought for my classroom! You are a wonderful, caring grandma. Your grandchildren are lucky to have you.

You might want to double check the school policy on gift giving. Our kids' school had a "no gifts to teachers" policy, to keep the playing field even for all the kids. I used to write a note thanking them for their work with my child, but I would have loved to give a gift. But I understand the policy, so just be sure the kids school says it's accepted before you make a lot of gifts.