what gift to get the teacher when an apple simply won't do.

got school-aged children? then at some point during the year, you will be scratching your head trying to determine the perfect gift for your children's teacher. if this never happens to you, then you are probably part of the reason that the profession is oft considered a "thankless job."

back to the awesome parent who is stuck in the muddle of trying to show their appreciation. surely you have heard the idiom, "it is the thought that counts." seriously, this is true, so STOP stressing. thank you cards written by you and your child are awesome. if you can afford to do more, of course the teachers will be thrilled, but please do not put yourself into financial stress buying teach a gift. handmade gifts are amazeballs, so capitalize on your creativity. why am i telling you all of this? because i am a teacher. and mrs. nipper knapp asked. and if you google "best gifts for teachers" there are gads of lists that are hogwash, so i am going to put you on the path towards awesome gift-giving. full disclosure, i work in an inner-city school, so gifts are the exception, not the norm. i guess that is why i have a wish list....a girl can dream.

as you already know, it is a challenge to buy a gift for this person who is sort of a stranger and simultaneously is practically a member of the family. after all, they spend seven or eight hours a day with your child. teaching, mentoring, guiding, soothing, molding, and loving your baby. the best advice i can give is to buy or make something that YOU would like. why's that? well, your child's teacher is just like you and me. we teachers have a life outside of teaching and most likely, we like lots of things that you like. but first, you need to do a little reconnaissance. check out the teacher's style. focus on accessories, because these are easy to purchase and affordable. ask your child about their teacher - i think you would be surprised how observant your kids are...don't forget, most children looooove their teacher and notice everything about them. and teachers loooooove to talk, so they have probably told their class everything you need to know, i.e. favorite color, hobbies, etc.

but let us get to the advice part of this post. i am a lass, so these suggestions are focused on female teachers, but of course some ideas can be adapted to men. beyond that i cannot help you with the gents. male teachers are just as mysterious as every other man i know. i have no idea what gifts to give my husband, brother, and dad; i certainly do not know what to get a male teacher. if you have this figured out, please enlighten the rest of us.

dead. horse.

first of all, things to avoid.

1. kitsch and knick-knacks. there are only so many random bits of teachery nonsense we can fit on our desks, windowsills, and bookshelves.
2. little plastic organizers with paperclips, push pins, staples, and officey junk. we already have one. or five. 
3. anything with the word "teacher." i.e. world's best teacher mugs, #1 teacher picture frames, etc. 
4. apple and/or bookworm themed gifts. i have no idea why apples are associated with teachers, but seriously, unless it is an electronic apple (see cartoon above), do not beat that dead horse.
5. classroom supplies. i know, i know, teachers spend lots of money on school supplies and you want to help them out, but dudes, donate supplies to the classroom, do not give them as a GIFT to the teacher. that is like someone giving your baby diapers for YOUR birthday. practical, NOT dreamy.

the best gifts are thoughtful and personalized. if you can make any of these things yourself, DO IT! if you can get your kids involved, even better.

1. accessories. does the teacher wear scarves? get her a scarf. does she wear little silver earrings/long-beaded necklaces/bracelets/sparkly hair clips? get her little silver earrings/long-beaded necklaces/bracelets/sparkly hair clips. you see where this is going? observe the teacher - everyone wears accessories...what is her niche?
2. fun and fabulous lunch bags. lunch breaks are short and teachers are not rolling in money, so we tend to bring our lunches. you know that super cute pink polka-dotted one you saw at the store? yup, teach would love that.
3. tote bags. teachers cart the world to school every day, so a good strong tote bag is always handy. and if it is cute, well then it might just become the go-to bag.
4. sturdy and good travel mug. does she have a mug of coffee/tea every day? she probably sips on it throughout the morning and would love it if her beverage was still warm at 10am. but chances are, she is not going to splurge to buy herself that awesome double-insulated mug that will keep her drink warm for hours.
5. non-traveling mugs. that are cute. would you want the mug in your cupboard? then it could be a winner. avoid messages, cheesy pictures, and jokes. look for pretty. or cute. or fun. want to get your kid involved? head to one of those places where you paint your own pottery and have your child paint a mug or any other practical item. but please, guide them through this process, especially if they are young. scribbles are cute, but make sure the scribble is not something that only a parent will love.
6. throw blanket. this can be bought, sewn, knit, or crocheted. worried it will not fit with the color scheme of her house? who cares?! we all have throw blankets that have nothing to do with our house decor...does that stop us from using them? nope. live in a warm climate? who cares?! everyone curls up on the couch with a blanket. even in miami. our air conditioners sometimes run a little cold.
7. beauty supplies. nail polish. body sprays. fragrant lotions. this one requires surveillance. are her nails always painted? get her the good stuff in the latest colors. body sprays and smelly lotion - everyone likes to play with these yummies. avoid makeup, unless you either a) know exactly what she loves and/or b) are super confident that the makeup is something everyone would love and can wear (mrs. n.k., think stila's smitten kitten).
8. find out her interests. if you are a good investigator, you can probably dig up some dirt. does she like to cook? get her a fun ruffly apron. or those gorgeous melamine mixing bowls you have been ogling. is she a baker? muffin pans. or cookie sheets. is she an artist? new sketchbook and colored pencils.

yum.

generic gifts for the times when you are just totally stuck.

1. gift card to starbucks. unless the teacher is anti-establishment or does not drink coffee or tea. then you will want to move on to #2.
2. candy and/or chocolate. teachers are human and just like you, we love to indulge.
3. flowers. or a potted plant. you could have your kid paint the pot - that would be super fun.

holy banarama, this post is waaaay longer than i intended, but, i love people who want to do something special for their child's teacher and if i can help simplify that process, well then...i will. good luck and happy shopping/creating.

note: all images are from the internets.

scraptastic.

i think it is safe to say that i am fanatical about organization. and i adore efficiency. when it comes to organization and efficiency, my art classroom is a work of art. it is also a work in progress. since day one, the scrap paper boxes have been one of the most vexing corners of my room. i try to save as much paper as possible, for use in future projects, but storing it is a constant struggle.

before. blech.

a lot of projects require semi-specific sizes of paper, so i thought it would be perfect to categorize the scraps by size. but then reality hit. do i put the smallish large scrap in the medium or large bin? what about the large small piece? oy yoy yoy.

glum. glum. glum.

and then i saw this.

ms. naples' scrap boxes. (picture from orange beautiful blog.)

oh my mama llama. after i picked myself up off the floor i got straight to work sorting. and sorting. and sorting. i scrounged up some extra boxes, made a label for each color, and dropped the paper into the new boxes. and then i fainted. 

gloriousness.

victory.

the corner still seemed a bit blah, so i figured i should follow the lead of my inspiration, ms. naples, and make a sign. i am not usually one to toot my own horn, but seriously people, this sign? it is awesomeness. for reals.

love. bring on the scraps.

can i get a hallelujah?

día de los muertos.

day of the dead. paint. sugar skulls. art. eleven year-olds. glitter. awesomeness.

for the record, i had nothing to do with the yellow paper and blue borders. standard issue school decor. my classroom is waaaay cooler.

fauve fauve fauve.

when selecting projects to do with my students, i have been avoiding painting. why? because the reality of painting with large groups of young children and limited time is daunting. but a few weeks ago, i braved the craziness and took out the watercolors. love. the kids behaved. love. the cleanup was easy. love. the pictures turned out awesome. love.

we made fauve portraits. [fauve: characterized by the use of bright colors and simplified forms.]

seriously people, i love my job.

wonky windows #22.

a window into my working world.

cut paper faces. this was the second project i did as an art teacher. i gave every student the same materials and then sat back and watched their personalities emerge.

as the sign says, these are collages. magazines, novels, textbooks, wallpaper, construction paper, glue, and scissors... a lot of the students did not grasp the concept, but these students took to it like ducks in water.

some more awesome collages.

one of my sample collages. i was showing the students that collages can be designed around color instead of objects. fun times at work!

this student finished her work early, so i asked her to draw a self-portrait and this is what she came up with. i adore the hair style and hat.

art shmart.

hard to leave this little face at home.

three weeks ago marked the end of my maternity leave. (obviously it also marked the end of my free time, hence the abrupt end to blog posts.) it was a bummer because as a happy homebody, i do not suffer from a burning desire to be employed. alas, there are bills to pay, so back to the grindstone. but the exciting part about returning to work is that at the beginning of the year my principal did some finagling and managed to hold open the art position just long enough for me to get my art certification. and now, that's right, i am an art teacher. and it is divine. i teach art to all the students in the second through fifth grades. it is official. i love my job. 

two fourth grade classes at one time. crazy, but we survive.

now i am not one for complaining. well actually, that's a lie. i complain a lot. however, at work i try to keep my chin up, because i have learned that the place is what you make of it. i wander the halls with a big smile, because my personal motto is "a happy face makes a happy place." are you gagging? sorry. now where was i? oh right, about to tell you about the trash pile i inherited that is supposed to pass for an art classroom. yikes.

six 1" squares of fabric clipped together and stored in a box. what the what? why save these?

floppy discs from 1993. how did we manage with 2mb of storage?

okay, so i am thrilled to have a classroom - not all art teachers are so lucky - but this place was a dump. bursting at every seam with bits of paper, jumbled up crayons, oozing tubes of ink, lumpy paint, broken pencils, and dust. oh my god, so much dust.

politically correct crayons. i heart crayola.

the good news is that under the craziness, i unearthed a surprisingly good selection of art supplies. three weeks of tossing, scrubbing, sorting, cleaning, and organizing, and i can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. i still have six boxes of paper scraps to sort by size and two hundred large art reproductions to organize, but then i will have a dream classroom.

making adinkra "cloth" with a third grade class.

and my days will consist of wrangling children to create gloriousness, wandering the internet for project inspiration, and creating sample projects. did i say, i love my job? i do. i love my job.

wonky windows #14.

thursday afternoon rain clouds. i know people come to florida to enjoy the sunshine, which i like, but i love the rain. it is amazing. one minute we have sunshine, the next a torrential downpour, and five minutes later it is sunny again. sometimes it pours on one street and not on the next. this picture captures it perfectly....sunshine on the playground with black clouds rolling in. since there was no thunder or lightning, we stayed outside until we felt the rain, when one of my space cadet kids said to me "ummm...teacher, i do not like the look of those clouds over there." my response? "my name is not teacher and if you had listened, you would know that we are going inside right now." hmmm...not exactly gonna win any awards for being sugary sweet, but the entire class made it inside 7 seconds before the clouds burst.

this week's art project. i never intended my blog to be a stream of all of my students' artwork, but i cannot help it. i LOVE kindergarten art. it is so whimsical, so perfect, and well....so wonky! and it is a huge point of pride for me that unlike many of the other teachers at my school, when it comes to art i do not stop at drawing with crayons. not me. no sir. when it is art time, we take out all kinds of goodies and the kids are 100% responsible for the creation of their project. in my classroom the wonkiness is not a mistake, it is cherished. to that end, i limit my assistance to demonstrations, explanations, and unclogging glue bottles. and the results make me smile every time.

interested in participating in wonky windows? check out the instructions.

wonky windows #11.

you might think i have some sort of fancy explanation for why i disappeared for two weeks. not exactly. all i can say is that lately my night owl tendencies have been completely overshadowed by this baby growing in my belly. i have been asleep by 9:30pm (at the latest!!) and the five hours between the gym and the bed are fully consumed with thinking about food, finding food, eating food, showering, and starting back on the food process. not to mention i probably spend an hour a day enthralled by my kicking and wriggling pringle.

but it is time to share a few pictures with you...

a glimpse into life as a teacher. last week this kid decided to throw a five day tantrum. this lovely pose, which was accompanied by a loud wailing, is from the playground where he was in timeout. there was not much i could do about his perpetual fit, so i just ignored him. i am hoping that if my own children decide to try this tactic, i will be half as calm as i am when it is one of my students. i can see you scratching your head wondering why i did not speak with his parents. i did. they informed me that he was upset because i did not give him a birthday present in november. ummmm...right then.

taken through the window of steak & shake, pringle's favorite restaurant. we eat burgers and fries and top it off with a mint chocolate chip milkshake. YUM!! but i digress. these absolutely delightful and yes, HOT PINK plants seem to be all over miami. every time i see them, i think to myself, "if i were a plant, this is the plant i would be." you know, simple with a flare.

i love bread. this particular display is one of four, that's right, FOUR, bread displays in my favorite little market. i would like this assortment to come to my kitchen every day. actually i would like this whole market to come to my house everyday. is there anyone that is not secretly obsessed with bread? i could eat fresh baked bread all day long. in fact the mister and i typically finish a baguette in two days or less, which means we buy about 4 baguettes a week. yikes.

interested in participating in wonky windows? check out the instructions.

wonky windows #10.

it has become increasingly evident that my internal clock does not have a special alert for wednesday. as a result, i frequently forget to post my "wednesday windows" on wednesday. in an effort to avoid avoid false advertising, while still participating in this rather entertaining ritual, i am changing the name to wonky windows. i long ago fell in love with wonky quilts...probably because i just adore the word "wonky", so it seems apropos to get to use this term anytime i feel the need to share glimpses into my wonky (heehee) little world. so, with no further ado, the first installment of wonky windows...

THEME: reasons i might be 5.

(note: none of these pictures were taken through/via a window, but they ARE windows into my world).

i LOVE sugar. this picture was taken at school. it was the friday before my birthday, so ms. pumpky baked me cupcakes to celebrate. thanks to my unnatural obsession with sugar i have been known to out-sugar my five-year-old students. when handed a box of cupcakes, i was overjoyed to stuff my face with the sugary goodness. yummy!!!

i take a school picture EVERY year. sometimes two. one of the perks of being a teacher is the opportunity to get a complimentary school picture (probably a dubious perk, but a benefit nonetheless). although i almost always loathe these ridiculous pictures, i like things that are free, so i never fail to go in for my photo sitting. these are hands-down my least photogenic moments, but i keep going back for more. somehow on this particular day i actually managed to resemble myself. sort of. i am giving all credit to pringle for adding a little glow to my world (too bad he/she did not unquirk my eyebrows).

i dress like a kindergartner. i like to think that i look adorable and hopefully appropriate. but then five-year-olds, some of whom i do not even know, walk up to me to tell me that they love my shoes, my dress, my jacket... either this means that i am uber-stylish OR (and this is more likely) that i adorn myself in articles of clothing that appeal to small children. i mean seriously, what's wrong with a baby-doll dress, leggings, purple socks, and flowery corduroy shoes?

interested in participating in wonky windows? check out the instructions.

holiday haul.

some of you might be wondering the results of my shameless hustling for holiday gifts, so here are pictures of all of my gifts. did my 18 students and their parents appropriately show their appreciation? you decide.

a handmade card and little debbie cupcakes.

a coloring page and a candy cane.

 

a handmade card.

a stuffed penguin and a miniature rubber robot.

an eraser.

framed by chaos.

as if i did not have enough projects on my plate, on tuesday i decided that i should give a gift to some of my colleagues. of course i cannot walk into a store and buy some little trinkets like a normal person. oh no. i have to create. right. on a budget. super. luckily, i mentioned this to mrs. nipper knapp and not surprisingly, she is a treasure trove of ideas. she promptly rattled off some quick and easy options and i was ready to roll...picture frames for the ladies and one embroidered hanky for the gent. no problem. except for having only 48 hours to buy the supplies, make the frames and hanky, and wrap up all the goodies. yikes!

a quick trip to michaels and target to secure supplies and i was ready. twelve picture frames...here we go. i set up a little assembly line to whip through these as efficiently as possible. paint the back of all the frames. apply modge podge and attach purty paper. cut the paper to size. modge podge over the paper. three times. wait for it all to dry. clean up the edges. insert a cute lerato designs card in place of the advertisement picture. wrap it up and tie a bow with a handmade gift tag. voila! it only took sixteen hours.

and then i remembered that i needed to embroider a hanky. ummm...never embroidered a monogram before, but how hard can it be, right? eeeps. it might not be the finest monogram ever completed, but it was done with love and that is all that matters. i hope.

of course 8 hour days at work followed by 8 hour evenings of crafting means i did not get enough sleep and ran myself right into another cold. argh!!! but i will get better fast and then i will plow headfirst into the real christmas gift creations, because it would not be christmas if i was not crafting until the last possible minute.

shameless.

when i was a kid i remember begging my mom to let me buy this or that for my teacher. twice a year i got to pick something little to show my teacher how much i loved her. it was never anything earth-shattering, but it was my childish way of saying "thanks." from my perusals of the blogosphere, craftosphere, and facebook, this tradition continues, yet the kids at my school do not seem to have gotten the memo. i am a big believer in the motto "it is the thought that counts," so does that mean that despite wrangling your kid for six hours a day, five days a week, for 10 MONTHS that i do not even warrant a thought?

patiently teaching 5-year olds how to weave paper.

in five years of teaching, which thanks to various administrative shuffling, puts me somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 kids, i have received nine gifts and only a handful of cards. now i know the economy is in the dumps, but is it truly too much to ask that you go to the dollar store and buy a candle or sit your kid down with a paper and some crayons and tell them to make a thank you card for their teacher? really?

more times than i can remember my mom told me that it does not take much to say thank you and it sure does make the other people feel special. so this year, thanks to the brainchild of ms. pumpky, i have taken matters into my own hands. blatantly begging some might say. i prefer to think of it as continuing education...teaching kids that they should say thank you. i am not picky. handmade cards and dollar store gifts are the apple of my eye; all i ask is that you think of me. to that end, i placed a box on my desk, stuck a fake present in it and pointed it out to my kids telling them that if they have cards or gifts for me, they can just put them in the box. i plan to give them daily reminders of the box's existence. shameless plugging? perhaps. but i have decided that it is necessary since their parents refuse to teach them how to be good people.

the beggar collection box.

for those of you that have kids in school...do not forget the teacher. they work hard day in and day out to try to prepare your child for the future and it is always nice to know that you care. no need to spend a fortune...feel free to have your kids make a popsicle stick photo frame or some other crafty dealio (click here if you need some inspiration) and i guarantee the teacher will love it. after all there is a reason they chose to surround themselves with little people.