Student Teacher.... What should I get my cooperating teacher as a thank you gift for helping me out?

Question

I want to get her something nice, but I don't have a whole lot to spend.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I gave both of my cooperating teachers homemade things. I gave my first cooperating teacher a scrapbook I made. I had heard her saying that she needed to do something with all the pictures of all her various students that she has had so I made her a scrapbook that she could stick all those pictures in. She loved that not only it was personalized and had a special touch, but it was something I had noted she needed. For my second master teacher, I made a tote bag. She had this bag that she carried all the teacher manuals for the various texts in and it was getting tattered. I went to Michaels and bought a nice sized canvas tote (which tm's fit perfectly in), got some fabric and iron transfer paper, cut out apple shapes in the fabric, ironed them on, and traced the borders of them in puffy paint. Again, she loved that it was something I notice she needed and that I made it. Just some suggestions. If you can't think of anything special, I've always found a quick, cute, and yummy gift is the cookie mix in a jar. Get a mason jar and artisticly put the ingredients for cookies in it. All of these are inexpensive ideas because they are all homemade. Hope it helped :)

Answer 2

A gift card is always a good choice, but you also might consider doing something for the whole class, like a cake or a special video or book because the kids helped you out, too. If you've been taking pictures a small scrapbook of your time with the class might be nice, and if you're short money a letter explaining how much she helped you would be welcome, too. You probably want to stay away from anything that says teacher on it; if she's like me she never wants to see another apple or I love teaching sticker ever again!

Answer 3

If you did your student teaching in a financially stable school district the last thing the teacher probably needs are the traditional teacher gifts, things with "teacher" and "apples" on them. If you did your S.T. in a poor or inner city area, she probably has never gotten anything from her students. In the past 15 years I have only received 3 or 4 gifts. No one in our school gets a gift very often, it's a huge shock if we do!

I really like the ideas from the person who made the scrapbook and book tote! They were creative, useful and very thoughtful! She will go far because of her creativity and thoughtfulness. Teachers are cautious about consuming gifts from students but would probably feel OK about eating something from a student teacher. Some gift certificates teachers like besides the coffee are craft stores, school supply stores, book stores.

If you were in our school a few packages of copy paper woud make anyone's day!

Answer 4

I received from a friend a "survival kit for teachers" last year; it had several items with a clever explanation for each of them. For example she put in a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that reminds me that I'm just a little part of the big picture, a band-aid for when my students' hurt and my efforts don't seem to work, an eraser to start each day on a clean slate, etc. I found a site with some different ideas you could use for this
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/classmanagement/survivalkit.html

Answer 5

How about a coffee mug with an apple on it? I'll bet she doesn't have anything like that! LOL

Seriously, a letter of recommendation would be nice. Many teachers don't get recognition for the extra work they do outside the classroom. Give it to her first and ask her if you can send it to the principal and school superintendent.

Answer 6

Get her a Gift Card from a store she would shop at. That way if she's not allow to accept gifts from students you can keep it your self. You can also get her a greeting card that says Thank You.

Answer 7

Having been married to a k-8 teacher for 20 years, for some reason it's been my observation, that she and most fo her colleges really like homemade gifts.
That kind of kills two birds with one stone, easy and inexpensive.

Answer 8

Why not get her something that you would like. Maybe a small gift bag from Bath and Body works or you can put a good sized basket together by shopping at Marshalls. They have tons of inexpensive bath items! Good Luck!

Answer 9

Gift Card to a bookstore or coffee shop. Some nice teas. Basket of lotions/bubble baths, etc. Say you'll do something nice for her, like babysit her kids or have her and her husband over for dinner.

Answer 10

A gift card