End of Year Teacher Gifts

For some reason I started rather late this year. As in, I almost didn't get it done. But a few late nights in a row
and these blank "canvases" went
fRoM: tO:

One "tin" for each of Jackson's teachers (3) and Ms. Tiernan, Maddie's 2nd grade teacher.



I'm not sure why I do this to myself every year, but I think it boils down to this. I end up LOVING the kids' teachers. They amaze me. They love on my kids and care for them. They TEACH them. They give. And give. And then give some more. Every day with kids. Lots of them. Lots of noise and chaos that they somehow reign in and channel into beautiful learning experiences.

So it's worth every hour to pull together a special 'memento' for the school year.

These 'tins' evolved. Two years ago, for Maddie's kindergarten teachers, I did tins that had a 'file folder' for each child ... with pictures of that particular kid behind each tab. And I loved how those turned out.

This year I thought, let's do something a bit different. {You know me, I like change.} So, I decided to figure out when each teacher started teaching, what colours they love, and then made a 'file folder' for each year of teaching already completed, and then I added a bunch after 2010, totaling around 30 years ... just a fun new way to keep track of miscellaneous photos of each school year and the kids from each class.

Jack's response when I showed him the finished product: "Do you think they need that?" I said, "Absolutely. Smiled. And walked away dejected." {Not really. I think I was just looking for a bit different reaction than that. But he did think they looked great.}

And the funny thing is, when I gave the tins to Jackson's teachers, they each randomly said, "Oh, this is great. I have so many pictures from different years and no place to really put them. This will help organize all my school pictures."

Whew. I was glad my gut was right on this one.

Have I mentioned how much I've loved Maddie and Jackson's teachers? I really, really do.