you are absolutely right! i refuse to eat most homemade stuff, especially when the kids say they help. it sounds mean, but honestly, i've seen them eat lunch with dirty black fingers. i have to remind them to wash the dirt off! so no way will i eat anything that they made because i can't be sure that they had clean hands! and, depending on the household, it's hard to know what's really "safe" to eat or not, so we all err on the side of caution.

when i heard about the NYC rule that teachers can only accept $5 gifts or homemade crafts and cookies, i laughed out loud. who in the world would keep a homemade craft at their house? and most teachers won't eat homemade goods. obviously, it's the thought that counts, and gifts ARE appreciated just for what they are, but we also have to think about reality!

When was this rule put in effect? Is it for all teachers or only for certain grades? I remember when I was a senior in high school that everyone tried to get the best possible gifts for their teachers in order to get teachers to agree to write recommendations for college for them. It sounds bad but with a graduating class of 654, you gotta do what you gotta do.

joel klein just put it into effect like a week or 2 ago. it made all the local papers. can you imagine telling a business person that they would have to make the CEO of their company a craft for the holidays? it's ridiculous to tell anyone what they can or cannot accept as a gift thanking them for what they do.

the nerve
 

When Joel Klein makes my salary what it should be for what I do, then we can talk about what kind of gifts I can and cannot accept at the holidays.

In reality, if you were to make a gift for a teacher, wouldn't it cost more than $5 to buy the stuff for it?

When I was in private school, we weren't allowed to give gifts to our teachers. I think it was considered a bribe or something. In Catholic grammar school my teachers received Jean Nate or Charlie cologne and they liked it! ;)

interesting-teacher's should definitely get gifts they are going to use-that's why I think gift certificates like the ones at staples are great so they can spend their salaries on something other than school supplies!

Around here, the public school teachers theoretically aren't supposed to accept gifts at any time of year and the private school teachers get the presents! But...I've never known a teacher to turn down a present.

>>My two favourites were a bunch of flavoured hot chocolates (my kids know I love hot chocolate) and this really pretty bottle for olive oil with a matching dish for dipping. Perfect for an Italian teacher!

Definitely, sounds delicous!

Favorite Christmas gifts from students
 

After sixteen years of teaching, I think I have received enough candles to light a small city during a power outage and so many bath soaps and gels that my entire class could be clean for a whole year.

My favorite gifts from parents have been genuine, heartfelt notes that have expressed their appreciation for what I have done for their child. Nothing has ever been able to top a "real" note.

Several years ago, teachers in my district were not supposed to accept any gift valued over $5.00 (it was considered a bribe), so a parent from my class took up a collection, and a donation was made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in my name. It was such a thoughful gift because the parents and students knew how much it meant to me!

innovative ideas
 

You need help with innovative ideas on what to do for Teacher Appreciation Week? I can help you out. I found this website www.teacher-appreciation.info which has all the possible information you would need. Apart from giving ideas and suggestions on how you could make your teacher happy, this website also has a space where you could put in something about your own teachers for everyone to read. This could in itself be such a wonderful gift for your teacher.

And if you are looking for just general information like something about the great teachers in our history or you want to tickle your funny bone with some student teacher jokes, this website has it all. I would say there is something in it for everyone. And well, if you think you have some much better ideas for felicitating your teacher, go ahead and post it in ‘Your Ideas’ section on Teacher-appreciation.info. Let the world know your ideas and benefit from it too.

Re: innovative ideas
 

Sniff sniff... spammy

I teach at a fairly well off catholic boys school and I get some nice gifts...

I'd agree. No candies or consumables unless you know the teacher likes it. For example, I hate chocolate but I love plants. So some subliminal messaging resulted in a nicely decorated office and home.

Maybe I'm the only one but no staples or office depot gift cards. We're going to spend the card on school supplies. I think the gift should be something the teacher can use for herself, not for the class. So a car wash, nail salon or something would be great!

Maybe I haven't been teaching long enough but I like coffee mugs. Sometimes I get a great bag of gourmet coffee or a bottle of wine(my favorite gift)