Last Minute Pun-Tastic Teacher Gift Ideas

Ok so going by my social media time lines there are an awful lot of you already enjoying your Summer holidays. However if you are like me, my children still have a full week left at school, boooo I hear you cry. This also means that gifts to teachers are yet to be given so I'm sharing with you three pun-tastic teacher gift ideas which are simple to make but I feel the homemade element gives them a special touch.

Who's The Teacher?

Do you ever wonder who's the teacher in your childs life? I've always been keen to help my children learn. I bought books for them to read even before they were even born, the toys that they play with not only allow them to have fun but they also encourage them to learn different skills from counting and sorting to role play and dealing with certain emotions.

However when my children started school I thought I would become what I would call a back seat teacher, still helping them along their learning journey but becoming someone that reinforced what their school teachers were teaching them rather than being the main source of where their knowledge comes from.

My 6 year old daughter Freya and her class mates were let down big time last year by their teacher when they were in reception. Unfortunately they weren't taught all of their phonics and other basic skills and some were left not really being able to read properly when they started year one in September.

How come they get a day off??

So my two eldest daughter's came home yesterday with a letter informing me that next Thursday, the 17th of October, that half of their schools teachers will be on strike.

It means that Elise will be able to go in as her teacher isn't striking but Freya will miss out on a days education because her teacher deems it necessary to have that day off. I get that teachers work hard and I don't necessarily agree with the idea of performance based pay etc , but in all seriousness what do they think this strike is going to achieve?

The letter that was sent home to us, is making out like this strike is based on the fact that they care about our children and they think the government is putting unrealisitic pressure on our kids to reach targets, we all know that isn't the real reason they are striking, if they cared that much surely they would see that the children losing a days worth of valuable education isn't a solution to the problem at all.

I am very fortunate to be a stay at home mum, meaning that I am lucky enough to be around to look after my children but what about working parents? Some now need to lose a days pay because they will have to take a day off from work themselves to look after their children.

This whole thing really annoys me. If we were to take our children out of school for a day that wasn't because of an illness, at the very least it would be frowned upon and for most of us, it would be mean that we would be charged a fine as it would be unauthorised.

So how is it that teachers are able to get away with having a day off of school, how is that acceptable, surely the rules should work in reverse?? I think what they are doing is extremely irresponsible.

My 5 year old is now asking me why she can't go to school on Thursday when her sister can and I just don't know what to tell her.

Are any of your children having to have a day off from school next week because of teachers striking? What do you think about the whole situation??

xxxx

Thank You Teacher

As the end of another school year approaches, we as parents start thinking about what gifts to buy our children's teachers to thank them for what they have done over the school year. Excuse my rant and I know I probably sound harsh, however quite frankly it is another expense I could do without.

It seems to be a struggle every year to come up with something to buy that doesn't cost the earth because I don't know about the rest of you but I don't want to give the obligitory bookmark or magnet, poor teachers must have millions of these floating around their houses by now.

It has become yet another tradition that we have fallen into and I don't know about what other parents think, but I feel guilty seeing other people giving presents that look loads better than what I'm giving, almost feel like I am back at school myself, competing for first prize!!

There is a flip side to all of this though. This year I have been thinking about it even more though.

I love my eldest daughter's teacher, can't fault her, so helpful, always pushing for the kids to do more, the whole class has improved this year.

Then there is my five year old, although doing well in school, hasn't had the best teacher. Many of the parents have complained to her and about her because there seemed to be a distinct lack of teaching going on, there is a curriculum set for a reason and she hasn't stuck to it one bit, the children have only just finished learning their letters, something which should have been done by Christmas last year. Infact the poor teaching assistant seems to have been doing her job for her!!!

Only last week Freya got sent home with a reading book, which you could quite clearly see that she had read only a couple of weeks ago, simple mistake maybe, it just seemed to be in line with many others.

So I guess I'm thinking do we "have" to buy gifts for all of our kids teachers, especially if we feel that they haven't done what is required of them, as in that sense what would we really be thanking them for?

I'm in two minds what to do about this because I don't want to come across rude or ungrateful but in all honesty myself and my eldest daughter have done more learning with Freya at home than she has done at school this year.

Do any of you feel that your kids teachers haven't done the best for you child this year? Are you looking forward to them getting a new teacher?

xxxx