Teacher Appreciation Ceramic Project

"Thank you for helping us grow!"

This past year, my youngest child had a great teacher.  It was her first year teaching, which had me feeling a little apprehensive at first.  She was replacing a wonderful teacher who retired unexpectedly, so she had BIG shoes to fill.  Fortunately, for us all, she was wonderful!  I was so impressed with how well she managed teaching a new curriculum and even more so, how she really taught the kids so much beyond the information in their textbooks.  She has great maturity and insight for someone so young and new to teaching.

At the end of the year, I was reminded of this when I compiled a photo book for her and had the kids answer a few questions about their year with her.  Among all the funny, sweet and thoughtful answers, there were a few that really stuck with me. 

When asked "What is the most important thing you learned in Mrs. Lockin’s class?", one child responded, "I learned from her that when you have a problem with someone you should go directly to that person to talk about it, and not talk about it to everyone else first. I learned it’s better if you are nervous to talk to the person to take a friend along with you for support. She taught me it’s better to talk a problem out with someone than to just talk to everyone else and get madder and madder." 

Wow.

As a parent, hearing a child say something like that speaks volumes.  She wasn't the only student saying things like that, either.  These days there is so often an over-emphasis on test scores, common core state standards, etc...  It was just so refreshing to hear what these kids in her class had to say.  They had learned some life lessons - some that people my age haven't even learned yet.  Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of answers like "Multiplying fractions, double digit division, etc..."  Clearly there was a lot of learning going on in her classroom - on all levels. 

So all that being said, I was extra motivated to coordinate something special for this teacher in appreciation for all that she did for our kids this year.  While she was at a year end teacher appreciation lunch, we secretly made leaves for a tree out of clay.  We cut the leaves out with a leaf shaped cookie cutter.  Then the kids carved their names into one leaf and decortated extra leaves with leaf patterns.  The kids used a dull pencil to carve into the clay.

The leaves were cut out of clay using a leaf shaped cookie cutter. 

We bought a "memory box" type of frame at Aaron Brothers and had one of the other mom's in the class paint the tree trunk.   The leaves were attached with E6000 adhesive, along with a "plaque" with the teacher's name, class detail, school and year. 

It was a fun and relatively easy project that the kids enjoyed doing.  I think she was very touched when it was given to her in appreciation for all she did during the school year.