A paper cutter is a great thing to have in a classroom.
Also, my experience is that an electric pencil sharpener, even a very good one, only lasts a year or two, so that is always welcome.
If parents wanted to get together and get one of those small home-use copiers, they are wonderful. A teacher isn't going to make class sets in her room, but invariably you need an extra copy or two of something, and an in-room copier lets you get it done right then and there.
The needs are different for young teachers vs. experienced teachers of course. A young teacher might be in need of a rolling cart for taking work home.

Bless you! I don't think the average parent realizes how much teachers kick into their classrooms, even in well-funded districts.

My daughter teaches kindergarten. By Christmas she needs new crayons.

What she REALLY likes are gift cards to the educational supply store. (as well as gift cards to area restaurants for herself).

The parents at the school where she teaches are very generous. Usually the homeroom mother will arrange for the class parents to contribute towards one big gift.

Please no coffee mugs or cute apple theme gifts....

ML

I never have enough of highlighters and then I like my purple and green color pens for grading. Extra USB flash drives are always helpful, too.

Just bought myself a rolling wheel bag to haul my stuff! My Black Friday gift from me to me. I was feeling like a bag lady with bookbag, gymbag, and lunch bag. It also has a padded compartment for laptop or iPad.

Thanks for the great ideas so far! Taking notes...

Not sure how much you want to spend, but, every year I have bought my DS KDG, 1st and 2nd grade teachers a bean bag chair. I bought good quality ones, but, I don't think they would have been picky, as the ones they had looked pretty bad. The last one I got was a Pottery Barn denim one that you can wash the cover.

I also bought one of his teachers' and Optic (can't remember the rest of the name) that the teacher can magnify things on their whiteboards. I think it was around $40-50 dollars. Most teacher's know what it is.

Extra individual (small size) white boards and dry erase markers are always welcome- a class set would be amazing. Ours get to the point where they don't erase well and we use them a lot! I also love brightly colored gel pens or fine markers for grading and such. Bright sticky notes are always fun and useful-we teach the children to use them while reading, so we go through a lot.

I would not get a paper cutter without knowing if that would be allowed in a classroom. We have those in teacher workrooms, and the district would probably not approve that in a room where students are and storage is premium space, so I wouldn't have an easy spot to put it out of sight/reach. In our district, every teacher has his/her own laptop computer and a printer in the classroom, so a person copier wouldn't be something I would need either, although I would guess that may not be true of districts everywhere.

Oh, and my students love colored pencils, but we always run out by mid-year since the district doesn't provide those.

You could buy several different small things and put them in a plastic rectangular basket that could then be used to hold books on a shelf, miscellaneous supplies, etc.

Whatever you give her, I imagine she will be thrilled! We do spend lots of our own money (I work in a Title One school that happens to be in a wealthy school district), so parents like you are very special!

I would suggest asking, then you can cover a known need. If perhaps the teacher has a printer in the classroom, you can ask for the name so that you can get ink cartridges, etc.

Bless you! The school provides pens, but they are cheapo ones that leak--nice quality pens in black, purple, green, etc. would probably be most welcome! I use sticky notes for everything:) I especially like the large ones because I use them to jazz up my charts. Another item I buy for myself is colored chart paper--it makes the content stand out. None of these items are expensive by themselves, but it can add up throughout the year. You are very thoughtful!

As the mother of a teacher, I will offer one piece of advice - do not buy "Favorite Teacher" or "#1 Teacher" type items like mugs, magnets, picture frames, tree ornaments, jewelry, etc.

I truly understand that some children go shopping for their teacher and pick out these type of things and that is all they can afford, but responsible parents like you can prevent some of this.

Hope I am not coming across as a snob.

These are all really great ideas, thanks! I have never thought to put the gift into a reusable basket or tub, that is a great idea. Flash drive = great idea! I forgot about sticky notes, good to know they are used a lot. In the past, even packages of scotch tape refills were appreciated, because the school was running out of those and so they loved having their own stash in their room. Thanks again for the suggestions, and thank you to the teachers, for doing what you do everyday!

Tuesday, MIL was a teacher for over 30 years. Before dh and I ever had kids, I will never forget going to her house at Christmas and seeing all that "favorite" teacher stuff the kids gave her. She also got a ton of baked goods - more than FIL and she could ever eat. At our school, the room moms take up a collection and you can donate as little or as much as you like, then they take care of getting the teacher something from the class as a whole. They usually get something the teacher needs for the classroom but also a really nice gift just for the teacher. This cuts down on all the tchotchkes. At the end of the year, they do the same thing, but also have the kids do something special. Like last year, one of my kids' classes sent in their favorite recipe, then the room moms took pictures of each kid and made a photo album/recipe book. It was so cute!

Four square, our teachers are always asking for donations of things like hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, and tissues, especially at this time of year. If you are making a basket, that might be a good thing to include.

Bless the practical parents like you, my foursquare. My staplers always give out from stapling on bulletin boards and we all guard our good heavy duty 3 hole punches like they were made of gold. I inherited my 3 hole punch when I switched classrooms and it is my favourite thing.

The parents in one kindergarten class are going in together to buy a new faucet for the sink that is motion sensitive. Getting all those kids to wash hands before and after snack is such a pain. I am truly jealous of this.

Label makers come in really handy, e.g. P-touch.

Label makers come in really handy, e.g. P-touch.

A label maker is a wonderful idea, I have one here at home and love to label anything that is not alive and moving. Never thought of that for a teacher but that could benefit many classrooms! Thanks!

I just asked my FB friend, Aimee's first grade teacher, what gifts they favored. A bunch of teachers said 'Ornaments'. They said every year they think of the child who gave it to them.

About those label makers: spouses tend to, uh, liberate them.

; )

Oh, gosh yes - a label maker! Could someone please call the parents in my class and tell them we need a label maker? Even better than a motion sensitive faucet. I much prefer gifts that the kids in the class benefit from too rather than things just for me. I've rec'd some great gifts from parents, but always feel kind of guilty except when it's something the whole class can use.

As the mother of a teacher, I will offer one piece of advice - do not buy "Favorite Teacher" or "#1 Teacher" type items like mugs, magnets, picture frames, tree ornaments, jewelry, etc.

I truly understand that some children go shopping for their teacher and pick out these type of things and that is all they can afford, but responsible parents like you can prevent some of this.

I truly do understand and sympathize with the feelings of so many, that it's great to have parents chip in and buy a useful gift, or it's great to get teachers something they can use for the classroom. And if that's the way teachers and parents feel, of course that's a perfectly fine way to go.

But I'd like to present the other side. The side of the young mothers who do let their kids give home baked gifts and buy trinkets like #1 Teacher.

When my kids were little, they were so excited about Christmas. They loved to bake cookies for the teacher and buy #1 Teacher mugs/figures, etc. We were on a very tight budget, and my kids did not want to give a group gift, they wanted to give their own gift. As a young mother, once I realized how many useless gifts teachers got, I started adding a "useful" gift along with my kids' "useless" gifts. It seemed to disappoint my kids in a subtle way, like their terrific gift they picked so carefully wasn't good enough to stand alone.

One day I started really listening to my kids, and they were so convinced that candy was the greatest gift ever, not hand sanitizer for the classroom. You know, I was one of those "responsible" parents, but I regrouped and let my kids just give candy, or homemade cookies, or a tacky teacher mug. I looked down at that little excited face, so passionately explaining that there is no way the teacher will like soap as well as chocolate, and I bought the chocolate.

Some teachers do like to have their room representative take up a collection for a group gift. I always wound up taking up the collection myself if I was room rep for a teacher who wanted that. I'm not knocking teachers or parents who want to give/get something useful rather than another plate of cookies.

I don't think there is any right or wrong way to gift a teacher. Pick whichever way you like, or both. But not all moms who let their children give useless trinkets are irresponsible.

My children had wonderful, wonderful, wonderful teachers. I loved them so much and still do. Some of my kids' elementary school teachers are Facebook friends, even after all these years. I tried to always be supportive in any way I could, and they have always been so very supportive of me.

As my children got older, they understood the concept of useful gifts better, and they chose "better" gifts. They also sometimes wrote their former teachers notes telling them how much they enjoyed being in their classes. Entirely on her own with no prompting from me, my daughter baked cookies for her favorites, brought them coffee from Starbucks or biscuits from Chick-Fil-A with money she worked hard to earn herself. She also wrote lovely thank you notes for teachers who helped her with her college essays and wrote college recommendations. Maybe she would have done that anyway, but I think she "caught" the joy of giving to her teachers as a little girl. Because she chose the gifts she liked when she was little, she was more invested in the process.

When I worked in the corporate world, I got wonderful gifts from some of my clients. Flowers delivered, gift certificates for meals at nice restaurants, funny posters, etc. Fast forward many years later, and I now work in the field of adult literacy. My "clients" are now mostly people not living in favorable circumstances.

I can now attest that the most useful, beloved, treasured gift is to have a student call and leave a message on my cell phone, "Miss Daisy, I passed my test!!!!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!!! Thank you sooooooo much for all you did!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you did for me. Miss Daisy, I loooooooooove you!!!!" That is better than flowers or gift certificates.

There is nothing my students could buy me that is better than getting an excited hug from a former addict with prison tats on her arms, who is clean and getting her life together and who passed her test. I would rather have that than a solid diamond bracelet.

When my kids were in school I still donated kleenex, hand sanitizer, post-it notes and the like. I wrote thank you notes and gave "useful" gifts at the end of the school year or during teacher appreciation week. But I don't regret letting my kids get those dime store gifts at Christmas or make those cookies, even if the teachers threw them out as soon as they got home.

I am now the one spending my own money for some of my supplies. It's expensive. I think it's great for parents or anybody to donate useful things for the classroom. But please don't label as irresponsible a young mother who lets her little girl give yet another World's Greatest Teacher mug.

I did think of some other things you might consider for the teacher that I've always appreciated: Starbucks and/or iTunes gift cards, or even Panera.

Really, though, the best gift is a thank you note from them saying how much they enjoyed my course, my advisement, etc. That means more to me than any material thing. I'd really prefer they not spend their limited funds on any type of gift or gift card for me.

daisynga, thanks so much for reminding us of that perspective. Your post reminded me of one very special little girl in my class a couple of years ago. Her whole family was wonderful, but not in the conventional sense. Her parents were divorced and not well educated, they both smoked and she often didn't make it to school on time. However, her family got together once a week for supper with stepmom and stepdad there, too. They weren't well off, but never talked about wanting this or that (and in our school many families are very affluent and often talk about what they want and don't have). They went to great lengths to teach this little girl to take personal responsibility and be an empathetic friend. At Christmas and the end of the year, she gave me small gifts that I know she picked out herself and explained carefully why she had chosen them. Best gifts I got that year.

Another thing I was contemplating as I write my report cards is the idea of making coupons for things they can do. Instead of parents spending time and money shopping for a gift, I would much prefer they spend that time with their child engaged in a learning activity. When a student is struggling with a concept and I send home suggestions on how practice it at home, I often hear that they are just too busy. As a parent, I know that this time of year is crushing with number of things to get done and hearing the teacher ask for a few more minutes of your time, feels overwhelming. I would love to just receive a card that says that their gift to me will be reading with their child every night over the holidays or playing that math game at least 3 times.

Daisyinga, yes, you are absolutely right about the importance of allowing the children to choose their own gifts! Every teacher knows those are the most treasured and are the ones that teach the child the joy of giving. I work in a school populated with very poor children in one of the wealthiest districts in the country. In my previous school, I received many expensive gifts. Here, not at all. One year, a little girl gave me a well-loved stuffed animal. It was a gift from her heart and something she had at home. Others bring candy or small trinkets if they bring anything at all. Each child gets a thank you note mailed home. Often, that is the first piece of mail they have ever received.

I take back the suggestions I made before. I suggest asking the child what he or she thinks the teacher would like! Even just a hug is wonderful.

Thank you all for contributing to this thread. I am hearing everything, and don't disagree with any of it. My kids do draw pictures and write cards to their teachers at various times of the year, and often have are able to keep in touch with them because our community is not terribly big. At Christmas I really do try to give a nice gift of office/school supplies because it is very much needed and we can. My kids know to always be listening or be on the lookout for specific needs that the teacher might be mentioning for the classroom, and then they bring these ideas home to me so we can keep it in mind for gift giving. So they do have a sense of involvement in the giving process and are very happy to give the teacher something that they know she/he has mentioned as a need or want in general conversation, because it is a nice surprise. I do know there is a place for some of those special trinkets that kids give, but it is not something we generally do. My kids go to a school in a district with a high poverty level, and the district has also not been financially healthy the past few years. We do not even have funding for specials (art, music, sports, p.e.) any more. When organizations like PTO get requests from teachers, it is for construction paper, tape, staples, etc. So for now, we like to give them supplies...and we know they are needed and very appreciated! I was certainly not dismissing any type of gift though, because every school, teacher, student and family is in a different situation, and there are all kinds of gifts that are great. Thanks again!

When my kids were in school; I used to go to BJ's; purchase packs of #2 pencils; mechanical pencils; pens in bulk as well as large packs of construction paper; post it notes; staples; paperclips (you get the idea)..

I used to get one of those Rubbermaid shoe boxes & fill it with supplies. We also bought things like Mikasa candy dishes; the multi pack was reasonable. The candy dishes varied; some holiday; others were not. There is another size that holds the construction paper.

A nice gift for child study or counselors is something kids can do when they're sent down to cool off. One used to have beads; let my daughter bead. She had other crafts too.

We ran into one of my daughters 3rd grade teachers who got the holiday candy dish; she said she loves it & always thinks of my daughter when she brings it out for Christmas. I totally forgot about it; but it was nice to hear she used it.