Class Projects

1. Camping or Beach Chair
This year, we gave the teacher a fold-up camping chair with the name of each child in her class written on it with fabric paint. She loved it! Practical, memorable, and inexpensive.
Variation: My child's class contributed toward a nice canvas beach chair. A parent came in and took each child outside with fabric paint and had them each place their handprint and their names on the chair.

2. Clasroom Cookbook
The students will each have a page with their picture and recipe on it. Then we'll laminate the page and put it in book form with round metal hoops.

3. Custom T-Shirts
On the front we put the class picture and the school year, and on the back we wrote all of the student names. On the last day students put their handprint above their names with the colored dye for clothes.
Variation: I bought a dark T-shirt and got all the children to to put their handprint on it in neon paint. (Parents helped me on a day that we knew the teacher would not be there.) Parents then helped add the names to all the handprints once they had dried. All the children loved it -- and so did the teacher.

4. Flowerpots, Planters, Garden Joys
Ceramic Flowerpot with Fingerprint Flowers: I bought a large flowerpot from a ceramics store, brought it to class, and had all the kids put their fingerprints on it and sign their names with pencil (it burns off). Then I took it to the store and turned all their fingerprints into flowers, bees, bugs, etc. with paint, painted the kids' names on over the pencil, and added the teacher's name and year at the top. When it was glazed and finished, I put gardening gloves, forget-me-not seeds, and a gardening tool in the pot. I had all the kids sign one side of the tool, then on the other I wrote "Thank you for helping us grow." She loved it. She even cried!

Handprints of Love: I bought a large terra-cotta pot and had my son's class put their handprints with paint all over it. On the brim of the pot we lettered "Handprints of Love." We placed pretty flowers in the pot for the teacher to enjoy all summer. (NOTE: We did not plant the flowers in the pot, because it would have been too heavy to carry. We delivered bags of dirt to the teacher's house.)

Fingerprints on Clay Pot: At the end of the year I had each of the children place several fingerprints on a large clay pot with different-colored paints. With paint markers I took the fingerprints and made
* ladybugs out of red prints
* caterpillars & dragonflies, green
* bumblebees, yellow
* butterflies & flowers, assorted colors
I sprayed it with a clay pot sealer and wrote all the children's names on the rim of the pot with different-colored paint markers. To finish it off, I planted forget-me-nots in the pot.

Watering Can: Our teacher had a passion for gardening. I picked up an inexpensive watering can, a few colors of acrylic craft paint, clear (high gloss) acrylic spray, and a black permanent marker. When the kids were in for lunch, each one picked a color, lightly dipped a finger-pad into the paint, and made a paint fingerprint. We then wrote the child's name below each print, and when the paint dried created a fingerprint person. Then I took the can outside and sprayed it with several coats of the acrylic spray. Along the top we wrote "To a Great Teacher," plus her name and the school-year dates. We included a garden stone, a handheld shovel and hoe, and a birdhouse. That was four years ago, and she stills talks about it!

5. Recipes in a Basket
The year that my daughter was in kindergarten, the parents pooled their funds for a handmade Longaberger recipe basket and let the children decorate the wooden lid with paint. Then each family contributed one favorite recipe to put in it.

6. Quilts
I came to the class one day when I knew the teacher was going to be out. I took the students in small groups and had them draw their "best" picture with iron-on fabric crayons. I wrote their names in reverse on their masterpieces and then ironed them on squares of fabric. I stitched the squares together and then put them together to make a small, throw-sized quilt.
Variation: Each child drew a quilt block for the teacher with fabric markers. We stitched it together and presented it to her on the last day. She was thrilled.
Variation: We made each child's handprint on a square of muslin with fabric paint. We then made it into a quilt, alternating handprints with a school-themed fabric. On the back of the quilt we put a photo of the whole class.
Variation: Each child traced their hand on a piece of material and signed their name in the middle of it. The room mom quilted them into a beautiful wall-hanging quilt.

7. Video with Songs & Messages
My students gave me a precious end-of-the-year/going-away gift of a videotape that included them singing farewell and good-luck songs, along with footage of each child sharing a favorite memory from our time together and what they liked most about me as a teacher. The videotape is about 45 minutes long and will be cherished by me for all time.