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3 Ways to Thank a Teacher from a Distance!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jul 29, 2019
Get your art on
We’ve talked to many teachers through the year, and the most meaningful gifts they’ve received aren’t gift cards, personalized mugs or sweetly-scented candles. They love a heartfelt note or handmade treasure more than anything else. So why not take a few minutes to create a piece of artwork for your teacher – color in a spring flower or heart, make your own thank you note, cover your driveway with chalk art or finger paint the afternoon away. Then snap a photo of your creation and email it straight to their inbox – or drop it in the mail!
Put on a show
What better way to show your thanks than to say it out loud! Record a video for your favorite teacher letting them know how you feel about them. Make it your own by creating a performance just for them – whether your kid is a dancer, singer or stand-up comedian in training, their teacher will love seeing their personality shine. Consider reaching out to other parents to collect and compile a whole-class video montage that the teacher will be sure to treasure! And while you’re at it… Submit your video to ClassTag’s School’s Got Talent online talent show, and your teacher and school could win a prize of $10,000 or more! What a way to say THANKS!Send a virtual pick-me-up
If you’d like to give your teachers a little something extra, it’s easier than ever to send a a virtual gift card! Whether your teacher loves coffee, books, yoga or classroom supplies, you can find a gift card that will let them have a pick-me-up of their choosing delivered to the comfort of their own home! Or, send them credits for somewhere they can look forward to shopping after shelter in place is over. Most important -- don’t forget to include a personalized note of thanks. We hope these ideas help you find your own way to make Teacher Appreciation Day special for the teachers in your life, even when you can’t deliver them in person. For more Teacher Appreciation ideas, check out our Top 5 Teacher Appreciation Ideas!
Math Games That Register!
Sort It Out
This one’s for the littlest learners! Jumble up the coins and bills from the Cash Register and challenge your little ones to sort them out into the divided compartments in the Register. Point out that the different types of coins are different shapes and colors and that the bills have different numbers on them. Tell your child the value and name of each coin and bill as they put them away.
Penny Pitch
This fast-action learning game combines physical and mental fun! Give each child a handful of random play coins and a large plastic bowl. Place the bowls on the ground with the kids standing behind them and have each child take 5 big steps backward. Then ready, set, toss! Tossing one coin at a time, see how many each child can get into their bowl. Then challenge them to count the value of the coins inside.
Find It Fun
Hide your play coins and bills around the house (remember to track how many you’ve hidden!), then let your little ones loose. When you think all the coins have been found, have each child count the value of their stash. The seeker who found the most money wins!
Buy It Back
Using printer labels or tie-on tags, gather a few of your child’s toys, and put a price on them (round numbers are easier for little kids, dollars and cents work well for older kids). Give each child a bank of dollars and coins and have them “pay” you for the toys they want. Older elementary-school-aged kids can play cashier while YOU buy with bills, making your change from the register.
Slime Time
Turn money math into a sensory experience by placing your play coins in a batch of slime or a bin of Playfoam Pluffle™. Sneak in some fine motor skill practice by having your kids extract the coins using play tweezers – and total them up.
Money Match
Turning a sheet of printer paper sideways, draw a bunch of balloons tied with a string and let your little ones color them in. Then use a marker to write a random amount of dollars and cents on each balloon. Open your register and see if your child can remove the correct amount and place it on the matching balloon. Hint – keep your totals low so your kids can complete all the balloons without having to restock the register.
Money Bunny
Put those empty plastic Easter eggs to use! Fill each egg with a tiny surprise – a bit of chocolate, piece of chewing gum, etc. – then use a Sharpie to write a price on the outside of the egg. If your child can give you the correct amount of money, they win the prize inside!
Bingo Bucks
Practice matching and coin value by creating your own Bingo cards! Start by dividing a sheet of paper (card stock works well) into nine boxes. Write a coin value (1, 5, 10, or 25) in each, then give each child a handful of play coins. Reaching into your own pile, pull out a coin and call out its value. If the player has a matching coin and an open space with that value on their card, they place it there. The first player to complete a row, column, or diagonal wins the game!
Coin-a-Pillars
Turning a sheet of printer paper sideways, have your kids draw a caterpillar head (don’t forget the antennae) at one end, five or six empty circles with lines beneath each, a few fuzzy feet, and a line at the end. Color them in if you like. Then, with their eyes closed, have them pick five or six play coins out of a bowl and place them in their caterpillar’s circles. Using a pencil, have them write the value of each coin beneath it and total up the value on the line at the end. Remove the coins, erase the numbers, and begin again!
Slap Stack
Give each child a stack of random play bills and call out a number. The first player to find the bills that add up to that number and slap them down on the table wins the round. The first player to win five rounds wins the game! Start with simple numbers like $1 or $6 and work your way up to tougher addition, like $9 or $14. Older kids can add coins to their stash and learn to build a dollar out of dimes and quarters.
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Let's LEAP into February 29!
The 2020 calendar gives us an extra day to par-tay! On February 29, we all will be celebrating Leap Day, an extra day at the end of month that only happens every four years.
How will you spend your extra day? With an assist from the Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar and Froggy Feeding Fun™ Fine Motor Skills Game, we plan to LEAP into what makes this day on the calendar so unique!
What day is Leap Day?
In 2020, Leap Day falls on Saturday, February 29. Soak up that extra 24 hours…it won’t happen again until 2024. And Leap Day only occurs in the month of February.
Why do we have Leap Day/Year?
Every four years, an extra day is added on to our calendar. Our modern calendar consists of 365 days, but the actual time it takes for the Earth to get around the sun (orbit), is just a bit longer. To make up for that time, an extra 24 hours are built into the calendar every fourth year. 
But why do we call it “leap” year?
The typical year is 365 days, referred to as common years. There are fixed dates for every holiday. For instance, New Year’s Day in 2020 was on a Wednesday. After February 29, 2020, has come and gone, an extra day will be added, making New Year’s Day “jump” one day ahead to a Friday. What a leap! 
Let’s celebrate first by looking at our calendar. The Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar gives us a great visual. This year, February starts on a Saturday. 
This calendar serves as a helpful tool for learning about days and months, and is an easy way to include kids on the schedule for the family. Chances are good they have a classroom calendar, so with their own chart at home, they can be the “calendar helper” every day. It is magnetic, has a wipe-down surface, and even features a way to discuss the daily weather!
Next, discuss things that can leap. Kids can leap, and we just learned that days can leap. What about frogs? Yes, frog can leap! In fact, we can’t think of a creature that doesn’t love to LEAP more than frogs! 
But before they do all that leaping, a frog has got to eat. The Froggy Feeding Fun™ Activity Set is an award-winning game that has lots of options to play. It comes with two adorable frog and lots of spongy flies. 
From a sensory standpoint, this activity has lots. The feel of the flies with their soft yet formed shapes make them easy to grasp. They create lots of color in a play space. The first skill to try is opening the frog’s mouth by squeezing the corners.
Once your child gets it down, they might not stop feeding the frog! How many can it fit in its mouth? 
This game focuses on strengthen fine motor skills, but also reinforces math skills. A roll of the two soft dice reveals the color and number that the frog can pick up. Number recognition, color recognition, and counting skills are challenged!
With the frog firmly in hand, you can also work on sorting the flies. Set up a pattern for kids to match. 
Rainbow order is always popular. What color comes after yellow? 
Because there are two frogs, lots can play this game. Let’s try picking up more flies!
Squeezing the frog’s mouth open again and again will improve muscle grip for handwriting down the road. These frogs sure ate a lot. Time to leap back to the pond for a nap. 
What great fun you are, Leap Day! See you again in four years! 
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