Hey Brenda, thanks I'll try that. I need some lessons to give me structure to practice and play more often. My mom took lessons when she was a girl and she still plays almost every day on her baby grand piano. She also plays by ear; she can add a boogie-woogie tempo to almost any song too. Unfortunately I didn't inherit that gene! Thanks again, Jen

I too am crying and smiling at the same time. You have helped create a miracle. I wish the politicians would step aside and let great teachers like you teach ( and sometimes even save) kids. Just think what a loving/caring teacher did for a troubled child and how simple things like caterpillars, butterflies, rue, and eventually a pop-up can mean so much. You have my vote for teacher-of-the-year! I'm thankful that you didn't take retirement when DH did. mike

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.

Ok sorry guys I'm just going to go through this point by point for time consideration. Not being terse out of rudeness. "Build an easy and nice bookcase/shelving with bricks and planks (kids can do!)" Probably not. I'm sure that breaks all kind of safety rules and union regulations. In some districts it has to be earthquake safe. Can't risk a child-built shelf made of bricks and boards, full of books, toppling on someone. Any repairs and upgrades to schools are union contracts. "I would start in your community with a campaign to raise money" Start by talking to the teachers to see what changes they want and what the *needs* are, then find out from admin what will be allowed, then set a budget/goal, then raise money. You don't want to be stuck with a fat bank account full of funds dedicated to a project that you're not allowed to do or that won't help anyone. "Would also replace that big range for a coffee station with microwave and induction hot plate plus small fridge." The kindergartners at our school use the range once a week for cooking class, and PAC members use it to cook for fundraisers etc. Again, find out the needs *first*. " Boy, if you could get enough lamps in there just to turn off the flourescent lights, that would be huge." In some places public buildings aren't allowed to turn off lights, even in favour of lamps. There are health and safety regulations that cannot be thwarted. CHECK FIRST. Really, this is a public building. You simply cannot jump in and start improving. Much as we would all love to do everything we can to support our teachers and make their lives easier there is protocol that must be followed. Starting with communication with the involved parties. No one likes to be improved with no input, and educators especially have very concrete views about how they do and do not like to work. In my experience, YMMV.