As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to celebrate and express gratitude for the dedicated teachers who work tirelessly to nurture young minds. Finding the perfect teacher gifts can be a joyful but sometimes challenging task. This year, let’s simplify the process with a thoughtful approach – something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.
In this blog, we’ve curated a collection of both fun and practical holiday gift ideas that align with these four categories, ensuring your favorite teachers feel appreciated during this festive time of year. We hope this post helps you choose gifts for the special teachers in your life, whether they’re coworkers, family members, your child’s teacher, or even yourself!
This blog post is a collaboration from Katie at Keep Reading and Learning, Jennie of Carolina Orton Gillingham, Amy of Ingalls Tutoring, and Pryor of Orton Gillingham Mama. Jennie, Amy, and Pryor are also the creators of the Ready Readers Decodable books.
This post contains affiliate links.
Something they want:
What teacher doesn’t love a cup of coffee (or three) to get through the day? Snag this Keurig machine to tuck in the corner of your classroom and you can keep that caffeine flowing steadily throughout the day! This is also a great idea if you’re shopping for a group of teachers.
Is the teacher you’re shopping for more of an iced coffee type of person? Brew your coffee at night, then put it in the fridge in one of these adorable cups. I don’t know about you, but there’s something about a nice cup that makes my morning a little easier.
Something they need:
Teacher gifts can also be practical items that your teacher will use year after year with all of his or her students. Teachers often need more materials for their classrooms but struggle with having to spend their own money. If you or the teacher you’re shopping for are on the science of reading bandwagon (and we really hope they are), these next two gifts provide a lot of value!
These decodable books are an absolute must-have for parents and teachers of kindergarten and first grade students. Help your students learn to read the right way with Ready Reader Decodables! Your students will love the engaging story lines, diverse characters, and extension activities with each book. Reading is made simple and fun with these decodables!
Do your students struggle with sentence writing? Do they tend to compose fragments and run-ons, or do they make frequent grammatical errors? Unscrambling sentences is a fun way to teach sentence building skills! According to the authors of The Writing Revolution, unscrambling sentences has several benefits:
- It helps students understand the concept of a complete sentence.
- It helps students improve their knowledge of syntax (word order).
- It helps students successfully incorporate capitals and punctuation.
And here’s a bonus: When you use sentences aligned with your phonics sequence, your students get all the benefits listed above, plus the opportunity to work with decodable text, which helps develop fluency. One activity that hits on all of these skills is such a powerful tool to introduce in your classroom!
Check out this recent blog post to learn all the details about getting started with scrambled sentences. You’ll learn how to get started for free, but if you’re short on prep time, I’ve got you covered with premade scrambled sentence activities and worksheets.
Something to wear:
Do you need more teacher t-shirts in your closet? Tubesock Dances has a great collection in her Etsy store! Katie owns a couple of shirts from her store, including an orthographic mapping sound box shirt. There are several other options related to reading for enjoyment, reading instruction, and grammar.
Bonus: Jordan, the owner of Tubesock Dances, is a first grade teacher so you can feel good about supporting a fellow teacher’s small business! She has graciously offered the promo code HOLIDAYS23, which will give you a 25% discount on her items!
Need some comfy pants for the holidays and for school to pair with those cute shirts?? These joggers are a must-have and won’t break the bank. You may just wear them every day and save time doing laundry too. 😉
Something to read:
We gathered together a list of our favorite easy-to-digest science of reading books. Topping the list is Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Approach to Reading, Spelling, and Literacy by Denise Eide. If you’re in the “English spelling is too complicated” camp, this book will offer a new perspective. You’ll learn that 75 phonograms (letters used to represent sounds) and 31 spelling rules explain a whopping 98% of English words! This means that if we commit to teaching our students the code of English, they’ll have the tools they need to decode all but 2% of English words.
A secondary favorite is The ABCs and All Their Tricks by Margaret Bishop, which is considered “the encyclopedia of phonics.” It will answer your questions about the history of English spelling, rules of spelling and pronunciation, and methods for teaching phonics.
Lastly, we recommend Malia Hollowell’s book, The Science of Reading in Action. It’s an easy read that explains what the research tells us about how the brain learns to read, offers strategies, activities, and cheat sheets, and teaches you how to help your struggling readers become unstuck.
That’s a wrap on our exploration of thoughtful gift ideas for teachers! Whether you’re shopping for yourself, a colleague, or your children’s teachers, the framework of “something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read” is a sure way to find inspiration for any gift list. Let’s celebrate the season by honoring those who make a lasting impact on the lives of students with gifts that reflect the thoughtfulness they demonstrate in their classrooms every day!
