painstakingly mixed some of my mom's oil paints, trying in vain to match the colors of each fruit to paint over the nicks and missing pieces of plaster, working at night by lamplight in my bedroom. When it was finished, I carefully wrapped it and carried it to class the following morning, as all of the students were exchanging gifts, and I had drawn her name. 2/6

Nice story and all, and it has a lovely point, but… In what world do elementary school teachers invite their students to their home for a party?

I love this! I don’t recall if it was Christmas or not, but I once created a rose out of chewed gum and put it in the freezer to gift to a teacher. I wish I could recall her reaction 🤣

I gave my teacher a bunch of pussy willows I had picked once. An hour later I watched her throw them in the garbage. When I became a teacher years later I made sure all my kids knew how appreciative I was of everything they gave me rocks, dandelions and all.

My middle kid has been a rockhound from a young age. They spent much of the summer each year looking for gneiss and then would carefully color a card telling their teacher how gneiss they were. Bless all the teachers who were appreciative of both the word play and getting a rock.