I always give each child in my class gifts for christmas. I know alot of teachers who think they should not use their own money for the classroom or for gifts for the students.
I think it is important for the teacher to give the children something for christmas. I order a $1.00 book for each child. Plus they each get a box of crayons and a coloring book as their gifts. Since my class are 4 and 5 years old I think these are the perfect gift for the children. The book encourages the parents to read to the child. The crayons and coloring book is good to practice their grip on crayons and pencils. The coloring book is away for them to practice coloring in the lines.
The look in the children receive their gift from their teacher is a special little treat to you the teacher. Yes all the gifts are to be encouraging to the children and to help them in their motor skills and encouraging to get their parents to do things with their children.
Now I know not all teachers give gifts to their students for christmas. That is their choice and their classes are probably a lot larger than mine since I only have 15 children. So I only spent about $40.00 for my class presents. I do save the money to do this for the children. This is a choice I decided to do for them.