“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop

In hopes of talking less and doing more when it comes to helping others, I’ve started a series I’m calling Good Samaritan Saturday. On Saturday mornings, I’ll post a little something you can do to start your weekend out with positive vibes by helping to lift someone else up…

My favorite fashion resale site, thredUP, has partnered with Adopt A Classroom to recognize and thank teachers for their hard work and the positive impact they make on our babies every single day.

I was always one of those (annoying?) kids who absolutely loved school. I loved to learn and I really think a big part of that had to do with my teachers.

One of my earliest school memories is of standing in the doorway of my first grade classroom jumping for joy and excitedly squealing “I can read!” to anyone who happened to be wandering past. My teacher didn’t make me sit down and be quiet. She encouraged my pride, which only made my excitement about reading grow.

Fast forward two years to third grade. I was now a voracious reader and my teacher introduced a brand new love to me: writing. In Miss Calabrese’s class we wrote our own stories and then turned them into books—books with actual stitching and hardcovers wrapped in patterned wallpaper of our choosing. I can’t even imagine how much time and personal money our teacher must have put into those books, but I treasured mine and the love of writing she unearthed in me has never left.

I’m happy to say that Samantha is just like me. She is the type of kid who will argue her case for why she should go to school rather than why she should stay home. It makes me so happy to see her so excited to learn because I truly believe that a love of learning is a solid foundation for a well-rounded, well-educated adult.

It also makes me happy to see that her beloved teachers are just as encouraging and innovative as my favorites were. This year, her class got to Skype with author Tomie Depaola (I know you’ve heard of Strega Nona, right?). Samantha was ecstatic for weeks leading up to this day. Each kid got to ask Depaola at least one question and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to know. In the end she asked him what inspired him to become a writer.

My girl rode a high from that day in school for a while and really started getting into writing her own little stories. Hoping to encourage her even further, we’ve started making our own version of my third grade teacher’s books.

Alright, alright. I know I’m more than a little late to the game with this. I meant to post a teacher gift DIY weeks ago, but life happened to get in the way. I didn’t figure out our gift idea until this week (thank you Pinterest and Camp Slop) and we didn’t get to making it until yesterday.

So, yeah. I’m late. A lot of kids have been on summer vacation for weeks now. But take this idea and put it in your pocket (or, you know, your Pinterest gift ideas board) until next year. And it doesn’t just have to be an idea for teachers! You can adapt this for going away gifts or retirement presents, or just about anything really.