Gift Idea: Teacher Appreciation (Ziggy Marley iPod giveaway)

Monday, May 4, 2009

There was a conversation on Twitter last week about what to do and what to give for Teacher Appreciation. Teaching is a calling. Actually, I think it's more than that but I just can't think of a word bigger than calling.

I'm a nerd and I really like school. I'm sure that's partly due to some of the great teachers I've had who helped take learning above memorization and recitation and made it engaging and fun.

My Freshman year, our World Studies teacher turned class time into a Jeopardy game. He was also really into classical music and made our knowing composers and individual pieces of music part of class too.

I credit Mr. T (my teacher, not the man from the ATeam) with the fact that I enjoy classical music and he's why I bought all the Baby Einstein music CD's to play for Tyler. I may not remember all the Palestinian Territories anymore, but I remember how awesome it was to come up with the winning mega bonus point answer after a really close round and all the cheering and high fives in our row. I think we may have gotten ice cream too.

Anyway, all this is to say that teachers work HARD to make a positive impression and impact on our kids' lives. For Teacher Appreciation week, gifts that can help teacher's expand on the lessons in their classroom are much needed, especially when budgets and funding are being cut. If that gift will also help a charity benefiting children, more's the better I say, and Ziggy Marley's new CD, Family Time, fits both bills.

Family Time is a CD of children's music and short stories. Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Ziggy's daughter Judah and Paul Simon are a few of the artists collaborating on Family Time, and Jamie Lee Curtis voices two short stories, one she wrote and one written by Ziggy.

The music is typical Marley. It makes me want to dance with my son on a white sand beach while we sip from coconuts (mine with a little Jamaican Rum added of course). Proceeds from Family Time go through Ziggy's foundation
U.R.G.E to help renovate the
Chepstowe Basic School in Port Antonio, Jamaica, which is so badly in need of repairs it is not allowed to be an official part of the school system.


Win It!
One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive the following:

* Copy of ‘Family Time’ CD * 1GB iPod Shuffle

Three (3) runner-up winners receive a copy of Family Time
To enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post and tell me how music is important to your family or what you're doing for Teacher Appreciation - required.

2. I MUST have a way to get in touch with you! I will have to delete comments with no contact info.

3. Comments will close on Monday, June 1st at 11:59pm CA time.

4. I will use random.org to draw the winners and post the results/notify winners via email and in a "Winners" post on Tuesday, June 2nd. The number that appears first in the sequence will be the grand prize winner.

5. US residents only (sorry!)

6. For two extra entries: (not required) Tweet, and/or blog about this contest and leave each of your links in a separate comment (three entry opportunities total). You will need a free
Twitter account.

7. You
do not have to follow me or subscribe to this blog as a method of entry (but you're more than welcome to!). Tweet as often as you like, but only one Tweet will count as an extra entry. Here's the URL to this post: http://tiny.cc/JEhPp

Good luck! (PS: Comment moderation is on only because this post is older than 25 days. I'm getting each one and will publish them before pulling a winner.)

23 comments:

  1. I am a teacher and this is fabulous. For teacher appreciation this year, our specialists are giving us a coupon for a lunch off campus (1 hour). They will watch our class for an extra 30 minutes so we, as a grade level, can have a nice lunch. I think this is a great way to show how much we appreciate what they do.

    I use music in my classroom every day. I teach first grade and it's a great way to get their "wiggles" out. I think the cd sounds awesome.

    Thanks,
    Carly (cpinzur@gmail.com)

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  2. You know how I feel about teachers!

    My son loves all the 70's music and we love it when he's home and breaks out the guitar and plays the old stuff.

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  3. We have a "dance party" almost every night. I have music going all the time in our house, and it's a big part of our family life.

    In other news, I'm getting Starbucks cards for my daughter's teachers.
    (I see coffee cups in their hands CONSTANTLY.)

    Later gator.

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  4. We are surrounded by music in our house. Love to put on some good tunes to dance to when we are cleaning. My girls wrote letters to their teachers telling them how great they are.

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  5. kara (karamdenn@gmail.com)May 6, 2009 at 2:04 PM

    I am a teacher and hope to enjoy some nice teacher appreciation! I listen to music more often than not . . . always turn it on while my students are working on projects. They usually whine about my choices, but I figure they can get a little music education along with their science!

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  6. How is music important to our family? We all love it - any kind. Cultural events such as the Irish Music festival give us the opportunity to educate our kids while having fun at the same time. We listen to a variety of music and watch both new and old musicals on TV. Music helps us relax, have fun or just enjoy life in general.

    As for teacher appreciation, the entire school coordinated flowers. Each child brought one. I thought it was very cool and my daughter loved being able to bring a flower to her teacher. Aside from that, throughout the year, I 'share' things that I get free for my blog with him! Gave him so much Clorox stuff that he was set for a year or two!

    Thanks for the opportunity to win!
    sahmtoo at gmail dot com

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  7. We love music, mostly it helps my husband and I get motivated to be active! We put on some tunes and it just makes us get up off our chairs! We also put on music when we eat a nice meal at the table to set the mood. :) We have no kids (but we're still a family, dang it, and I'm tired of being made to feel like I haven't fulfilled my duty to have children) so we are doing nothing for teach appreciation.

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  8. Music is a defining part of our lives. We listen to it more than we watch TV, and I think all totaled we have about 10 different iPods around the are all well used.

    Thanks for the heads up on Teachers Appreciation Day, I wasn't even aware of it. I think I'd like to just send a nice card to each of my fifteen year old's teachers. It's so hard when they get into high school to send gifts as they have so many teachers. But a thanks for helping my son have a great year, hopefully will make them feel appreciated.

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  9. I Twittered at http://twitter.com/ewalsh1


    ewalsh40(at)gmail(dot)com

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  10. Hello Mel.. first off.. I don't think you should care if you lost subscribers, but I understand your point of view. Try not to think about it. and Then for the Teacher's Appreciation I prefer to give something tangible, something that the teacher can remember So & So gave this to me.

    Music is the food of love :)
    Please enter me for this
    marieburton2004 at yahoo dot com

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  11. I am a mom of three. My kids love music and i love showing all types of music.
    silverhartgirl at gmail.com

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  14. We love music in our household! We're a no-tv family and music starts our day. I use Itunes radio alot, and my 2 year old often asks for "bird moosik" or "panno moosik" (the sounds of birds singing or piano music) in the mornings. Mornings are also a good time for light jazz, new age, praise and worship, etc. Throughout the day, I play a wide variety of music from different genres and countries (one time she was really rocking out to morroccan music). Toward the evening or when her little friends come over to play and need to get some wiggles out, I play "bouncy music" - like the Putamayo Latin music, stuff like that. It really is the soundtrack to our lives!

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  16. I'm a teacher and a mother, and I love what you're doing here. For teacher appreciation, my daughter found some gifts for her teacher while we were visiting the Oldest Schoolhouse in FL at St. Augustine's Old Town. We also took her out to dinner. (I teach on the same grade level team, so my daughter's teacher this year is also my friend)

    Music is very important to our family and my classroom. My daughter is at the age of discovery with different types of music and has gone from liking just what mom likes to beginning to disagree with my likes and asking me to change the station/cd in the car. I have raised her understanding the value of different genres of music and she can name all sorts of artists from sound. In my classroom, I use music to help students learn concepts and for "down time". Classical and different types of world music goes over well for down time. I've found different forms of learning songs for when we learn multiplication and planets.
    jayde303 at gmail.com

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  18. There is almost always some form of music going in the house. and whenever someone is in a bad mood, we use "music therapy" to get them out of it. This may include singing and dancing, but, most importantly, entails playing the music that makes their soul smile.

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  19. We love music of all kinds. And making up our own songs too! I'd love to win this (my kids are currently on a Kidz Bop kick after McDonald's gave cds in the Happy Meals -- SAVE ME).

    31graphics at gmail dot com

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  20. Music is vital in our house! Growing up, we always had music in the background -- I'm copying this tradition in my family now. It can set the mood of the house -- make a dreary day bright!
    Thanks for the contest,
    Megret
    musesofmegret (at) gmail (dot) com

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  21. My son and I bought a Bath and Body Works gift set for his homeroom teacher this year. What woman doesn't love feel and smell good bath products. April1p at yahoo dot com

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  22. Tweeted http://twitter.com/April1p/status/1994887036

    April1p at yahoo dot com

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  23. Music has always been important in our family. We've all sung in a choir at one point or another & my Mom still does! I spend a lot of time with my Mom at concerts & musicals and my father-in-law put on high school musicals for many years.

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