The fable she taught the class, set like the page of an old edition and signed on the back by every child: the teacher gift that stays on the wall.
Choose the fable
The whole fable (The Grasshopper and the Ant), line by line, beneath its italic title and the name of Jean de La Fontaine, set like the page of a book on a cream ground. Printed on thick matte eco-friendly paper, it reads up close and is recognizable from across the room.
Printed and shipped from a studio near you: most orders arrive in 5 business days.
Because every year a teacher receives mugs, candles and chocolates, and one more gift in that vein ends up at the back of a cupboard. A framed fable does the opposite: it stays on the wall of the classroom or the living room, and it speaks of her work.
La Cigale et la Fourmi is the very first fable of the 1668 collection, and often the first one French children learn by heart. Giving it hands the teacher back the text she brought to life all year, with her students' voices in it. Its story, and the moral La Fontaine never writes, are told in our reading of the fable.
« Vous chantiez ? j'en suis fort aise.Jean de La Fontaine · La Cigale et la Fourmi · 1668
Eh bien ! dansez maintenant. »
“You sang? I am delighted. Well then, dance now.”
The safest choice is the fable studied in class this year: ask your child, they will know it by heart. If it is not the Grasshopper, here are the texts that come closest, each in full.
“Je plie, et ne romps pas.” I bend, and do not break. The Oak and the Reed, for the teacher who held firm all year, with a class of twenty-five and her smile intact.
For a male teacher, a literature teacher or a teacher who reads widely: the most famous passage in French literature. The text is in our article, so you know exactly what you are giving.
The calligram most studied in French schools (It's Raining): lines of letters that fall like rain. Children recognize it at a glance, and so does the teacher. What is a calligram?
Because a class gift should be seen. At 50x70 cm (20x28 in), the fable holds a whole wall, above the board or near the reading corner, and every line stays legible from the desks. It is also the size that leaves room on the back for twenty-five signatures.
Le Corbeau et le Renard (The Crow and the Fox) suits it especially well: it is the funniest lesson in the curriculum, and its moral, “Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute” (this lesson is well worth a cheese, no doubt), makes adults smile as much as children. Reread the fable and its lesson.
The price of a print does not change with who gives it; it is the number of hands that changes everything. Prices appear in your currency on each print's page.
The size that fits on a desk, a dresser or a classroom wall. It is also the right gesture for a teacher's aide, a nanny or a counselor, with a signed note.
The group gift from the class or the parents' association: a fable you can see from the back of the room.
Split among the families of a class, the large size costs each one very little, for a gift that stays for years.
The teacher gift has two seasons: the end of the school year, and Christmas. A print fits both, on its own or as a group gift. Printed and shipped from a studio near you: most orders arrive in 5 business days. Ordering the week before is enough, as long as you keep a day to have the class sign it.
A short, true note beats a long card. Three messages that work, and the gesture that transforms the gift: having every child sign the back of the print.
“Thank you for this year: you helped us grow.”
The simplest and truest, for the end of the school year. The child can write it themselves, spelling mistakes included.
“Thank you for your patience, your ideas and your encouragement.”
The parents' note, from those who saw at home what the class changed. It suits a male teacher or a teacher's aide just as well.
“A fable for you, from the whole class.”
One sentence on the card, and twenty-five first names on the back of the print: it is this collective signature she will keep.
A print of a La Fontaine fable is a change from mugs and candles: La Cigale et la Fourmi, Le Corbeau et le Renard or Le Chêne et le Roseau, in full, from 30x40 cm (12x16 in). The safest choice is the fable studied in class this year.
30x40 cm (12x16 in) for a print given alone. As a group gift, the large 50x70 cm (20x28 in) size, shared among the families of a class, costs each one very little. Prices appear in your currency on each print's page.
A short, sincere note, for example: “Thank you for this year: you helped us grow.” The child's signature, or the whole class's on the back of the print, does the rest.
The same gesture works for everyone: a fable for a male teacher, Proust's madeleine for keen readers, and the 30x40 cm (12x16 in) size for a teacher's aide, a nanny or a counselor, always with a signed note.
Printed and shipped from a studio near you: most orders arrive in 5 business days. Ordering a week before the last day of school leaves time to have the class sign the print.
The right teacher gift says you have seen her work. A fable she made the class love, signed by every child, says it better than a mug.
See the print
