National Teacher Day, celebrated Tuesday this year, is a great time to express your gratitude.

This year's theme "Great Teachers Make Great Public Schools," was chosen to draw attention to the hard work teachers do every day to help us succeed and live life well.

National Teacher Day began in 1944 when an Arkansas teacher, Mattye Whyte Woodridge, started a movement to set aside a day to honor teachers.

She wrote a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, enlisting her to help persuade Congress to proclaim a national day for teachers.

Since 1985, American educators and their supporters have been celebrating the first full week each May as National Teachers Week. National Teacher Day is always Tuesday of that week.

You can learn more about this topic at www.nea.org/teacherday on the Web.

Give your teacher a beautiful plant in this decorative plant container as a gift he or she can keep from one year to the next.

It's one way to thank your teachers for giving you the keys you'll need to be successful.

There are directions for this craft at various sites on the Web.

Supplies you will need:

• Small clay pot

• Two identical paper dinner napkins or a full sheet of colorful tissue paper

• Scissors

• Raffia or twine

• White craft glue

• Mixing bowl and spoon

• Straight pin

• Water

Pour ¾ cup of white glue into a bowl. Mix in ¼ cup of water and stir.

Turn your pot upside down in the sink.

Cut a full sheet of tissue paper in half, or unfold two napkins.

Dip the paper, one sheet at a time, into the glue mixture to soak completely.

Place the paper over the bottom of the pot, and over the outside covering the surface completely.

Smooth the edges up and over the rim of the pot.

Gently pat the paper down so there are no air bubbles between the pot and the napkins.

You can pop the bubbles with a pin to deflate them. Let dry.

Cut twine or pieces of raffia to tie around the pot and insert a plant.