Both of these. Especially about how proud you are of her for winning the award.

Thank her for the award. Let her know that your daughter enjoys her class and that you are proud of the work that she is doing.

I would just thank the teacher and say something about how your child really enjoys the class or something like that. I always appreciate those emails.

-HS teacher

and her teacher wrote a nice e-mail to us.

I'd like to write a nice one back but everything I say seems patronizing given the circumstances they are all under.

Any advice to make it short, sweet and to the point??