Sometimes, but please don't worry if you don't. Families give gifts as thank yous, I don't see an express need for you to send a note back - a verbal thank you to the student is perfectly fine. But of course erring on the side of courtesy is never wrong.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent and don't expect them.

This. Every year DS has gotten a thank you card from one of his art teachers, in his backpack, the same day we give the gift.
The counselor mailed a thank you card to DS directly.

Other than that typically the classroom teachers send a generic thank you to the entire class and that works well for me.

I don't expect the teacher to write 20-30 thank you notes.

My kids preschool teacher had sheets that said something like, "Dear______, Thank you for______." Where they went to fill in the blank on what they think about the gift, followed by a generic "happy holiday, have a great break" sentence. They were handed to us as we left at pickup.

I thought it was so clever!

I remember a teacher who used to send fun postcards (like the ones you get a museums in a book) via snail mail over the break with a thank you written on it. The postcards were related to what we were studying ...like Egyptian art or something like that.

I always thought that was clever and fun to get. Plus postcards are easier to send and require less postage!

Anonymous wrote:I always sent thank you notes home by the following day. I don't have a lot of confidence that they actually make it home though.

That's why I sit down that night and send them via email.

Anonymous wrote:I don't expect a thank you note for a thank you gift, but it is nice to acknowledge that a gift was received. My child's teacher sent a single blast text to the whole class. It seemed a bit half-assed.

If it was a group gift, that is fine. Its half-assed for individual gifts, especially if not everyone gave something. How hard is it to have a generic thank you, cut and paste and cater to the family.