make a tribute by doing a performance, you can do repertoire from broadway show like the king and I, the sound of music, mary poppins (there are teachers in those shows, rite?) or maybe movies soundtrack like to sir with love….good luck!

I think a small family acknowledgment of the date the child was adopted can be appropriate if the celebration is actually meaningful to the child. For example, a kid who bounced around the foster system waiting for a family, or a child who was in an orphanage until school-age. Basically, a child who was old enough at the time of the adoption to remember it, and to have strong feelings about having the occasion marked. I don’t think a school celebration is appropriate. It’s a time for family, not the whole planet. I don’t think the term “Gotcha Day” is appropriate. It makes the child sound like an object, and focuses on the actions and feelings of the parent rather than of the child or the family as a whole. I prefer something more like “Family Day.” I don’t think this kind of celebration is necessary for a child adopted as an infant or toddler, who doesn’t remember the adoption as a meaningful event in itself with a specific date that needs to be marked. A child who doesn’t consciously know any other situation wouldn’t attach the same meaning to the day he/she was adopted, because he/she wasn’t an active participant at the time. If the child later wants a celebration, that’s fine, but I don’t think that should be assumed, as it could make a child who has lived with you for all of his/her conscious memory feel excluded from the family or awkward. I do think some children (mainly those who were in foster care or an institution until an older age) benefit from the family celebrating and acknowledging their place and arrival. But I don’t think it’s appropriate in all cases, and I don’t think school is ever the place for it. If it happens, it should be at home.