What do you think about this idea for a teacher's gift?

A friend of mine posted on facebook how she just bought 9 gifts for her daughter’s elementary teachers. 9! seems she has 4 teachers that interact with her, plus, art, PE, music, and she also gave to the librarian, is that 9? I might be missing one. The school actually sent out notes saying, “don’t forget the art, muic, librarian, etc.” So, she was kind of guilted into it.

I told her why not all the parents chip in $5—$10 for each applicable teacher, combine the money and hand them each a big check. Cheaper for the parents overall probably. I’m sure the teachers love the sentiment of each gift, especially if a child made something meaningful, but really, most teachers where she lives make a low salary, and imagine a class presenting a check for $500 or more as their summer spending money.

What do you think? Too impersonal?

What do teachers do with all these little gifts? It must be like Christmas on steroids. What gifts do they usually receive?