Welcome to a table in our classroom! On our table you will see a jar with tiny green pieces of paper inside. This jar is named our classroom Gratitude Jar. Students in the classroom collaboratively participated in placing anonymous notes inside this jar. At any point of the week students can visit this jar and read a message written by another student in the class to brighten their day. If students are feeling sad, overwhelmed or just having a bad day they are able to visit our gratitude jar. In addition, students are able to contribute to filling up this jar at any point if they feel it is running low. However, students brainstormed ideas on what they can do before visiting the gratitude jar such as talking with a friend, taking a deep breathe and trying to take things one step at a time. My mission was to reach students at an social emotional level.
Next, you will see scattered sheets of paper. These are no ordinary pieces of paper they are Gratitude Letters. This week instead of doing a fancy Valentines Day art project I chose to reach out to my students through gratitude. I wanted to be cautious that not all students celebrate holidays. Instead, students learned more about gratitude and how we can spread it as a class. Students got to write a short gratitude message to every member of the class. Each students name was written on a piece of paper, each paper was rotated around the room and a gratitude message was placed on by every member of the class. The letters were pink and red as Friday is a school wide pink and red day.
I think gratitude is crucial to learn about in a classroom. Not only is it important for the students to understand what gratitude means but also to learn how easy it is to spread gratitude around the room. This lesson was more than a gratitude lesson but it was also a community-building project. Students are going to be super thankful and appreciated when they get to read messages written by everyone in the class.
Furthermore, I felt like this lesson was able to reach the social emotional needs in this classroom. I found this week a few students were struggling with their own self-worth. I hope that on Friday when they read their gratitude letter it will make them realize that every member in the class cares and respects them for who they are as an individual in our room. I am looking forward to watching students read their gratitude letters tomorrow :)
If you would like to know more on gratitude visit my "Practice Kindness" Blog:
http://karveenabains.weebly.com/1/post/2014/11/-practice-kindness-amazing-things-will-happen.html
“Gratitude enriches human life. It elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms. People are moved, opened and humbled through expressions of gratitude.” Dr. Robert Emmons
Next, you will see scattered sheets of paper. These are no ordinary pieces of paper they are Gratitude Letters. This week instead of doing a fancy Valentines Day art project I chose to reach out to my students through gratitude. I wanted to be cautious that not all students celebrate holidays. Instead, students learned more about gratitude and how we can spread it as a class. Students got to write a short gratitude message to every member of the class. Each students name was written on a piece of paper, each paper was rotated around the room and a gratitude message was placed on by every member of the class. The letters were pink and red as Friday is a school wide pink and red day.
I think gratitude is crucial to learn about in a classroom. Not only is it important for the students to understand what gratitude means but also to learn how easy it is to spread gratitude around the room. This lesson was more than a gratitude lesson but it was also a community-building project. Students are going to be super thankful and appreciated when they get to read messages written by everyone in the class.
Furthermore, I felt like this lesson was able to reach the social emotional needs in this classroom. I found this week a few students were struggling with their own self-worth. I hope that on Friday when they read their gratitude letter it will make them realize that every member in the class cares and respects them for who they are as an individual in our room. I am looking forward to watching students read their gratitude letters tomorrow :)
If you would like to know more on gratitude visit my "Practice Kindness" Blog:
http://karveenabains.weebly.com/1/post/2014/11/-practice-kindness-amazing-things-will-happen.html
“Gratitude enriches human life. It elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms. People are moved, opened and humbled through expressions of gratitude.” Dr. Robert Emmons
Our Classroom Gratitude Jar on Left and Scattered Gratitude Letters