My students need journals to record what they are thankful for every day. These gratitude journals will be used by all students grades K-5 at our school.
My school is an environmental studies magnet elementary in an urban setting. Our students are our city's youngest leaders. Since the start of our magnet only two years ago, our students have made an incredible impact within our school, our community, and our world.
These kids make our future brighter.
We may be a mostly Title One school, but that doesn't mean we are at a deficit. We have the best parents, students, and teachers in the world. We have a lot to be thankful for.
My Project
Last year, my students and I started the tradition of naming things we were thankful for during Community Circle time every morning. We made little journals out of scrap paper, and wrote a sentence or so stating what we were thankful for each day. What I saw was a small, but significant change in our classroom: by starting out the day on a positive note, we set the tone for the rest of our day. My students, who would often say they were thankful for each other, grew closer because of those journals. By the end of the year, our journals were maybe the most treasured items in our classroom, but many were falling apart from so much use.
In one sentence, we can change how we see the world.
I shared what my class did last year with my colleagues, and they expressed interest in doing this gratitude project school-wide. Using these mini-journals, we can look to our school community as a whole and grow closer because of it. My hope is for students to fill their journals like mine did last year (which is why I have purchased extras). Our staff will model gratitude, and we will share messages over the loudspeaker occasionally too. My hope is to make our school community closer and our students more aware of the positive forces that fill our lives.
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