Thankfulness in the classroom

Thankfulness is an attitude that we develop on purpose! How are you developing thankfulness in your life and in your students’ lives? Here are a few activities that might help.

Some of our schools may choose to celebrate Thanksgiving at the end of November each year. Giving thanks is an activity that reminds us of God's incredible goodness to us in providing salvation, hope, purpose and opportunities to learn and grow every day.

Are you looking for some ways to bring gratitude into the classroom as well? Here are some ideas to get you started, many of which can be adapted to fit any grade level.

• Classroom Gratitude Book. Create a gratitude book to send home with a different child each week. Ask each student’s family to add a page of pictures and descriptions of what they’re grateful for. At the end of the year, be sure to celebrate your completed classroom gratitude book! 
• Gratitude Photos. Have each student write what he or she is thankful for on a large piece of paper and then take a picture of the child holding up his or her paper. Frame the photo and send it home as a holiday gift.
• Gratitude Collage or Bulletin Board. Have children cut out pictures of things they’re grateful for and then use the pictures to create their own collage or to decorate a classroom gratitude bulletin board.
• Gratitude Paper Chain. Have children write what they’re thankful for on strips of paper and use the strips to make a gratitude chain to hang up in the classroom.
• Gratitude Pairs. Hold a “Special Friends Day” one or two days before Thanksgiving. Ask each student to invite a special person to class for a 45-minute period, such as a grandparent, nanny, neighbor, parent from another classroom, or family friend. Have each pair write and/or draw something they’re thankful for and post it on a bulletin board. 
• Gratitude Spies. Play the “Spying for Gratitude” game. At the beginning of the day, have each child choose the name of another student out of a hat without revealing the name. Each student spends the day “spying” on his or her chosen person and then shares one thing that he or she is grateful for about that person during an end-of-the-day circle. 
• Gratitude Quilt. Give each child a small blank piece of paper on which to draw something he or she is thankful for. Mount each square on a larger colored piece of paper and then piece the squares together to create a classroom gratitude quilt. 
• Gratitude Graph. Have each child write one thing that he or she is grateful for on a sticky note and then plot it on a classroom gratitude graph. Categories might include people, things, places, actions, animals, etc.
• Gratitude Circle. Begin or end the day sitting in a circle with each person sharing one thing that he or she is grateful for and why. Note: Younger students will need a lot of modeling to explain why they’re grateful for something. 
• Gratitude Journals. Have each student create a gratitude journal or decorate the cover of a pre-made one. Once a week, have students write three things they’re grateful for and why. Be sure to limit this activity to once a week, otherwise, according to research, the activity loses its impact.
• Gratitude Surprise Sticky Notes. Give each student one or more sticky notes to write something they’re grateful for about another person in the school community. Then have the students “deliver” the sticky notes by placing them where the person will see it, e.g., a locker, a phone, a cleaning cart.
• Gratitude Letters for the Community. Write letters of gratitude and deliver them to people in the greater school community, e.g., janitor, food staff, school administration. Expand this exercise to include the local community, such as police, fire station, bank, grocery store, hospital, electricians, etc.

(First published in 2017)

These ideas were adapted from an article at: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/gratitude_activities_for_the_classroom