6 Classroom Activities to Show Gratitude!

November 2, 2018

Hi everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, I am Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. Is it just me or did the month of October go by super fast? Now that we’re in the month of November, I’m starting to get the holiday feels and excitement that comes along with it.

November is the perfect month to show appreciation for everything that you are grateful for. Personally, I’m grateful for a lot of things, but mostly my friends and family. I know the month of November can be hectic for a lot of people since the holidays are quickly approaching, but let’s make it a point to reflect on what we’re grateful for. Therefore, I have come up with a few ideas to take back to your classroom:

Wall of Gratitude–A simple, yet fun way to get students thinking about what they’re grateful for is to put a festive piece of paper over your classroom door and have every student write one to two things that they are grateful for. This is always a nice thing to have displayed in the classroom so every time they leave and enter the room they’ll be reminded of it.
Gratitude Photo Challenge–For the two weeks before Thanksgiving, create a theme for each day such as “Find something that makes you happy” or “Find something that you’re thankful for in nature” and have your class come together to agree on one item for that theme. Then take a picture based on the theme of the day with the class included in it. This is a great exercise to get everyone involved and work together as a group.
Thankful Tree–Have everyone in your classroom go outside, find a leaf, and write what they are most thankful for. Tie all the leaves around some branches with yarn and leave your thankful tree in the classroom for everyone to see.
Plan a Gratitude Party–After spending time doing activities to show what the students are thankful for, invite the people that you showed gratitude towards in your school and the student’s parents to a celebration. This could be a dance or even a dinner. Teaching students about gratitude and doing daily practices about it can change their view of life.
Classroom Gratitude Book–Create a gratitude book to send home with a different student 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 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.

It’s important to have the students discuss what they’re thankful for and why. A lot of these activities allow for students to work together, interact with one another, and reflect on everything they have. My School Dance wants to encourage teachers to have more activities and field trips to get the students to interact and learn both inside and outside of the classroom. If your school needs help planning and managing any activities or field trips where tickets are being sold, reach out to My School Dance. We’re more than happy to help make this process easier on the teachers!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656