So it occurred to me on Tuesday that I really needed to stop and talk to my kiddos about giving thanks. Sometimes I think that I spend too much time teaching pilgrims, mayflowers, and turkeys and not enough time modeling thankfulness. All month, I have had students take a fall leaf cutout from the writing center and write down something they are truly thankful for. We have been adding the leaves to the fall tree on our door. I noticed recently that most of the leaves named mom, dad, and toys as things they were thankful for. I thought this was a great start, but it seemed like students just couldn't think up any other things they were thankful for, because all the leaves were beginning to look identical! I wondered if my kiddos were struggling to understand the idea of being thankful, so as a little experiment, I decided to make an anchor chart of the things that I am thankful for. I started with our assistant, Mrs. Evans. We discussed all the ways Mrs. Evans helps us each day, and we talked about how we could thank her for all she does for us. Some suggestions were simply saying, "Thank you!" more, making her cards, and just remembering to use our best behavior when she is taking us to and from specials. I really think that going that extra step and having them brainstorm ways that they can say "thank you" for the things they are thankful for helped them see that they have SO many things to appreciate.
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