A time to be grateful

We're focusing on gratitude for the month of December. We had an important talk yesterday about how much of this month is about "getting". In fact, there was no prompting required when I asked my class to fill in the blanks:  Kids _____ a lot in December.  They knew the missing word. 

We talked about how fun it is for us grown-ups to give to children this time of year, how much we enjoy watching their faces light up when they receive a present, especially when it is something they truly long for. 

Then we discussed what it feels like to receive a special gift. We talked about that word: gratitude and how when we show gratitude, we show appreciation for all the wonderful gifts in our lives. A heart full of gratitude beats within a very happy person. And a happy person? Aren't they the best kind of people to be around?  

So we'll fill up our bulletin board with "gratitude tickets". Each day, students will be encouraged to take a ticket and think about something very, very specific they are grateful for that day. Perhaps they appreciate the extra love that went into the days lunch or that Mom returned to school to drop off a forgotten knapsack (You know who you are;). We're going to watch this bulletin board fill up with messages of thanks for all the blessings, big or small, in our lives.