We know students and people learn best when their needs are met. Healthy minds and bodies help us to be prepared to listen, learn, and do our best. One way to have a healthy mind is to start your day right and get your head in the right place. In our growth mindset school, we teach the power of positive thinking. Challenges help us to grow. Community makes us stronger.
Morning meetings are a time for the community to pause, reflect, and focus and one way we do that is with gratitude journaling. I've found that students need time to calmly think and process through situations. Throughout the days, weeks, months, and school year there are many things to process. It can become overwhelming. So having a time every morning where students can pause and reflect on all the things that we can be thankful for, is powerful. Jodie Rodrigues writes on Scholastic.com, "Studies show that practicing gratitude makes you happier. People who intentionally focus on recognizing people and things that they are thankful for—on a daily or weekly basis—report feeling happy for up to a month after the positive affirmations. Expressing gratitude is also good for relationships. If we focus on the positive things about a person and acknowledge his or her kindness, it can improve our relationship with that person. Plus, journaling is an authentic writing opportunity that also helps children academically with handwriting, spelling, and sentence structure."
I would use these gratitude journals to daily help students focus on the good. They will write and share if they want. These journals also help them showcase their creativity. At the end of the year, they will have learned an amazing skill of gratitude journaling, and have a whole year's worth of gratitude to look back on.
About my class
We know students and people learn best when their needs are met. Healthy minds and bodies help us to be prepared to listen, learn, and do our best. One way to have a healthy mind is to start your day right and get your head in the right place. In our growth mindset school, we teach the power of positive thinking. Challenges help us to grow. Community makes us stronger.
Morning meetings are a time for the community to pause, reflect, and focus and one way we do that is with gratitude journaling. I've found that students need time to calmly think and process through situations. Throughout the days, weeks, months, and school year there are many things to process. It can become overwhelming. So having a time every morning where students can pause and reflect on all the things that we can be thankful for, is powerful. Jodie Rodrigues writes on Scholastic.com, "Studies show that practicing gratitude makes you happier. People who intentionally focus on recognizing people and things that they are thankful for—on a daily or weekly basis—report feeling happy for up to a month after the positive affirmations. Expressing gratitude is also good for relationships. If we focus on the positive things about a person and acknowledge his or her kindness, it can improve our relationship with that person. Plus, journaling is an authentic writing opportunity that also helps children academically with handwriting, spelling, and sentence structure."
I would use these gratitude journals to daily help students focus on the good. They will write and share if they want. These journals also help them showcase their creativity. At the end of the year, they will have learned an amazing skill of gratitude journaling, and have a whole year's worth of gratitude to look back on.
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