Our Gratitude Projects

We talk a lot about gratitude throughout the year. Being grateful for not only the big things but small things too. In the beginning, many of their answers were the same; grateful for parents, house, cars, xbox, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that but I wanted to challenge them to start thinking about things they take for granted every day.  I started Gratitude Journals with this group where about once a week I'd give them a prompt like: "what are you grateful for that you can't see" (oxygen, the Tooth Fairy were answers), "what are you grateful for that's not living" (tables, lunch), "what are you grateful for at school" (reading buddies, recess). Sometimes we would take them outside and they would write about something they had a new gratitude for that they walk past every day. We have talked about characters in stories and at Thanksgiving they drew the Winnie-the-Pooh crew around the dinner table and each one was saying what they were thankful for.

I wanted to do a kind of culminating project about gratitude as we are coming to the end of our school year. I was really stumped as to what to do for it. I thought about having them take pictures of things they are grateful for-but we did a similar project to that last year. I thought about them talking about characters' gratitude but couldn't figure out how to put that together with a project.

So here's what I had them do-we took a posterboard and sectioned it off. Then they painted things that represented what gratitude means to them. I LOVED the outcome! I think the fact that they didn't have to think long to come up with things and could totally justify their importance was awesome. It was a multi-step project because they had to write what they were going to say, paint the pictures and then wait for it to dry in order to write their words. I am very proud of what they came up with and couldn't wait to share!

God, crafts (because it makes people smile), breaks, sky (because it lets you know when it's morning), internet (so we can blog :), the Bible (because it tells stories from long ago), Valentine's and her imaginary friend, flowers and art.

The sun, my teacher, my mom, sunsets, school, my BFF, life (because it's an adventure :), space and the Easter Bunny.

 Love, fun, friends, people, beauty, months, teachers (they give us ideas), doing good for others, smartness, parents (they make me smile).

 Earth, God, books (because you can learn on your own), sunshine, love (because Mom and Dad are full of it), Band-aids :), siblings (because you can paint their nails), friendship (it's nice when people like you), rainbows, fairy tales (because it's nice to pretend nice to pretend you are there), trees and crayons.

 Miss Trayers, my heart, sun, Earth, rain, memories ( you don't want to forget that moment), music (because when people say mean stuff we can hear music and feel better), poems (they make love in my heart), hair and for you.

 Nature, little bugs, angels, library books :), friends, waves, sunny days, being happy, everything!

 CCE, backpacks, God, angels, technology, helping, teacher.

 Nature, insects, workstations, my pet, myself (because I help myself), my tree.

 Love (because it inspires me), my parents (because they are loving and sweet), books, my teacher (because she makes me do better), clouds (because they are like art), friends (because they make my day).

 Crayons, memories, books, bees, bucket fillers, friends (they always have my back), the past (because it made a better future), flowers, words (because they make it easy to understand).

 Teacher, life, school, recycling (because the trash will be on teh street and we can't drive), the White House, trees, lotion and your ears and mouth.

 flower, lizards (they are friendly and good pets), books, butterfly, friends, rocks, spiders, smartness.

Love, friends, nature, flowers, butterflies, ladybugs.

Overall, I'd say we were pretty grateful! :)