Easy Gratitude Walls for Students

 

Teaching gratitude can be one of the most rewarding things you can instill in a child. Not in a shaking-your-finger "You should be grateful!" sort of way...but practicing gratitude has been proven to improve our health, strengthen relationships, provide feelings of happiness and other positive emotions, as well as helping us focus on the good that already exists in our lives, and build upon that.

An easy way to bring gratitude into your classroom is to make a "Gratitude Board". It can be as fancy or as simple as you wish...even a big piece of paper on your wall that you add to would be enough.

The challenge is to have kids add to it daily. You may want to set a duration for this practice of gratitude...a month is usually a good time frame, but some educators may want to challenge their students to do it every day for a year! It can be part of your morning routine and shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Students can be given pieces of paper to write one thing they are grateful for. You could also go around the classroom and ask students to tell you something they are grateful for and write it yourself, if you have students who have trouble writing.

You may have some students who insist they have nothing to be grateful for- part of the lesson is that we all have something to be grateful for, every day. It could be big things, like a person in their life, a pet, their home, etc. It could also be simpler things, like the weather that day, the cafeteria serving a lunch they enjoy, or a favorite movie or song. By practicing daily gratitude, it will become easier for your students to think of these things. For older students, you may want to challenge them to think of something different every day or not to repeat answers that another student has used. 

So give it a try and see how practicing daily gratitude in your classroom or your home creates change in the children you work with...and yourself! These pictures are examples of gratitude boards I have made in the past. The gratitude tree had leaves that the students wrote on each day. The gratitude garden had flowers, birds and trees that the students wrote their gratitude on. They enjoyed being able to add to the board each day and watching them grow!

FREE Social Skills Lesson: The Good Egg by Jory John

 

When it comes to teaching my students Social Skills, I love to use books as instructional aids.  A book I use to talk about pressure and behavior with my students is The Good Egg by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald. I often find myself grabbing Jory John's books. Pete Oswald's illustrations are also colorful and very fun to look at, grabbing children's attention. 

The Good Egg is about an egg that tries very hard to be good. They follow the rules, they go out of their way to help others, and they always try their best. However, when the eggs around them aren't following the rules, they take it upon themselves to try to make everyone around them behave. Worrying about what other eggs are doing puts a lot of pressure on themselves, and they end up cracking...literally. In the end, the Good Egg learns that it is not their job to try to control everyone around them else's behaviors, and that they need to be easier on themselves and take time to relax.

Lesson Plan:

Read The Good Egg to your students, then use the following questions to spark discussion. (Possible answers are in italics.)

Discussion Questions:

1. What good things did the Good Egg do? Saved a cat from a tree, changed car tires, painted someone's house, watering plants, carrying groceries.

2. Looking at the pictures, do you think the Good Egg was always helpful? Not always. There was too much water in the plants, the strawberry had a hard time holding up the car, the house was not painted well.

3. Has there ever been a time when you were trying to help someone, and it didn't work out well? Answers vary, allow students to share their experiences. 

4. How do the other eggs act? Ignored their bedtime, only ate sugary cereal, crying for no reason breaking their stuff on purpose.

5. How does the Good Egg try to fix the other eggs? The Good Egg tried to take charge and keep the peace by getting the other eggs to behave.

6. What happens to the Good Egg from all of the pressure? Their shell cracked.

7.  What is self-care? Things we do to take care of ourselves and recharge ourselves

        a. How does the Good Egg practice self-care? The Good Egg took walks, read books, wrote in journals, painted, breathed. 

        b. How does it help the good egg? It makes the Good Egg feel better again and heals it's shell.

        c. What sorts of things do you do to practice self-care? Answers may vary. Examples: go for a walk, taking a bubble bath, playing with a pet, reading a book, listening to music, etc.

8. What did the Good Egg learn in the end? The other eggs aren't perfect, and the Good Egg doesn't have to be perfect either.

Enhance your lesson with this printable. Students can decorate the egg to look like themselves and write down one thing that makes them a good egg.: things they do to help others, having manners, being kind, etc. 

You can download the printable from Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking here,

Or you can download it directly from our google drive by clicking here.

 

DIY Diary of a Wimpy Kid Blank Book Cover

 

 If you have a child or know a child, it is likely that you have heard the words 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid" many times. The book series, by author and artist Jeff Kinney, has sold millions of copies and has been made into multiple movies. The streaming service Disney+ even rebooted the franchise with an animated series. 

 

 Whether it is the funny situations that the main character Greg Heffley finds himself in, the relatable family moments, or the lessons on friendship and discovering who you are, there is no doubt that kids connect to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 

    Little Owl Lessons has put together a blank book cover that you can print out and give to you students or children. Instead of saying 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid", we have left the title adjective blank so that children can use their own adjective that describes themselves. The cover has a blank square where they can draw their very own comic, just like in the books! This would be a great art lesson or summer project for your little bookworms and can easily tie into reading the book. 

You can download the PDF for FREE on Teacher Pay Teachers by clicking here.

Or you can get it for FREE from our google drive by clicking here. 

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