Teaching Kids to Thrive
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Additional Gratitude Activities


Mental Subtraction

Mental subtraction is an exercise in which students consider the ways their lives would be different if they didn’t have the positive things they have now. Practicing mental subtraction is one way to help students counteract the tendency to take things for granted.
 
Before the activity, the teacher creates subtraction cards. Each card represents one common asset or person that students rely on (for example: parents, siblings, a home, a family car, clothes, a bedroom, adequate food ….). To begin the exercise, students draw a card from the pile. Teachers can group students with the same items together, or this can be an individual activity. Students are asked to brainstorm how their lives would be different without that asset in their lives. Once students have brainstormed, ask them to create a journal entry on how grateful they are for the asset and explain how it positively impacts their life.
 
Grateful Token
We all want to be grateful and think we are grateful but practicing the act of gratefulness on a daily basis can be looked over in the busyness of life. Ask students to create a “grateful token” to remind them to be grateful. Students are encouraged to put the token in a special place on their desk, book bag, purse, or pocket, or by their beds, to serve as a touchstone to remind them to be grateful. Whenever students feel the token, they are reminded to stop, take a breath, and think of what they are most grateful for at that moment.  Sometimes it just helps to have something concrete to help remember to practice the act of being grateful daily.
 
Ideas for tokens:
  • Use cardstock and allow students to create grateful designs in a circle pattern, cut out the cardboard token, and laminate the custom creation.
  • Use air-dry clay or salt dough to shape colorful flat round stones. Students can use toothpicks to poke holes or imprint an image on the stones. Let the stone harden.
 
The Thank-You Letter Delivered
Writing a thank-you letter is the gratitude activity that has yielded the most positive impact on people to date. Students write a letter of gratitude to someone who made a significant contribution to their lives. Martin Seligman asks students to go beyond just writing letters. Students are invited to deliver the letters rather than mail them if possible. Seligman reports that students’ happiness levels remained elevated for up to six months after participating in this activity (Breines, 2015).
 
Larry Ferlazzo (2015) has done this activity in his classroom. He asks students to write a short paragraph or essay to or about a person they appreciate. He puts his students in partner groups to share what they have written. He then asks for volunteers to call the person they wrote about from the classroom and read what they have written. He says it sometimes takes more than one class period to accommodate everyone who wants to participate, but the impact is substantial.
 
Using both of these ideas, teachers can use this open-ended activity anytime during the year or specifically ask students to write a letter for a teacher or coach during, for example, teacher appreciation week. Ask students to think about one teacher or coach from elementary, middle, or high school whom they would like to thank. Teach the art of writing a thank-you note (use specific examples, be sincere, tell how what the person did made you feel, etc.). Have students create a handwritten note to let the selected teachers or coaches know how much their efforts make a difference. Challenge students to deliver the letter personally, if possible, or call the person during class and read the letter over the phone. Alternatively, give students the option of filming themselves reading the letter and then send the video electronically. Close the lesson by having students journal about the experience.
 
Thank Outside the Box
We love the idea from Jeremy Smith (2013) that calls for students to “thank outside the box.” Along with the usual fund-raisers, volunteer efforts, and Thanksgiving Day-related activities, challenge students to think of ways to show gratitude. In the movie, Pay It Forward,
Mr. Simonet challenges his students to come up with a personal plan to make this world a better place, or at least to improve their small part of it. Likewise, teachers can encourage students to “thank outside the box” and devise their own ways to express appreciation for and to this world. Students can use their cross-curricular skills (reading, writing, art, music, design, engineering, drama, technology, math, social studies, foreign language, cooking, building, drafting, sewing, etc.) to make a contribution to their community and beyond.
 
Your Three Words on Gratitude
Good Morning America features a segment called “Your 3 Words”  where viewers send in short video clips describing what is important to them in three words. Ask students to create a gratitude video using just three words.

  1. Discuss with students the research that shows the tremendous benefits of practicing gratitude. Show one of the science of gratitude videos that are on YouTube.
  2. Ask students to free write on the word grateful. Who are you grateful for? What experiences are you grateful for? What places and things are you grateful for?
  3. Show “Your 3 Words” videos as examples to introduce the lesson. You can find these on the ABC website or YouTube. Guide the class in a discussion of the power of words and images.
  4. Students choose three words that symbolize their gratitude, and decide how they will show their words on video.
  5. Individual students record a video clip, and then the teacher (or a student production team) puts all of the video segments together using a video editing tool such as WeVideo (Google app), iMovie (Mac), or MovieMaker (PC). 
  6. Watch the video as a class. Afterwards, have a class discussion comparing the different words and images used. Discuss how each person chose to convey their message.
​
Here are a few video examples of Your 3 Words on different topics so you get the idea:
Grade 6 students in Calgary, Alberta, Canada create clips of 3 words for Remembrance Day.
​During an edtech training, Teachers created a video description of the Modern Classroom in 3 words.
 
Grateful Gorilla Buddy
Students end their day sitting in a circle taking turns holding the Grateful Gorilla (stuffed animal) and sharing one thing that he or she is grateful for and why. Note: This activity requires modeling and examples so that students can do it successfully.
 
Draw a Quote
After studying the science behind gratitude, explain to students how easy it is to forget to be grateful. Ask students to find an online quote about gratitude that they identify with and that will help remind them to show appreciation. Students then create a sign on a mini poster board featuring the quote. End by asking students to reflect and free write what their quote means to them.
 
Community Letter Writing
Teachers can combine the skill of letter writing and gratitude to recognize people in the community who deserve gratitude but often get overlooked (e.g., janitors, food staff, bus drivers). Ask students to write a letter to someone to thank them and show their gratitude. The letters can be delivered, or the class can host a special “thank you” event in the classroom where students invite people in and give them the letters in person (maybe with snacks!).
 
Giving Thanks for My Family
Students bring pictures of each of their family members from home. They then create a list of reasons they are grateful for each member. This is a superb time to practice or teach mind-mapping skills. Students then write a Giving Thanks for My Family book. They can handwrite the books or use a digital program such as PowerPoint or a site/app like Little Bird Tales. Little Bird Tales allows students to create a digital story with pictures, art, and voice recordings. Once students create the stories, parents can buy the story for 99 cents. 

Find Classroom Opportunities to Contribute and Serve 
During down time or indoor recess allow students to help with creating a few  no-sew fleece blankets as a class, and then donate them to a shelter. Build consideration for the homeless by creating care packs that contain items such as hotel shampoos, tooth brushes, socks, apples, protein bars, granola, or other portable food items. Talk to the children about a local cause that may interest them. If appropriate, help them write a letter about this cause. Maybe even start a fund raiser or bake sale to raise money int eh classroom’s name. 

Gratitude Bubbles
The littles love bubbles so turn bubble blowing into an activity of gratefulness.  They can name a person/thing/thought and then for each bubble blown, we send a thought of gratefulness out.
Thought prompts:
How does being grateful make you feel?
What friend are you grateful for?
What family member are you grateful for?
What special toy are you grateful for? 

No Complaining Challenge 
See how long the whole class can go without complaining or whining. You can do this challenge as a whole class, or individually. If individual, you could give each student a token, if they complain or whine they have to turn their token in. Maybe an award or recognition for the 5 students who keep their token the longest. 

Grateful Show-n-Tell
Assign your class to bring something they are thankful for to class.Use sites like See-Saw or Video to Record them talking about the item and what it means to them. 

Gratitude Seek-n-find
Ask students to find a scene in nature that inspires gratitude. Parents can then post the photo on your class’s Twitter Feed or Facebook page. You can even assign different gratitude categories every month.
Other examples: Person you are grateful for, a color that represents gratitude to you, a song that reminds you of gratitude, a place in your house that makes you grateful. 

Make a Class Gratitude Jar
Make slips of paper with “why I’m thankful for ___” Students randomly fill out the slips when other students showed kindness or gave them a reason to be thankful.  Pick a special time to pull out notes at random and read them aloud.




Do you have a classroom activity for a Thrive skill?
Share it with us and we love adding resources for teachers!



  • Home
  • Chapter Resources
    • Chapter 1 Mindfulness >
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      • Activities Not in the Book
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    • Chapter 2 Executive Function >
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      • Activities not in the book
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    • Chapter 3 Growth Mindset >
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    • Chapter 4 Perseverance >
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    • Chapter 5 Resilience >
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    • Chapter 6 Responsibility >
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    • Chapter 7 Integrity >
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    • Chapter 8 Empathy >
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    • Chapter 9 Gratitude >
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