Thanksgiving - Teaching Thankfulness

Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  You see the sentiment everywhere from Facebook to Twitter.  

What I am Thankful For...

Well, I am thankful for a lot of things, especially the fact that I have a great career and get to work with children everyday!  

I have been talking to my students about being thankful and showing appreciation for the things they have in their life.  It is an important lesson. 

On Friday, my students wrote what they are thankful for on turkey tail feathers and then put them around the body of a turkey they had colored and cut out.  I think this would be a great activity for almost any grade level.  Students could only choose up to 8 feathers so they had to prioritize their "thankful for" lists.  It sure gave me a lot of insight into my students lives.

On Monday we will be helping our younger "buddies" complete their turkeys by gluing the "belly feathers".  We got the three dimensional feathers by wrapping small squares of tissue paper around the end of a unsharpened pencil or the eraser end, dipping it into a bit of glue, and then pressing it down on the turkey belly.  You have to make sure you get the "feathers" close together.  

I plan on following up this activity next week with these great "Turkey Notes" downloaded for free from my Teachers Pay Teachers  store: Teacher Tidbits.

  

I don't know abut you, but I love getting thank you notes.  It is nice to know when people appreciate what you are doing.  I hand students a page of 3 notes and let them write quick little thank you notes to classmates, teachers, school staff, etc.  We hand them out throughout the day.  The kids feel good about giving appreciations and the staff get to smile at the cute things kids say.  

Here is an similar thank you note I got a few years ago.  It made my day. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Here's to good food, family, and friends... and to taking a moment to appreciate  the blessings in your life.  

Cheers!