Whimsical September

A Family + Lifestyle Blog

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giving thanks.

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

This quote has been plastered up in my classroom all month long as part of my Thanksgiving/gratitude bulletin board. Beside the quote is a colorful fall tree created out of “leaves” that my students created. Each day during the first week of November they created a new leaf and wrote something they were grateful for. In the end, we had one big, beautiful tree that daily reminds us of our gratefulness. It’s really brightened my room.

This gratitude bulletin board was inspired by my idea of keeping gratitude journals throughout the month of November, in hopes that the students would continue using them far after the turkey has digested and Iron Bowl is over. I handed all of my 8th graders a spiral notebook on November 1 that I dubbed their gratitude journal. Every day at the beginning of class the students would have to write five things they are grateful for FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS. That’s the hard part! I know that most of them are grateful for their family, friends, etc., but I wanted them to think deeper. “What were some things that took place yesterday that just made your day a good one?” I modeled this for them the first few days until they caught on – “My dog didn’t wake me up at 5am like usual.” “I had a great workout at our new fitness gym.” “I had a great conversation with a long distance friend.” “Grandma cooked a great dinner”. yadda yadda yadda. They eventually caught on. From what I could tell, the kids REALLY enjoyed (and looked forward to) this every day. I usually tried to let a few of them share some of their highlights, and it was so rewarding to hear the little things that they were grateful for that I don’t think they would have picked up on normally. I was inspired to do this from Oprah. Try it out. It really teaches you to look at your glass half full.

10 things I’m grateful for from this week:
1.) All of my flights were on time getting to Austin Wednesday (by the way, greetings from Texas!!)
2.) Enjoyed a WONDERFUL meal with many of Jamie’s mom’s relatives yesterday for Thanksgiving
3.) Enjoyed an wonderful meal with MY family on Sunday since everyone was going different ways for the actual holiday on Thursday
4.) My sweet and beautiful cousin Amanda delivered a healthy baby boy this morning in Tampa. Welcome to the world, Robinson. We love you!
5.) I got to enjoy a great dinner with Kerry, Amberlee, and Ashley Tuesday night.
6.) Jennifer and David both came home from college briefly on Monday and Tuesday, so it was nice to hang out with them, even if it was only a short visit.
7.) None of my toiletries leaked in my suitcase during my flights (this is a reoccuring problem)
8.) I got in two great workouts Monday and Tuesday before I left.
9.) My kids behaved well at school.
10.) Last but not least, a relaxing holiday to be with my best friend named Jamie.

Jamie and his mom just walked back in the door from walking the dogs, and I really need to go get ready! We are headed to a Reckless Kelly concert tonight – one of Jamie’s FAVORITE Texas “dirt” bands. woo. 🙂

I hope you’ve had the happiest of holidays. Roll Tide.

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