How To Encourage Thankfulness in the Classroom

If you’re a teacher in the classroom, one of the best lessons you can teach children is to be thankful for the multitude of things around them there are to be thankful for. As students grow, they model the behaviors they see around them. Some people they observe have difficulty because all they see are the lemons. Others choose to make lemonade. Students emulate the behaviors of both types of people. As a teacher, you have the responsibility not only of helping those in your care to see the positive sides of things, but to encourage them to be thankful for those things. Throughout a typical school day there are countless opportunities for you to model thankfulness and appreciation in the school environment. Students often list their teachers as people they most admire, or who have influenced them the most, long after they have left the teacher behind. All those lessons go out the door with them. To encourage students to develop the habit of being thankful and expressing appreciation:

• Greet students at the door with a warm “hello” and a big smile each morning
• Say their names – often.
• Be generous with stickers, but expect something in return.
• Be kind to every member of the staff. Give them appropriate expressions of appreciation.
• Stay “thank you” at all the right places, and then some.
• Have students hold the door for others. Teach them to say, “Thank you” during these interactions.
• Teach them to express thanks automatically, such as when you hand out papers or instructional materials.
• Let students see you as you express thanks to cafeteria staff and other people who perform services for you. Students will do what you do.
• Have students write “thank-you notes” to their parents, their grandparents, the principal and even to each other as occasions present themselves.
• Teach them the correct way to write a thank-you note card.
• Share with them some of the cards you write to others. Have them sign the card you start. If they see that you think it is important, they will value the action as well.

We at Amy Adele understand how important teachers are in the lives of their students. We appreciate teachers who know how to encourage thankfulness in children and include teachers in our line of stationery and thank-you cards. To teachers everwhere, we say a giant "Thank you!" today, as well as all the tomorrows.