Gratitude 2

 

Week of:  11.5.13-11.8.13

Theme:  Gratitude

 

     Date               Announcements            Greeting             Sharing                 Activity 

Tuesday a.m.   11.5.13	Let’s talk about your SLC’s, the good the bad and the ugly.	Informal Greeting	What did you do well? What will you do better next time? What went well? How was your handshake?	n/a
Tuesday p.m.   11.5.13	Good Afternoon! This week we focus on Being Grateful. Practicing gratitude increases happiness!  Research shows that grateful people do better in school, have better friendships, are healthier & even make more $.  It’s a good thing to practice!	Question Greeting	Video on Gratitude	Letters
Wed   11.6.13	Grade Level Meetings	n/a	n/a	n/a
Thursday   11.7.13	A recent joke about an attitude of gratitude: “Any day above ground is a GOOD DAY.”	Cumulative List Greeting: Gratitude Version	Preview tomorrow’s activity: The Gratitude Chain   (if time allows, after activity, which serves as a warm-up for tomorrow)	Quickly think of as many things as you can that have already happened today. How many can you get??
Friday   11.8.13	All week we have been talking about GRATITUDE.  Let’s see if we can circle the school with our gratitude chain.	Greet someone you haven’t greeted yet today.	n/a	Gratitude Chain

 

Tues a.m.:     Informal Greeting – Model greeting people naturally as they come in the door.  Let kids                                     take a few minutes to greet one another.  Greetings can be, “Hey, how’s it going?”                                                “What’s up?”  “How was your golf game last night?”

                         Discussion/Share – Let’s talk about Student Led Conferences (SLC’s). 

                                     What were your observations?   

                                     Who felt nervous?  Who’s lying about not feeling nervous?  J

                                     What emotions were present? (tension, fear, annoyance, embarrassment, pride)

                                     Talk about eye contact, handshakes

                                     What reputation did you establish at SLC’s?

 

Tues p.m.:            Greeting:  Question Greeting – Count three people to your right (or find someone                                        behind you).  Greet that person and ask that person what his or her favorite                                                                Thanksgiving tradition or food is.  Then share yours.

                                Share:  YouTube Video on Gratitude:  "The Science of Happiness - An Experiment                                           in Gratitude"   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHv6vTKD6lg)

                                Activity:   Ask each advisee to think about the person who has made a big                                                         impact on their life in a positive way, the person (or a person) for whom they are                                               extremely grateful. 

                                Ask each advisee to craft a letter to that person explaining specifically why he/she is                     grateful to the person, and what specifically that person has done for him/her. Challenge advisees to list three examples of what that person has done or three examples of how that person’s kindness has affected his/her life.  Letters can be    family members (dead or alive), friends, coaches, teachers. 

                                Ask advisees if they would like to make a phone call and read their letter.

Thur:              Announcement -   “Any day above ground is a good day.” – An elderly man recently said                   this to me when I asked him how we was doing.  I chuckled, but it got me thinking:  how  often am I grateful just to wake up in the morning?  How often do I pay attention to the   birds in the morning?  Or feel grateful that I can make my family a healthy breakfast?? That I can walk to my car?  That I have a house to live in?  Do we have to wait until something tragic happens to appreciate life?

                         Cumulative List Greeting – The Cumulative Greeting we’ve done before (wherein each                                      person greets everyone who has preceded her) but with the twist that a list is added, of responses to a question like:  what’s one thing you’re grateful for?  Leader asks first but answers last, after greeting has made its way around the circle. [Because focus & listening are forms of self-control].

                         Gratitude Race – Make a quick list of everything you are grateful for today.  List as                                              many things as you can (on paper).  Who gets the most?

Fri:                  Greeting – Greet someone you haven’t greeted yet today.

                         Activity – Gratitude Chain:  Write one person/place/thing for which you are grateful on                                       a single slip of paper.  Fill out as many “chain links” as you possibly can.  link and staple                                    each chain together.  Our challenge: can we make a chain to stretch from one end of the                           hallway to the other (across from lockers?)?  Can we make a chain to encircle the entire                             courtyard??