Thankful for a smile or two

Today I am just thankful for the things in life that make me smile.  Sometimes you just need a smile or a good laugh. 

I smiled when I woke up.



I smiled when I got ready to go to bed.



What makes you smile in your life?

An Amazing Giveaway and Gratitude

Today we had a great day!  This was fabulous because yesterday was crazy.  The kids had a great Halloween party, but I was so tired at the end of the day.   Today my students worked really hard. We had some great discussions, and they worked independently when they needed to without causing too much disruption for others.  I had someone tell me one time that teaching gifted students is easier because they are more motivated.  This is not necessarily true.  Gifted kids can be so creative and absolutely amaze you when they apply themselves.  However, they also can be very emotional and sensitive.  Often, they also are used to things being so easy for them, that once something is challenging they fight it with everything they have.

Anyway, I am just happy that it was a good day!  In fact, I am thankful.  This month I plan on doing a gratitude journal with my students.  How do you bring up the subject of gratitude in your classroom?  This weekend I am going to work on my gratitude journal and maybe some other ideas for gratitude in the classroom to share. I would love to have guest bloggers do some posts related to gratitude in their own lives or classrooms.  Let me know if you are interested.

I hope you stop by the amazing giveaway going on at Miss V's Busy Bees.  I am thankful for her enthusiasm and great ideas.

 There are five giveaways with absolutely tons and tons of prizes from lots of bloggers.  One prize is $15 credit to my TpT store.

Inspiration for a Gratitude Attitude

I have so many things I want to post on.  I had such great feedback on my teacher quick reference  planner and everyone seemed to love having ideas for organization that I plan on sharing more organization tips this week.  I also want to share some ideas on writing notebooks.

However, just now I read a post that inspired me as she always does.  I have been reading 1000 Gifts as I work on finding joy through seeking gratitude.  I know I am a worrier and often guilty of letting myself get overwhelmed with to-do-lists. 

I have been trying to keep my gratitude list. In 1000 Gifts, Ann Voskamp encourages you to count toward 1000 gifts in a year by counting 3 a day. Sometimes I let myself get busy and I forget. So I made a little weekly reminder to count thanks before counting to-do's. It does wonders for your attitude. Happy Wednesday, and I hope this helps you have a summer filled with a gratitude attitude.

You can download a copy here.

Check out Ann Voskamp's post today on How to Live your Best Life.

Writing Inspiration - Gratitude and Spring

This week I decided that the theme for the writing inspiration should be gratitude.  Thanksgiving is long gone, and sometimes we forget to stop and think of reasons to be thankful.  I have been keeping a list of things I am thankful for the last two months, and it has really changed my attitude.  I was actually thinking that this would be fun activity with students.  (Especially, this time of year).  You could have them keep a gratitude journal for a week, write poems about thanks, write an ABC book of thanks, focus on things they are thankful for about the school year, or make a giant list as a class.  I made some Spring themed graphic organizers on thanks to get them thinking:

Best Buds: Write about why you are thankful for your friends.

Drops of thanks:  Count your thanks on raindrops.

Sunshine smiles at school:  Find reasons to smile at school.

Now this week's writing inspiration:

Quote:
 

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Poem: "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes

Since April is half-way over and I was thinking about counting drops of thanks, this poem seemed appropriate.  This poem would be a great chance to talk about personification.  What types of human actions does Hughes give to rain?  Consider the imagery and the tone of the poem.  We often think of rain as dark and gloomy, but does this poem seem dark?

You can play a little video where Langston Hughes is reading the poem aloud.

Picture: I am including a picture I took when I was out driving one night right before a big rain storm.  (The picture is a little blurry.)  Even though it was very dark, I thought the sky was beautiful.  I would discuss with my students how nature even when dark and fierce can be beautiful.

Have a wonderful week full of gratitude and inspiration!