Spice of Life: Keeping a Journal of Thankfulness

Spice of Life: Keeping a Journal of Thankfulness

Maybe it was just a coincidence or maybe it really was just a little spice of life to be perusing the grocery spice shelves when I overhead a couple of people complaining. In the matter of time it took to find nutmeg, cloves, and pumpkin pie spice, I had heard the woes of work, kids, and spouses.

Yep, I’m betting we all have gripes and I could probably whip out my own list faster than I care to admit. While there is a time and place to constructively work these out, I started to wonder what impact a grateful conversation would’ve been on these same topics of complaint.

That got me thinking of the 30-Day November Thankful Journal I had students keep last year. After overhearing those complaints, I felt I needed to do the assignment again, myself included. Part of the fun of keeping a journal is going back to find out what happened a year ago...so I dug out my last year’s journal and giggled at some entries, said “oh yeah, I remember…” at others, and was totally thrilled to find the day when I was told I was going to be a first time grandparent!

So thankful for this news a year ago!
It was fun to share this entry with this year's students.

...and here is my Little Bug, Kenslie, a year later!

To Begin With…

I found that students enjoy using composition notebooks. Maybe it’s because it’s more like a book they are creating, different from their usual spiral notebook, or because I am happy for them to include pictures or drawings along with the writing piece. I also give them the option of decorating the cover and show them some possibilities.

Examples of journal covers I shared with students.

Students took pride in making the journal special.

We discuss a lot about what it means to be thankful and things we are thankful for. I show lots of my own thankful journal entries and we write a few together. I learned that students often have difficulty thinking through their day in terms of things to be thankful for. Who am I kidding? Adults have challenges with this from time to time too! We tend to think about the big and the obvious and most days just aren’t like that. So much of what we have is often taken for granted.

Sometimes it's just the little things in life!

I focused on those small moments of thankfulness that pop up throughout the day. Again, I gave students many examples of those small moments (a favorite lunch being served, a great test score after studying, a cloudless day) and had them give examples of their own. This year I gave students a list of prompt ideas to glue into their composition books. Ideas included such possibilities as…What book are you grateful for? Tell 3 positive things about someone you have a hard time getting along with.

What Worked…

Students are given a few minutes at the start of language arts time to write their entry. It almost goes without saying that it must be written in complete sentences (several of them) with enough detail so that reading it a year later will make sense. Writing on Saturdays and Sundays as well as during Thanksgiving break are optional. However, I did dangle a carrot out there. Those who complete all 30 days of November to the stated expectations, receive “classroom cash”. This was enough incentive to engage at least three quarters of students in the full 30-day activity.

As a kid, I was thankful for free candy too!
As an adult, I am thankful when someone hides the candy!!

We started with a "trial run" entry on a Monday
making the first try easier for students to recall weekend details.

So what happens when students turn their journals in with all 30 days written but it’s clearly a halfway job? Simple. They get half the pay. Or the amount (if any) their work has earned. Of course they are made aware of this up front. I also made sure they knew that if they happened to forget their journal at school/home, it should not become an excuse to stop journaling. Another piece of paper can be attached to their journal later. They do receive a grade on the assignment whether or not the full 30 days were completed or just the required school days.

Reflection…

I absolutely loved reading last year’s journals and look forward to this year’s! I found out so much about my students and the things they cared for and valued. My goal now is to challenge students to continue keeping a journal beyond the Thanksgiving season and throughout the year. Journal keeping can be difficult. I know.

I have tried maintaining a journal only to end up putting it down for months. But that’s okay. It’s a new day and there are many new thankful moments to write about. I again reflect on my entry when I learned I would soon be a grandparent. I really didn’t think all the hype and wonderfulness I’d heard of being a grandparent would be true. Except that it is. And here is my recent journal entry. Sweet spice of life.

From time to time I share parts of my
thankful journal to continue to model for students.
They were excited when I read this one to them!

Please share ways you have used a journal or similar activity.