We are Grateful

Our entire school is focused on being thankful this month.  Daily announcements suggest ways we can express this in our school and recognize students who are exemplifying this.  The gym and wellness teacher is playing games and starting conversations about what this looks like.  We are showing what we are thankful for in our library classes.

We began our library class by reading We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga.  We practiced saying the Cherokee word and every time we saw it in the text, students read it with me.

I shared with students my reasoning for choosing this book.   The author's note explained how the Cherokee culture puts great value on being grateful all throughout the year and not just on one Thursday in November.  I wanted to see what another form of giving thanks would look like in another culture.  Students were intrigued with the Cherokee language (how it sounds and how it is written). 

Following the reading of the book, I asked students to express what they were thankful for in a variety of ways.

Students built what they were thankful for with Legos.

The ocean, my brother, my sister, my house

The earth

"This is a tank.  My grandfather was in World War II and I am grateful for him and the military."

Bananas

My Nintendo Switch and my electronics.

Students played a game where they chose a straw from a bag and shared something they were thankful for from the corresponding color.

The color of the straw determined what students would share about.

Students wrote and drew about what they were thankful for.

Students colored and folded a "grateful" fortune teller.

My takeaways

Every once in a while a child says something that catches me off-guard.  I had one of those moments.  during a Lego build.  A child showed me the house he created.  I paused.  I happen to know that this child is currently homeless.  I responded, "Yes, I see.  It IS a beautiful house that you created, but a house is just a house.  Being with your family, wherever that might be is what is important.  Thanks for sharing with me."  I walked away.  My heart broke for this lovely family.

Legos are always a favorite activity.  Sometimes students lose sight of the directive in the excitement, but that was not the case this time around.  As I talked to the builders, they were happy to share what they were thankful for.  I was also impressed at the collaborative building that happened.  Students put creations at varying levels of completion on a shelf.  With 290 builders and only a handful of bins of Legos, I knew space and supplies were limited.  I told students they could *add* to an existing creation, but could not remove anything.  I wasn't sure how this was going to work, but I was pleasantly surprised.  One student came to me to report that his "house" had been tampered with.  I reminded him how collaborative building worked.  He replied that the 2nd story addition made his house "so much better than before."  He took it off the shelf and continued to add on.  Crisis averted and the results were better than I could have ever expected.