Educating Young Students From The Inside Out

Educating Preschool students from the "Inside Out"

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Building in new habits of love and gratitude for this new year


The new year has begun and the other day my husband took down our tree so fast I wasn't able to actually enjoy the process of packing up the ornaments for this holiday season. All is a blessing though.

Also in my excitement to share daily happenings for Christmas in our classroom, I forgot one highlight that I wanted to share. This project actually started during our gratitude month of November. The children made gratitude trees and gratitude pinch pots.




Each child carefully made their own pot by following written directions that I had displayed. 
We had some secret gnomes helping with the colors, firing and the painting of each pot. 



In my rush to complete all my entries for 2012 and Christmas, I realized that I couldn't share the pinch pot ideas because they became our family gifts at Christmas.  I needed to wait until our families opened them on Christmas Day before writing about the process.




The children selected their own colors and placed tree trims on the edges and inside each pot.





During the month of November at our circle times the children told me the things they were thankful for.  These were added on slips of paper and carefully added to their individual bowls.

We will also be creating an "Gratitude" jar for 2013 in our classroom.  Together we will share and write on slips of paper our special spiritual moments or experiences. These will be placed into our
"Gratitude" jar. At the end of the school year, we will all read them together.  By creating these daily habits children can raise their awareness at seeing goodness in each moment.



“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson


May we all remember love and gratitude as a hallmark of thankfulness and for the many blessings in our lives.

 Our wish is to cultivate it in every moment and share it with all whom we meet.


Many blessings in this new year.
Chandi

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