Thanks for all you do each day to support and teach children in your care. I am grateful for the child care professionals that truly make a difference in a child’s life each day. Also there is a great appreciation for the ones that are providing care while our nurses, medical professionals police, fire fighters, military, retail employees and many others are working during this holiday time. Thanks for all you do!
Each day we have many things to be thankful for. I know the parents of the children you are providing care for are thankful for you and your skills in teaching their children. You may might always feel appreciated, but you are! So how do we teach children about being thankful? Children model what they see, so you can start by sitting a good example. It can begin with telling children “thank you for sharing your book’ or “thank you for helping with clean up” and telling them how much you appreciate something they have done. Children learn appreciation by being appreciated. When other children hear you thanking others, it sends a message on thankfulness.
During Thanksgiving we think about being thankful, but it is important to teach thankfulness and gratitude throughout the year. It may be simply while sitting down at a meal or circle time to start a dialog and let children share things they are thankful for. Reading books on thankfulness can take a new spin when you have the children tell what they think the characters in the story are thankful for. Depending on the age of the children you are working with….thank you notes are also a way to teach. For younger children they can draw pictures, or paste magazine pictures, or clip art from a computer that you print off into the card. A thank you note can be done many ways. Just be creative!
Some suggested books:
Let’s Be Thankful by P.K. Hallinan
Thankful by Eileen Spinelli
Grateful – A Song of Giving Thanks by John Bucchino
Today I Am Grateful by Lorraine Miller
The Things I’m Grateful For.. by Arne Lightning
Gratitude Soup by Olivia Rosewood
Gratitude is a Funny Thing by Kathy Walsh
The Secret of Saying Thanks by Douglas Wood
Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes
I am Thankful For… A book About Being Grateful by Uncle Amon
Watch Me Learn and Grow 