Time
3-5 minutes
Frequency
Monthly
Material
Paper and/or thank you notes, writing tools
Purpose
To encourage the importance of expressing thanks and benefit from helping another
Provide context for the practice (see “Evidence” section).
- Have students’ recall/remember recent acts of kindness they have noticed, such as a smile.
- Ask students to reflect on how that made them feel.
- As a group, brainstorm examples of thank you statements.
- Students will be invited to share a note of thanks.
- Distribute paper/thank you notes to the students and request that they write a grateful thank you note.
- Students may choose to keep or deliver the note afterwards.
This practice can be done as a whole school approach, where caring adults are also sharing “thank yous”. Positive comments go a long way to enhance a sense of belonging and of being valued for all.
Ask students to think of one specific thing each of the following people has done for them and say/write thank yous:
- someone in their family
- someone with whom they are a close friend
- someone in their school community
- someone they don’t know in their community (server at a coffee shop)
- God
Student perceptions of kindness at school are instrumental in shaping their opinions about their school’s climate (Binfet et al., 2016; Embry & Biglan, 2008). Activities that support the development of kind interactions for staff and students can support the goals of a safe and positive school climate to foster learning and prosocial behaviours (Binfet et al., 2016). Embry & Biglan (2008) explain that verbal or written praise shared publicly or privately from either a caring adult or via peer-to-peer interactions, increases cooperation, social competence, positive interactions or relations, academic engagement/ achievement, work performance, and physical health, while reducing disruptive, aggressive or violent behaviours and vandalism.
Binfet, J. T., Gadermann, A. M., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2016). Measuring kindness at school: Psychometric properties of a School Kindness Scale for children and adolescents. Psychology in the Schools, 53(2), 111-126
Embry, D. D., & Biglan, A. (2008). Evidence-based kernels: fundamental units of behavioral influence. Clinical child and family psychology review, 11(3), 75–113. doi:10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x
Written expression can be a useful tool to reflect upon the many blessings, opportunities, and beauty of the world around us and form a deeper sense of connectedness to God and others.
The practice of our Catholic faith is centered of gratitude and giving thanks to God.
As Catholics we are reminded that we receive blessings from God and each other on a daily basis.
(6a) A caring family member who relates to family members in a loving, compassionate and respectful manner.
(1i) A discerning believer formed in the Catholic Faith Community who integrates faith with life.
Or, view all practices and use filters to find what you need