Fill My Cup (Gratitude Jar)

Introduction

• Bring students into a circle, either seated in chairs or on the floor.
• Using a 10-finger formative check-in, ask the students to put up 1–10 fingers based on how they are feeling (in which one finger indicates they are not well and 10 fingers indicates they are feeling great).
• Look around the room to get a general sense of how students are feeling.
• Ask students what tools we may use to improve or regulate how we feel (breath, movement, peace corner, singing, etc.).
• Ask students if anyone knows what the word "regulate" means. Explain that regulate means to control.
• Ask students if they are familiar with the word "gratitude." Explain that gratitude means being thankful for what we have, and it can be one way to lift our mood and improve how we feel.
• Guide students in a gratitude practice session.
• Ask them to sit upright comfortably and come to stillness (as much as they can) with quiet bodies.
• Ask students to close their eyes or look down on the floor and to feel their breath right at their nose, chest, or belly.
• Guide them to place their hand on their heart and to feel their breath at their heart center.
• Ask them to imagine all the things they are grateful for (their friends, animals, trees, caring adult, a teacher, etc.).
• Ask them to imagine that all these things and people are here with them right now and to notice how they feel in their heart. (They may not feel anything and that is okay, too.)
• Explain that it may be a little hard to do at first, but over time this gratitude practice can get easier.
• Ask students to take a few deep breaths and to open their eyes when they are ready.
• Ask students how they felt. What did they notice? What did they bring to mind that they are grateful for?
• Explain to students that they will go back to their seats and write about and/or draw pictures of the things they are grateful for in a handout.
• Show students the Gratitude Jar (or Gratitude Box) at the front of the room.
• Explain to them that while they work at their seats, they will be asked to come up one at a time and decorate the Gratitude Jar/Box, either by tying a ribbon or drawing a picture on it. Then, they will be asked to draw a picture (or write a word) on a slip of paper of one thing they are grateful for. Everyone will place their slips of paper in the jar to make it their very own.
• Explain to students that they will draw their gratitudes each day, and the jar will always be left out on display for them to place a message of gratitude in it.