I think of myself as a pretty grateful person. I do my best to appreciate the little things and big things in life on a daily basis. When Tara Martin tweeted about the #GratitudeSnap challenge during the month of November, I knew I was in! I also knew that this was something I wanted to bring into my classroom for my students to try.
Through the Seesaw app and using Pic Collage, the students were challenged to create and post a #GratitudeSnap daily, about something that they were grateful for. I knew I would get the typical I'm grateful for my video games, my clothes, and toys. However, they surpassed my hopes for this challenge. The kids pushed past objects they were thankful for and started to notice much more in the world around them. They became more mindful of their everyday lives and surroundings.
I felt during this time in my classroom, the students were more in the moment, appreciating little things, along with being calmer. Another benefit of participating in the class #Graduatesnaps was further enhancing our class community. Through SeeSaw they got to see their classmates #GratitudeSnaps and get to know the many sides of them. Such as, the student who posted that she was thankful for her Tae Kwon Do, art, and swimming lessons when the rest of the class didn't even know that these parts of her existed. They are a huge part of this young girl and the other kids needed to know this. As did I. My eyes were opened up to my students many talents, hobbies, and the family and friends they were thankful for. Equally as beautiful were the student’s comments to each other.
I am forever grateful to @taramartin for her blogs, her inspiration, and for getting this challenge out to the world, for my students to participate in.
Shea
#GratitudeSnaps are a good way to tell my classmates what I am thankful for. It also is a good way to learn about my classmates. Making #GratitudeSnaps helps me express my creativity and it’s fun. I love seeing my classmates #GratitudeSnaps.
Camryn
Gratitude snaps are important to me because it makes me think about what I’m being grateful for. Some things that I enjoyed was that you can get ideas from everyone in the class and show your family, why you are grateful for them.I think gratitude snaps are good for showing your creativity in your snaps. I love that you can always show what you're grateful for.
John
Gratitude Snaps are
important because it
helps me understand
myself better than before.
Devin
During Gratitude Snaps I learned that we have to be grateful for what we have because not everyone has everything we have.I enjoyed it because I got to show what I am grateful for. I loved it. It is important to me because it helped me get more social and grateful. It was fun! It taught me never to be greedy.Thank you for making gratitude snaps, without you we wouldn't be doing it!
Mark
GratitudeSnaps are important to me because I love sharing what I am thankful for and I love hearing what other people are thankful for.GratitudeSnaps are awesome because people could discover new things they didn't know about.I think other people should do gratitude snaps because it is spreading what you're thankful for and that gratitude snaps are very fun to create and it can spread joy.
Aiden
The reasons why I like #gratitudesnaps are that we can show people what we are grateful for and we can make other people grateful and happy. We could make people feel even more grateful than they are right now. We could make some more peace in the world. These are the reasons why I like #gratitudesnaps.
Rebecca
Gratitude snaps are important because people can see what others are thankful for. Being thankful for something is very important.You can share what you’re thankful for to your family and many other people .
I
Kira
What I liked most about gratitude snaps is that I get to show what I am grateful for and I like that you could just let out your feelings on a iPad. I am grateful for being able to spread the message of not bullying. I also think gratitude snaps help me by learning new things about other people.
Riley
What I like about #graditudesnaps is that you’re able to see what other people are thankful for. I also love to create them. I love to see other people’s #graditudesnaps cause I can see that other people are thankful for what we have in the world. I can also think about what I'm thankful for and what I should be thankful for. I realized with #graditudesnaps that I should never be greedy because what you have some people don't have. Thanks so much for #graditudesnaps or I wouldn't realize how much I need to be thankful for what I have in my life. I love all the things in my life and I'm so lucky to have it!!! Thanks!
Brady
I love gratitude snaps because I can say what I want!. I can talk about things I am grateful for. Other people might be grateful for the same thing as me and will think about that when they see my snaps.
Brady
Denny
I love making Gratitude Snaps! It's so cool to be able to see what others are grateful for. I try to do one everyday. It's challenging to do a Gratitude Snap everyday but I took the challenge. Gratitude Snaps is my favorite thing to do on the iPads!!
Robbie
What I liked about Gratitude snaps was that it gives me opportunities to let everything that I am Grateful go out to the world. I let it come out in the world sharing everything I am grateful for. The Gratitude snaps are important to me because when I tell my mom and my family they also tell me what they are Grateful for so then they are basically doing a Gratitude snap but in words. When other people post things, I think am I grateful for the thing they posted? I think everyone should do Gratitude snaps because it could help them in life and also other people.
These are some #Gratitude snaps
Giovanni
The important thing about gradtitude snaps is it lets everyone sees what you're gratefull for and that you could tell what you love.
Brooke
What I liked about gratitude snaps was you get to tell
about what you are thankful for.You also get to see what
other people are thankful for too. This is important to me
Because you get to see other ones that will make yours the
Best that it can be.
Dominick
I love to create #Gratitudesnaps. It’s a very fun challenge. I think that other schools should do #Gratitudesnaps because you can see what other people did and maybe theirs will give you ideas. It’s hard to make one every day but that's part of the challenge.
Valentina
Hi! Im really enjoying gratitude snaps because they show you what your really thankful for in your heart. I did kinda a lot, I did some about my friends, family, food,and a lot of other stuff.Also it helped me because I am thankful for a lot of stuff. I think other schools should do this because it supports your heart and the person or something your doing it about. I loved doing these because it showed I am thankful to the world!
Marko
Gratitude Snaps are important because
they make me very happy. They share
your likings and feelings to friends and
other people in the world. They help you
learn. We are lucky that we have iPads
and pic collage on it, because some
people don’t have pic collage
or even an iPad.
Samantha
Hi! #Gratitude snaps mean to me that it feels so good to get your feelings out on an app! You can say anything about anything that you are thankful for! It feels so good! When I am mad , I do a #GratitudeSnap! When I'm bored, I do a #GratitudeSnap! #GratitudeSnaps are not only work! They are FUN! I think it's a great challenge to do for the month of November. I am having a lot of fun doing it! I do one everyday!
Erin
What I like about gratitude snaps is you get the to show what you are grateful for. I like going on seesaw and looking at all the gratitude snaps. It makes me think if I have time I can make one too. It also makes me feel kind. I love making gratitude snaps because you get to express your feelings about what you are grateful for. Also, I can see what others are grateful for. I hope you love gratitude snaps.
Emry
I love gratitude snaps because it helps express your feelings. It tell us a little bit about others lives. Gratitude snaps also show what you're thankful for and what you learned in that week.
Patrick
I liked doing the gratitude snaps because I realize how important it is to be thankful. I also enjoyed using the flip grid and seesaw. It made learning fun!!