We teach our kids so many great social/emotional strategies here at Wheelock Elementary and one of my favorite lessons teaches our students about the power of positive thinking. We encounter so many small challenges and/or road blocks in a day and one of the best ways to handle a problem is to change our way of thinking to help us persevere. I teach the kids to channel their "Inner Coaches", or the little voice that everyone has inside their heads, to brainstorm a more positive and proactive way to think about a situation. Shown above is a poster that I have utilized in many classes and small sessions to help teach the kids, through example, how to change their thinking. This poster happens to come from a time that I visited Miss Murphy's second grade class and they did a wonderful job coming up with positive thoughts!
I always like to end this lesson with a visual the students can each keep at their desk as a reminder. Below, I have displayed some examples of empowering positive 'mantras' that the students came up with on their own and have attached to their name tags. They were so creative and several of the students wanted to use more than one statement! I hope you found this blog post helpful and I hope you will challenge your children to change their thoughts to be more positive when they come across a problem or 'roadblock'.
