Belmar Elementary School District: Leaf By Leaf, ‘Tree Of Gratitude' Grows At Belmar Elementary School

Press release from the Belmar Elementary School District:

MrODonnell

November 23, 2021

By CATHY GOETZ of TAPinto Belmar Lake ComoPublished November 23, 2021 at 9:22 AM

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/belmar-slash-lake-como/articles/leaf-by-leaf-tree-of-gratitude-grows-at-belmar-elementary-school

BELMAR, NJ — If the dozens of paper leaves on Belmar Elementary School’s “tree of gratitude” is any indication, students have much to be thankful for.

During November, students have been putting thoughts to paper — on leaf-shaped cutouts — to express their feelings of gratitude. And their efforts are on full display in the front hallway of the school, where the tree’s colorful foliage flourishes with those words and drawings — with family emerging as foremost for many children.

The project is part of the school’s social emotional learning (SEL) initiative, which has been spearheaded by its counseling team. ‘The challenges presented by the pandemic have highlighted the need for our school to focus on our student and staff’s mental health now more than ever,” said school counselor Nancy Brady. “We needed to ‘reload’ as a community as we returned to school and ‘the new norm.’

“SEL provides the foundation for positive learning and assists in the students’ ability to succeed in and outside of school,” she explained, adding that the counseling team concentrates on one particular SEL topic each month.

“With Thanksgiving being in November, it just made sense for us to focus on gratitude. The counseling team, with the help of many eighth-grade student volunteers, went into every homeroom class and read a story about gratitude, followed by an open conversation about what we were grateful for as individuals,” Brady said.

Each person then wrote a statement or drew a picture — or did both — that represented their own feeling and added it to the tree of gratitude, she explained.

“The students (and staff) realized the more they acknowledged the good in themselves the better they felt … the better they felt, the easier it was to identify the good. It’s just that simple!” Brady said.

“However, the same can be said for focusing on what you lack or find difficult/impossible, which is why we need to practice as a school community acknowledging all the tangible and intangible gifts in our lives,” she added. “I always tell our students, if you’re having a tough day remembering something amazing about yourself, come knock on my door and I’ll remind you!

During his last Belmar Board of Education meeting on November 18, retiring School Superintendent David Hallman acknowledged the counseling team’s SEL efforts. “When you come into the building, the first thing you see is this beautiful tree, it’s a gratitude tree,” he said.” It’s nice in my last year here to know that the administration has hired people who have made a huge difference for our kids here now and in the future.”

He continued, “It’s just a pleasure walking around the building and seeing the communication and relationship these people have developed. They’ve done a great job deciding what our children needed based on the stresses they have.”

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This press release was produced by the Belmar Elementary School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.