Curriculum Associates wants to celebrate teachers! The Joy Jar is a physical collection of the little joyous memories that make up our day-to-day lives. To create your own Joy Jar, you’ll need a jar (or any kind of vessel you can keep paper in), some slips of paper, and a pen—that’s it! This downloadable PDF will get you started with some prompts to start filling your jar. The simple design is meant to leave lots of room for your creative embellishments. Consider stickers or illustrations, or even attaching photos!

We hope this Teacher Appreciation Week—and every week!—you take a few moments to experience some little moments of joy, capture those memories, and fill your jar. On days or weeks when things are especially hard, return to your jar and go through some of those previous joyful memories or add more. While this activity was developed specifically for educators to do for themselves, this is easily adaptable to a classwide activity for learners to participate in creating joy and expressing gratitude.

Feel free to share what’s filling your jar by tagging us on social media!