Yesterday when reading an article in LibrarySparks magazine a post that I read on Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day on September 1 came to mind. He talked about a recent series of studies that showed the measurable, positive impact of saying thank you. I went back to his post and was able to locate the study online.
Here are some quotes from the study: These findings suggest that when helpers are thanked for their efforts, the resulting sense of being socially valued, more than the feelings of competence they experience, are critical in encouraging them to provide more help in the future. Additionally, our second and third experiments showed that gratitude expressions had spillover effects on prosocial behavior toward other beneficiaries.
The article in LibrarySparks Fiction/Nonfiction section is titled Good Humor; Good Manners. It discusses a variety of trade books which can be used to instruct/educate/remind our students about being good to one another. Those books listed which we have in our elementary library are: Are you quite polite: silly dilly manners songs by Alan Katz; Do unto otters: a book about manners by Laurie Keller; How do dinosaurs eat their food by Jane Yolen; Mind your manners, B. B. Wolf by Judy Sierra and Piggy Monday: a tale about manners by Suzanne Bloom. A couple of additional books not mentioned in the article that we have are: The golden rule by Ilene Cooper, Never spit on your shoes by Denys Cazet and our newest arrival, Thanks a lot, Emily Post! by Jennifer LaRue Huget.
So I give a big THANK YOU to the United States Congress for passing on June 28, 1894 the act which causes us to celebrate Labor Day as a legal holiday on the first Monday in September. And I also want to give a thank you to Larry Ferlazzo and Pat Miller of LibrarySparks for reminding me to say thank you every chance I get.
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