A guestblog by Anna Hildebrandt-Mrozek, PhD
National Week of Happiness at School 2023 – with optimism and hope!
National Week of Happiness at School is an annual event that takes place throughout Poland in the third week of September. It has been celebrated since 2020.
This year we celebrate for the fourth time on September 18-24, 2023 🙂
The aim of the National Week of Happiness at School is to draw attention to positive psychology tools that can be used in preschool, school and academic education, and which influence good health, educational outcomes and a better life.
This event is for children, young people and adults, everyone for whom education is close and important in shaping individual and collective well-being. Research shows that people who experience happiness at school and at work live healthier, longer and better lives. Feeling happy promotes resilience, creativity, commitment, building relationships and friendship. This is a real prevention of depression and mental diseases.
The slogan for 2023 is: WITH OPTIMISM AND HOPE!
Challenge for this year: prepare a short artistic form (short scene, pantomime etc.) on the topic: “OPTIMISM IS FOR ME…” or “HOPE MEANS FOR ME…” and publish the recorded scene by September 24 (Sunday) on your YouTube or Facebook with the hashtag:
#happyschoolweek2023 #happinessatschool
During the celebration, you can plan many activities or one – for each day or for several days.
It is important to raise the issue of happiness and well-being in the narrative and in various dimensions – emotions, sense of purpose, commitment, discovering one’s strengths, health and relax.
Below you find examples of activities that can be used, but I trust that your creativity goes beyond the limits😊
- Festival of Hope – what does hope mean for me and for us? What does it mean in practice, at school, at home? The celebration of hope can be extended to the entire week, or one day can be devoted to it.
- Optimism Day – what is optimism? How to care for it? How can we develop it at school? What exactly do I do to be an optimistic person?
- Dialogue Day – what is a dialogue? What are the conditions for dialogue? Who can I enter into dialogue with and what are the benefits for me and others? What language do we communicate to make the dialogue fruitful?
- Celebration of Generations – which generation do I belong to and what does it mean? How do we develop dialogue between generations? How do we take care of good relationship? Who is important for me and belongs to a different generation?
- Festival of Colours – my colourful world – what is it? What colours do I feel best with? Which senses do I activate?
- Festival of Emotions – it is a celebration of all our emotions, pleasant and unpleasant. How do I deal with emotions? What do my emotions say to me? What do emotions say about me?
- Success Day – what does success mean to me? How do I measure it? What successes do I achieve and what benefits do I get from it? How do others benefit from my successes?
- Friendship Day – what is a friendship today, what was it in the past? How do I cultivate friendship and good relationships at home and at school?
- Celebration of Meaning – sometimes we say: life is meaningless, school is meaningless. What does “meaning” mean to me? When do I feel that my life, learning and work are valuable and benefit me and others? What are these moments and how do I feel then? What can I do to feel this way more often?
- Nap and Good Sleep Festival – good sleep prolongs life. How long and how deep do I sleep? What benefits do I get from sleep? What benefits can I get from taking a nap?
- Festival of Talents and Strengths – what talents and strengths do we have? When do we use them most often and how do we feel about it? What helps us develop them?
- Values Day – what are values and why do we follow them in our lives? Kindness, freedom, respect, honesty – which values are important to me in life, at school, in relationships with others? How do I show that these values are important to me?
- Nature Festival – nature gives us life. Forest, park, garden – how often do I walk? How do I care for animate and inanimate nature? My favorite tree, flower, fruit, vegetable, animal?
Happiness is a community dimension that can be promoted through learning experiences that deepen bonds and friendships between members of the entire school community.
That is why I encourage you to involve other adults (parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends) and children.
Let’s enjoy, let’s have fun, let’s play together!
Detailed informations here: www.happinessatschool.pl
Anna Hildebrandt-Mrozek😊
