About This Lesson
The holiday season offers a perfect opportunity for students and teachers to pause, reflect, and create a Positivity Portfolio—a collection of items, memories, songs, or pictures that spark positive emotions like joy, gratitude, and hope. This activity fosters connection and encourages reflection, helping individuals and classrooms recharge during a busy time of year.
Inspired by Barbara Fredrickson's Positivity, Positivity Portfolios are a mindful way to cultivate happiness in daily life. Katherine May's Wintering highlights the season as a time for rest and renewal, aligning perfectly with the practice of creating a Positivity Portfolio. By embracing this natural rhythm, your classroom can reflect on the past year and prepare for new growth in the year ahead.
Use this calendar template to focus on one positive emotion each month for the next 10 months. With your students, plan at least one activity each month centered on experiencing that emotion. Feeling playful? Plan a game day or field trip. Craving peace and serenity? Do yoga together. Seeking inspiration or awe? Take an adventure into nature for an awe walk.
No matter what you choose, this template helps you intentionally bring more positivity into your classroom!
Here’s what you’ll get:
- A calendar template to schedule positivity into your classroom routine
- Access to the Positivity Portfolio lesson plans and a unit study
Why you’ll love this activity:
- The activity is easy to print and customize in your classroom or at home
- Gives students a chance to pause and reflect during a busy time of year
- Great activity for winter and the holiday season
- You can use this resource as part of a comprehensive, science-based unit study.
- The associated free unit study for Positivity Portfolios comes with activities, downloadable worksheets, and even IEP and BIP recommendations tailored specifically to students with autism
- Encourages emotional literacy and growth in social-emotional learning (SEL)
Ways to Use
- Incorporate into SEL curriculum
- Integrate into small groups and/or individual counseling sessions
- Share with staff to integrate into their personal or professional routines
- Families can use this at home, too!
What is a Positivity Portfolio?
A Positivity Portfolio, inspired by Barbara Fredrickson’s book Positivity, is a mindful intervention designed to help you cultivate positivity and happiness in your daily life. It’s a curated collection of items, memories, songs, or pictures that evoke one or more of the 10 essential positive emotions—joy, love, inspiration, serenity, amusement, awe, pride, interest, gratitude, and hope. Building and savoring your Positivity Portfolio for just 15 minutes a day can boost your wellbeing, enhance life satisfaction, and help you flourish.
Science of Positivity Portfolios:Positivity Portfolios are an evidence-based tool rooted in Barbara Fredrickson's Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions. Positive Emotions like joy, gratitude, and hope expand students' awareness, boost creativity, and enhance problem-solving skills. Over time, these emotions help build lasting mental, social, and emotional resources.
In the classroom, Positivity Portfolios foster individual growth and encourage positivity resonance—shared moments of connection and care. These shared experiences strengthen peer relationships, create a supportive classroom culture, and promote collaboration.
Positive Emotions feel good, and they are good for you! People who regularly feel positive emotions experience:
- Increased wellbeing and life satisfaction
- Increased attention, awareness, and memory
- A boost in learning, creativity, and mental flexibility
- Stronger relationships
- Less perceived stress
- Lower depressive symptoms
- Improved sleep and sleep quality
- Improved cardiovascular function
Looking for more Positivity Portfolio Resources?
- Explore the free Positivity Portfolio Unit Study, which includes teaching slides, additional worksheets and activities, and even IEP and BIP recommendations tailored specifically to students with autism.
Proof Positive’s resources are and will always be free. Be well!
Bonus access to full lesson plans and unit studies on the skills of happiness at our Skill Center
