Usually the start of a new year brings pressure to make and stick to resolutions to change yourself for the better. According to the authors of One Word That Will Change Your Life, 88% of people have already given up on their resolutions by March. The idea is to choose one word that you can focus on for the entire year, which leads to more success because that one word can be stretched in so many different ways. When the fourth graders in Mrs. Long's class returned to school after winter break, they were challenged to find the one word they would focus on for 2025. Many wanted to use more than one word, which would make their idea harder to focus on since it would be too specific. For example, instead of saying "I want to learn how to play baseball" you would focus just on the word learn. That can encompass so many different areas of your life that you are bound to succeed in more than one way instead of possibly failing the specific goal. The class spent a couple of days watching testimonies of how people felt more positivity from their one word goal than they ever felt with a resolution and then they made a list of positive words that they could focus on. Once they settled on their one word, they wrote it on a note card and decorated it. Mrs. Long then laminated them and put magnets on the back so that students could put them in their lockers to see everyday. Some examples from the class included brave, try, worth, calm, God, and kind. One student chose "breathe" as her word to help her calm her brain down this year when her ADHD tries to take over. The class will be doing monthly self check-ins to see how their word is helping them this year and brainstorm new ways to focus on their word. What would your word be this year?