GRATEFUL

📚

Gratitude 1st & 2nd Grade

By John Bucchino

Book Guide

GRATEFUL

Name: GRATEFUL
Author: John Bucchino

A story that explores gratitude and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families

Read the Guiding Questions Find this book →

♥ This book teaches: Gratitude. noticing and appreciating what is already good.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Someone who is grateful is thankful for people, nature, and things. Stewardship means taking good care of what we’ve been given. In short: Thankful for every blessing, big or small. Summary: This book features an original audio recording of Art Garfunkle singing “Grateful: A Song of Giving Thanks”, written by John Bucchino. The beautiful illustrations in the book are by Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen. The following excerpt from the lyrics sum up the song’s theme: “It’s not that I don’t want a lot, or hope for more or dream of more, but giving thanks for what I’ve got, makes me so much happier than keeping score.” Lesson Objectives:

Students practice the lesson in this song. They learn to “count their blessings instead of sheep.” They express their gratitude to family members. They help others to remember their blessings.

Guiding Questions:

Do you have a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep?
Do you have a heart that can love, and a mind that can think?
Make a list of five good things in your life, memorize it, and see if saying the list and thinking about it makes you feel better next time you’re unhappy.
Do you ever feel like something invisible is holding your hand, making sure you’re safe, cheering you up when you’re sad or mad? If so, share about a time when that happened. If not, imagine there is something like that with you.
The next time a friend or family member is feeling unhappy, remind them of something good in their lives and see if that cheers them up.
Get a piece of paper, some drawing materials and copy some of the words in the song; draw a picture to go with it. Post it in your bedroom or put it on your desk at school. Use it as a When you wake up in the morning, do you think about all the good things that could happen that day? Try it tomorrow morning and see how you feel.
When you go to sleep at night try to think of three good things that happened that day. Even if you had a hard day, try to remember what made you feel happy and why.
reminder when you need cheering up.
Make some gratitude cards and deliver them to your family members. Make sure you write the reason you’re grateful: “I am grateful to you because…”
Share about what this means to you: “It’s not that I don’t want a lot, or hope for more or dream of more, but giving thanks for what I’ve got, makes me so much happier than keeping score.” “Keeping score” means to compare what you have with what someone else has - this can cause you to be unhappy and jealous or instead, you could just be grateful for what you have.

🌿 Virtue Connection: Gratitude means noticing and appreciating what is already good.

Hands-On Practice

Activities for This Story.

Gratitude, Levels 1,2

Resource: GRATEFUL

Activity: Students listen to the video of the song and choose an activity from the following:

Get a poster, some drawing materials and copy some of the words in the song; draw a picture to go with it. Post it in your bedroom or put it on your desk at school. Use it as a reminder to be grateful.
Make a journal and keep it by your bed. When you wake up in the morning, think about all the good things that could happen that day. Write a list of three things and at the end of the week read what you recorded.
Make a journal. When you go to sleep at night try to think of three good things that happened that day. Even if you had a hard day, try to remember what made you feel happy and why.
Make some gratitude cards and deliver them to your family members. Make sure you write the reason you’re grateful: “I am grateful to you because…”

Materials needed: journal making materials; art supplies for drawing and decorating; card making materials

Directions: Show the video. Explain that students will choose one of the activities. Show them the materials for creating journals, cards, or posters. Students who are creating a journal can decorate the cover. They will take it home, follow directions for writing in it, and share their journals in a show and tell a week from today. Students who are creating a poster using words in the song can look at the words and choose what they want to copy. You could show the video again and pause it when they want to or you could write down the lyrics and they can copy from that. Students who are making cards may need some prompts for the writing part of it.

Wrap it up: Explain: “Today some of you will begin to practice some ways to experience gratitude when you take your journals home and write in them. Some of you will be sharing your gratitudes with people for whom you are thankful. I’m looking forward to hearing about how this activity makes you feel - does it help you feel happier when you take the time to notice people, places, and things for which you are thankful?

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

Read-aloud video · Best with headphones

Find this book at your library or bookstore →

Gratitude · Family Discussion Guide

GRATEFUL

by John Bucchino

Guiding Questions

Students practice the lesson in this song. They learn to “count their blessings instead of sheep.” They express their gratitude to family members. They help others to remember their blessings.

Guiding Questions:

Do you have a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep?
Do you have a heart that can love, and a mind that can think?
Make a list of five good things in your life, memorize it, and see if saying the list and thinking about it makes you feel better next time you’re unhappy.
Do you ever feel like something invisible is holding your hand, making sure you’re safe, cheering you up when you’re sad or mad? If so, share about a time when that happened. If not, imagine there is something like that with you.
The next time a friend or family member is feeling unhappy, remind them of something good in their lives and see if that cheers them up.
Get a piece of paper, some drawing materials and copy some of the words in the song; draw a picture to go with it. Post it in your bedroom or put it on your desk at school. Use it as a When you wake up in the morning, do you think about all the good things that could happen that day? Try it tomorrow morning and see how you feel.
When you go to sleep at night try to think of three good things that happened that day. Even if you had a hard day, try to remember what made you feel happy and why.
reminder when you need cheering up.
Make some gratitude cards and deliver them to your family members. Make sure you write the reason you’re grateful: “I am grateful to you because…”
Share about what this means to you: “It’s not that I don’t want a lot, or hope for more or dream of more, but giving thanks for what I’ve got, makes me so much happier than keeping score.” “Keeping score” means to compare what you have with what someone else has - this can cause you to be unhappy and jealous or instead, you could just be grateful for what you have.

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GRATEFUL

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Activities for This Story.

About the Story.

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Guiding Questions