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Teaching Gratitude with All the World

all the world

by Liz Garton Scanlon

Grades: K-3

CASEL Standard: Social Awareness- The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures and contexts

Character Education Lesson Objective: To understand what gratitude is and identify things for which they are grateful

Materials:

Part 1: 

  • Do you have anything that you love to do or anything that makes you really happy?
  • Most of us have something that we can think of that makes us really happy.  Most of us also have things such as a home to live in, food to eat, family and friends. 
  • Do you ever take the time to think about everything that you have?  We do not usually take the time to stop and think about what we have.
  • When we do stop to take the time, we feel grateful.  Feeling gratitude means that you feel thankful for the things that you have.
  • I am going to give you a worksheet.  There are several different topics on top.  Under each topic, I would like you to think of 2-3 things that you are thankful for and write them down or draw a picture of them.
  • For example, under the food topic, I would write ice cream, sushi and cheese as foods that I am grateful for.
  • Once you are done, you will have a chance to share some of the things that you wrote down.
  • After the students complete the worksheet, allow them to share a few things for which they are grateful.

Part 2: 

  • We are going to be reading a book called, All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon.
  • Read the book.
  • The author describes many of the different things that there are in the world.  What was your favorite thing that the author described?
  • When you were listening to the book, did you relate to anything the author mentioned? 
  • What does the end, “All the world is all of us” mean?
  • Do you think the author is grateful for the different things in the world?  Why or why not?

Part 3: 

  • The book we just read was about many of the different things in the world.  The things that were mentioned in the book were probably things that were meaningful to the author.
  • You came up with a list of things that are meaningful to you and things that you are grateful for.
  • You are now going to choose one of the things on your list.  Write a sentence and draw a picture similar to the sentences in All the World.
  • For example, if you choose dogs from your list, you would think of a few describing words about why you are grateful for dogs.  You might write, “Furry, friendly, snuggles and love.  That’s why I am grateful for dogs.” You would then draw a picture of a dog.
  • After you are done, you will have the chance to share what you wrote with the class.

Related lessons:

View more: Character Education Lesson Plans

Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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