Showing Thanks

Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)

Lesson Length: 1 - 2 hours

Topic: Gratitude

Grade Level: 1, 2

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will create a comic to show gratitude or thanks to someone who helped them.

Know Before You Start: Students should be familiar with adults in the school building and the jobs they carry out to help others.

Hook:

Ask students:
- “What is gratitude?”
- “How do you show that you are thankful?”
- “Who are you thankful for?”
- “Why does it help others when you let them know you are thankful?”

Activity:

Begin by showing gratitude and thanks to your students by sharing specific examples of how they have been helpful in your classroom. Share how it makes you feel when someone helps you.
Have students brainstorm a shared list of people in the school and how they help students, staff members, and community members.
Have students talk in pairs to share about someone, at school or in their lives, who helps them and whom they feel thankful for.
Have students create a comic that expresses gratitude or thanks to the person they shared with their partner.

Closure:

Print the comics or display them in a digital gallery.
Share with the class that there are many ways to be thoughtful and helpful to others. When you do this, it makes others feel special and loved. It is important to celebrate and thank the people in our lives who help us by showing that we appreciate them.
Encourage students to give the comics they created to the person they wrote about as a way to say thank you or show gratitude.

Differentiation:

Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
Allow students to use the voiceover to read their comics aloud.
Provide a short list of people to be thankful for (teacher, bus driver, parent, etc.)

Resources:

Suggested Content Packs:

Suggested Story Starters:

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