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: 

1. 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:

1. Do you have a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep? 
2. Do you have a heart that can love, and a mind that can think? 
3. 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.
4. 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. 
5. 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. 
6. 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 reminder when you need cheering up.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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…”
10. 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.