FRAGMENT FROM
THE BOOK ON VIRTUES
"ABOUT FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND WISDOM"
THANKFULNESS
Discussion:
Questions and task for discussion:
• Do you like it when somebody thanks you for something?
• Why do you think we should say «Thank you»?
Read the story: WHY PEOPLE SAY THANK YOU
V. Sukhomlinsky
An old man and a boy were
walking along a forest path.
It was a hot day, and they both
felt like a good, cold drink.
After a few minutes the
travelers came to a softlymurmuring
stream full of
fresh, cool water. They knelt
down and drank their fill. «Thank you, stream,» said
the old man. The boy laughed.
«What did you say “thank
you” to the stream for?» he
asked his grandfather. «It’s
not alive. It can’t hear you.
It doesn’t understand when
you say “thank you” to it.» «That’s true,» the
grandfather agreed. «And if
a wolf was taking a drink, it
wouldn’t say “thank you”,
either. But we’re now wolves,
we’re people. Do you know
why people say “thank you”? Think, now, who are the words really for?»
The boy fell into thought. He had plenty of time, for they still had a
long way to go...
Questions and tasks on the story:
• Do you think nature hears us when we thank it?
• Ask the children to name the thing that they are most thankful
to nature for, and explain why.
• Go for a walk in the forest (or park) and ask the children to say
“thank you” to a tree (or the sun, sky, grass, etc.). Then ask them
to explain why they thanked it.
• Divide the children into groups. Some of the groups describe the
stream’s feelings (or the tree’s, forest’s, or earth’s) when it was
thanked. Others describe what its would feel if it wasn’t thanked.
• Ask the children to name everyone who the boy thanked after
his talk with his grandfather, and explain why he thanked them.
Educational Game
Ask the children to imagine that the thankfulness bird has just flown
in. It comes up to the window of a person who has forgotten to thank his/her parents, friends or others for something, and reminds them about
this. Then the children should remember everyone they have forgotten
to thank, and say thanks to them in their heart.
Written work
Read the children the saying «Gratitude is the heart’s memory.»
Divide the children in to groups and ask them to draw outlines of hearts,
and inside the hearts write everything that a heart remembers and feels
thankful about for a long time.
Drawing
Read the children the saying «Gratitude is a sign of noble soul.»
In large letters write the word «SOUL» on the board and draw a circle
around it. The children should name every they have ever thanked. All
the names they mention are written around the word «soul», each in its
own circle. The end result is a drawing of a magic flower with petals of
thankfulness. Ask each child to draw his or her own soul flower with
thankfulness petals.
Creative group work
Divine the children into groups. Ask each group to think about and
share all those things that they have thanked their mother (father,
grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, etc.) for. Then give each group
a large piece of paper with a picture of a tree drawn on it. The children
should draw the fruits of thankfulness on the tree. There should be as
many fruits as there are good things that their mother (or other family
member) has done for them. At the end, make a display out of the
children’s drawings called «Trees of Thankfulness».
Homework
Ask the children to count how many times a day they say «thank you»
to someone, and how many times a day someone thanks them. Then ask
the children to find as many chances as possible to thank someone for the
next few days. Discuss what changed in the children’s lives after they
have done this.
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