Thankfulness Ruhi BK 3 Grade 1 Lesson 10

THANKFULNESS

• What is Thankfulness?
• How do we know we are being Thankful?
• Why should we practice the virtue of Thankfulness?
• When do we practice the virtue of Thankfulness? 

When we receive even the smallest of gifts, we thank the person who gave them to us. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that we should be thankful to God for having given us so many gifts- including the gift of life itself- and for having caused our hearts to overflowing with His love. We must be thankful to God at all times, even in times of difficulty. Giving thanks to God helps us to be open to receiving even more of His limitless bounties. Thankfulness is realizing how much you have to be grateful for and not taking even little things for granted.

We are Memorizing The Prayer: Blessed is the spot

Send a Postcard

There was once a girl called Maya, who lived in a place that was very cold in the winter. Maya had used the same coat every winter for many years, and it was worn out and too small. Everyone could see that Maya needed a new coat before the winter came again, but her family did not have enough money to buy one. A farmer who lived down the road from Maya’s home told her she could have some wool from his sheep to make a new coat. He said she would have to wait until the spring when the wool would be thick and ready to shear. Maya wanted to show her thankfulness, so, as she waited for the spring, she helped the farmer by happily tending the sheep for a while each day. She fed them hay and fruits, patted them and even sang to them! In the spring, the farmer sheared the wool and gave it to Maya. He showed her how to make it smooth and ready for spinning. Maya thanked him and began to walk home. An old woman who lived next door saw Maya with the wool and offered to spin it into thread for her. Maya was very grateful and wanted to find a way to thank the old woman. She could see many vegetables growing in the old woman’s garden, so all through the summer, she picked the vegetables and washed them and made them ready for the old woman to cook. When the thread was ready, Maya picked some red berries and dyed it all red. Then she visited the weaver and explained that she needed help to make the thread into cloth. The kind weaver was happy to make the cloth. To show her thankfulness, while the weaver was busy making a lovely red cloth from the thread, each afternoon Maya cleaned and tidied the weaver’s workshop.

When the clothes were ready, Maya visited the tailor and explained that winter was coming and she needed a new coat. She showed him the cloth, and he said he would make it into a coat for her. Maya wanted to thank him, so every day while he worked she swept the autumn leaves from the path to his shop. The tailor measured, cut, pinned, and sewed until the coat was done. Maya was very pleased. She thanked the tailor and put on the coat – it was perfect! When Maya arrived home, her family was as pleased as she was with her new coat. They decided to invite all the people who had helped to make it to share a simple meal with them. So the farmer, the old woman, the weaver, and the tailor all came to Maya’s home. They were all happy to know that Maya had the new coat she needed for the winter. But Maya’s ‘thank yous’ were still not finished. The next morning, Maya put on her coat and went to visit the sheep. “Thank you, sheep!” she said, “Thank you, thank you, for this lovely warm coat!” “Baa!” answered the sheep, and it seemed as if they were smiling back at her.

Quick Impulse 

Ask the students to form a circle holding hands. The children must send a pulse signal through the group. One child begins by quickly squeezing the hand of the child to his or her side, who passes on the signal to the next child, and so on, until it returns to the first child. The children should be timed and challenged to go faster and faster. Once the children have learned the basic game, you can ask them to send the pulse in the opposite direction or to increase the number of squeezes per pulse.

How do You show Thankfulness?

• You feel sad because you did not get a good grade
• You wish you were more popular
• Do you see something beautiful?
• Did you receive a gift?
• Your family is having a difficult time with money/job/ food.
• Your Family is doing very well.

It’s easy to be thankful when you’re having fun with your friends and you’re happy.  How about at other times? How do you feel when someone shows thankfulness to you?

Based on the story: 

Say Thank You!

Make a thank you card to send to someone. You can be thankful for anything, a gift, that they are your friend, family, neighbor…

A Wooble Card is a fun and easy card to make. You can purchase the wobble component from craft stores or Amazon. Put any image on the wobble and when touched, it “vibrates” See the example below

Make your own Wobble Spring