Gathering Gratitude: Teaching Thankfulness Through Story and Community
Just like you might pair a fine wine with a gourmet meal, JOYcabulary pairs together read aloud books: usually a narrative text with an informational text, or sometimes two narrative texts around a similar topic. When we pair these together, comprehension is deepened as students make connections between the two books.
For this month’s book pairing, we’re celebrating two heartfelt picture books—and one beautiful theme just in time for Thanksgiving: gratitude that grows when shared.
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora and Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin both invite children to explore how kindness, generosity, and community fill hearts as much as they fill homes. In these JOYcabulary lessons, students discover how acts of sharing and togetherness bring warmth to both people and places.
Through Tier 2 vocabulary, rich discussion prompts, and creative writing extensions, children learn to “gather grateful” in their own lives while strengthening language and comprehension.
Together, these lessons encourage students to:
Compare how gratitude and community appear across texts
Practice empathy and appreciation
Explore descriptive language through repetition and sensory details
Create a Gratitude Tree or write their own “I gather grateful for…” list poems
This paired-text set is perfect for fall literacy units, Thanksgiving lessons, or any time you want to weave social-emotional learning into reading and writing.
Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora
In Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora, children discover how one generous act can ripple through an entire community. When Omu’s mouthwatering stew “wafts out the window and out the door,” neighbors follow their noses for a taste — and soon learn that giving fills hearts even more than bowls. Students engage in meaningful discussions about character feelings, generosity, and community, while learning rich Tier 2 vocabulary such as simmered, scrumptious, and delectable.
Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin
Then, in Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin, the focus turns to nature’s rhythms and human connection. Through rhythmic prose and soft illustrations, readers watch animals and humans prepare for autumn — gathering warmth, food, and togetherness. Vocabulary like grateful, gather, cozy, and prepare help students connect gratitude to both action and emotion.
