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🙏 Week 11: Gratitude & Coding

Lesson Overview
Grade Level Grades 5-6
Duration 45 minutes
STREAM Focus T (Technology), R (Religion), A (Arts)

Week 11: Gratitude & Coding

🎯 Learning Objectives

STEM Objectives

Students will be able to: 1. Use Scratch lists and data structures 2. Create interactive programs that store and display information 3. Implement user input and dynamic content 4. Design engaging user interfaces

Faith Integration Objectives

Students will be able to: 1. Practice the spiritual discipline of gratitude 2. Understand thanksgiving as central to Catholic prayer life 3. Create technology that helps others grow spiritually

Week 11: Gratitude & Coding

🙏 Faith-Reason Integration

Catholic Teaching Connection

Eucharist and Thanksgiving — The word "Eucharist" comes from the Greek word for "thanksgiving." The Mass itself is our great act of thanksgiving. Gratitude transforms our hearts and helps us recognize God's gifts in our lives.

Scripture Connection

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." — 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Saint Connection

St. Ignatius of Loyola — Founder of the Jesuits, he developed the Examen prayer, a daily practice of reviewing the day to find God's presence and express gratitude. He believed finding God in all things leads to grateful hearts.

📚 Materials Needed

  • Computers with Scratch

  • Gratitude journal examples

  • Examen prayer guide

  • Project planning sheets

📝 Lesson Procedure (45 minutes)

Opening Prayer & Introduction (6 min)

Prayer: Use the Daily Examen (simplified):

  • "Become still. God is with you."

  • "Look back on today. What are you grateful for?"

  • "Where did you see God working?"

  • "What do you want to say to God?"

  • "Look ahead with hope."

Gratitude science:

  • "Research shows gratitude improves health, happiness, relationships"

  • "It's not just religious — it's scientifically proven!"

  • "But we knew this — the Mass is literally THANKSGIVING!"

Today's challenge: "Create an interactive Gratitude Journal in Scratch that helps people practice daily thanksgiving."

Advanced Scratch Concepts (10 min)

New concepts for today:

Lists in Scratch:

  • Create a list: "Gratitude_List"

  • Add to list: add [item] to [Gratitude_List]

  • Display list on screen

  • Retrieve items: item [1] of [Gratitude_List]

User Input:

  • ask [What are you grateful for?] and wait

  • Store answer: answer

  • Add answer to list

Random selection:

  • item (pick random 1 to (length of [Gratitude_List])) of [Gratitude_List]

Demonstration code: 

When green flag clicked
Say "Welcome to the Gratitude Journal!" for 2 seconds
Ask "What's something you're grateful for today?" and wait
Add (answer) to [Gratitude_List]
Say (join "Thank you for sharing: " (answer)) for 2 seconds

Project Development (22 min)

Required features: 1. Welcome message 2. Prompt for gratitude entry 3. Store entries in a list 4. Ability to view past entries 5. At least one creative addition

Stretch features:

  • Categorize gratitude (people, nature, experiences, gifts)

  • Include inspiring quotes or Scripture

  • "Random gratitude" reminder from past entries

  • Animation or music

  • Date/time stamps (advanced)

Sample flow: 

START → Welcome → Menu: Add Entry / View Entries / Random Gratitude
|
+-- Add Entry → Prompt → Store → Confirmation → Menu
+-- View Entries → Display List → Menu
+-- Random Gratitude → Pull Random Entry → Display → Menu

Teacher circulates:

  • "How are you storing the entries?"

  • "How does the user navigate?"

  • "What makes this spiritually meaningful?"

Testing & Sharing (5 min)

Peer testing:

  • Try a neighbor's gratitude journal

  • Add at least one entry

  • Give feedback: What works? What could improve?

Closing Reflection (2 min)

Share creative additions:

  • What unique features did you add?

  • How does your project help people practice gratitude?

Faith Connection: "St. Ignatius taught that finding God in ALL things leads to gratitude. Even in hard times, we can find something to thank God for. Your programs can help people build this habit!"

Closing Prayer: "Thank You, God, for EVERYTHING — for this class, for each other, for our creativity, for technology that we can use for good. Help us be people of gratitude who see Your gifts everywhere. Amen."

✅ Assessment

  • Used lists to store data

  • Implemented user input

  • Created functional gratitude journal

  • Included creative/spiritual features

  • Tested and iterated

📎 Home Connection

"We created digital Gratitude Journals in Scratch! Ask your child to show you their project. Add a gratitude entry! We learned about St. Ignatius's Examen prayer. Try this as a family: At dinner, share one thing from today you're grateful for. Make thanksgiving a daily habit!"

Lesson Version: 1.0 | **