Lessons

Grade 7

Lesson

Writing a Gratitude Letter

Lesson

Writing a Gratitude Letter

Grade

Grade 7

UNIT

•

Gratitude

Last Updated:

June 10, 2025

In Unit 3, Lesson 3, “Writing a Gratitude Letter,” students will write a letter expressing their gratitude to someone—such as a family member, friend, teacher, or coach—who has helped them. Research compiled by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California-Berkeley has found that people who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended.

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SUGGESTED TIME:

30 minutes

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RELATED SUBJECT:

English Language Arts

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LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Demonstrate comprehension of the word gratitude
Write a gratitude letter to someone expressing appreciation for that person and what they have done

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REQUIRED MATERIALS:

Prohuman Grade 7 Unit 3 Worksheet 3: Writing a Gratitude Letter

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ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.4

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.6

Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

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CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET

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Performance Character A6

Describe a role model who demonstrates a positive attitude, effort, and grit

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Responsible and Ethical Decision-Making A3

Write about and share a principle you want to live by that you learned from a family member, book, movie, or personal experience

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LESSON PROCEDURE

Explain that students will write a gratitude letter either in class or as part of a homework assignment.
Research from many sources compiled by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California-Berkeley indicates that feeling gratitude can improve your health and happiness; expressing gratitude also strengthens relationships.
Explain that students will share their letters with three classmates for peer review.
After peer review and revising the letters, students should give their letters to the person they thanked.
To write the letter, follow the guidelines on the worksheet.

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GRADE 7 UNIT 3 WORKSHEET 3: WRITING A GRATITUDE LETTER

Think of someone who did something for you for which you are extremely grateful but to whom you never expressed your gratitude. This could be a relative, friend, teacher, or colleague. Try to pick someone who is still alive and could meet you face-to-face in the next week.
Write a letter to one of these people as though you are addressing this person directly (“Dear ______”).
Describe in specific terms what this person did, why you are grateful to this person, and how this person’s behavior affected your life. Try to be as concrete as possible.
Describe what you are doing in your life now and how you often remember their efforts.
If possible, deliver the letter to the person.
To learn more about the benefits of writing a gratitude letter, see research compiled by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California-Berkeley.

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Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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