Thanksgiving Day was near. The first-grade teacher, Alice, asked her students to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.

The teacher thought most of her students’ pictures would have ________ to do with delicious food or interesting toys. In fact, as Alice thought, the pictures were almost about turkey, cakes, model planes and teddy bears. But Daniel drew differently. His picture was not the ________ as the others’ in his class. This time he only drew a ________ on the paper. His picture caught everyone’s eyes. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a ________ because he planted vegetables for us. One thought it was the hand of his friend because friends always ________ us. Another said it was a police officer’s because the police were always there and helped people in need. The students gave different answers, ________ Daniel said no to all of them.

Alice came and asked him softly, “Whose hand is it?” The little boy looked away and said with a low voice, “It’s ________, Alice.”

Hearing the answer, Alice felt surprised at first. Then she remembered the days she spent ________ little Daniel, the shiest boy in her class. Once, when other children played ________ after class, Daniel sat by himself, watching others all the time. Then Alice went to him and said, “Take my hand, Daniel. Let’s go outside and play with them.” It was the teacher’s hand that helped him go out of the sadness.

This is a story that speaks of thankfulness. It tells how ________ teachers’ help means to the people like Daniel of the world. They might not always say thanks. But they’ll remember the hand that reaches out.