Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

No, not a real bucket! The bucket you, and everyone around you, carries with them each day to be filled or dipped from by others. Bucket Filling is a character development system based on the concept that your invisible bucket holds your thoughts and feelings. When our buckets are filled, we feel happy; when our buckets are empty or dipped from, we feel sad.When you fill another person's bucket, you fill yours too! And when you dip into someone's bucket, yours is dipped from as well. It's a way of thinking about being kind, caring individuals that children can relate to easily, and in a tangible way.

Yesterday we talked about how it feels when you make a friend feel good by giving them a compliment, helping them with a problem, or including them in a game. We all agreed that our buckets overflow when we are kind to others! We also talked about how it feels to dip from other people's buckets by saying hurtful things, excluding them from games, or tattling on them. We talked about how (myself included) the "easiest" people to dip from are our siblings or our family members because we spend the most time with them. We also decided that dipping might feel like a good response to a problem at first, but in the end we feel really crummy. 

To really make it tangible, we have a new Bucket Filling system! Each child has a bucket (or a pocket on a jewelry holder - thank goodness for TJ Maxx!). When we wish to fill someone's bucket with a kind thought or helpful words, we fill out a slip and put it in their bucket. We also fill both their bucket and ours with a colorful bead to signify our buckets being filled.

Finally, we all took the Bucket Filler Pledge!

Each Friday we will read our bucket slips and take them home. Our beads will be emptied, and we'll start fresh on Monday. Children are encouraged to fill buckets of people in the class they might not be close friends with, and can do it as many times as they wish. I truly believe that maintaining a classroom community allows children to feel comfortable, happy, and successful, and Bucket Filling will become a way to keep it going in our classroom all year long!

For more information, visit www.bucketfillers101.com