We started by reading the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids
by Carol McCloud. It introduces the concept that everyone has an invisible bucket, and when we say nice things we fill the bucket, but when we say mean or hurtful things we dip from the bucket. My students love the bright, colorful pictures and they can really relate to this concept. They know how it makes them feel when people say mean things to them vs. when people say nice things to them and they definitely want to hear the nice things more than the hurtful ones!
I appologize for the glare, but this is my bucket filler board! It is at the front of my classroom and I have a pocket for each of my students and then a bucket (bottom left) where the blank bucket filler notes are kept.
I got the plastic organizer thingy at the Target Dollar Spot a while back, and I also got the pink dotted bucket from there! I don’t think they have the organizers anymore, but I saw some at Michaels the other day with 30+ slots if you are looking for something similar!
After reading the book we talk about different things we can say to other people when we notice them doing something special or kind. We talk about being specific! I tell them I don’t want to see any notes saying “you are nice” or similar statements. They should refer to something specific that the student said or did that they noticed and thought deserved a special note.
Throughout the day when students are finished with their tasks, they may write a note to another student and put it in their bucket. By Friday all the buckets are filled with several positive notes!
I love the idea of bucket fillers. It helps the students notice others and really promotes a positive classroom environment.
MrsMc
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
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Molly, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bucket Fillers. I did it last year with my third graders and it was a huge morale booster! I plan to do it this upcoming year with my fourth graders. I love the way you have yours organized and the "business cards" are super cute!
Ashley
Fierce in Fourth
Thank you Molly for your post. I used Bucket Fillers last year & it really was great. My buckets kept falling down the way I had them, so this organizer is exactly what I'm looking for. I will have to head to Michael's to check it out. Thanks for sharing! 馃檪
Lisa
Learning Is Something to Treasure
Your "buckets" are cute!! I love the bucket filler idea! I used it when I taught pre-school and the kids were so proud to fill their friends' buckets!
I love doing bucket fillers:) One year I had individual bucks and last year I had a class bucket! I will be doing the class bucket again! I plan on doing monthly lessons with bucket filling to remind them about filling buckets-they always seem to forget;)
Tonya
Tonya鈥檚 Treats for Teachers
Hey Molly! I loooooove the board colors you chose! I love bucket filling too! Wow! You only had 12 students last year? How were you so lucky?Thanks for stopping by my blog and saying hi! It is good to be back in the swing of things! I hope you have a good start to your year!!!
Andrea
One Teacher's Take
I loved seeing your Bucket Filler board! I've incorporated bucket filling in my classroom over the past several years, but I'm always looking for new ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Lisa
Fourth and Ten
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Formerly Stories From Second
I bought the book yesterday! I am going to give this a shot this year!
Brianne
From Behind the Lavender Door
I LOVE this idea. I used the book How Full is Your Bucket with my students this past year and referred back to it many times throughout the year. I really like how you've extended the activity. Awesome!
Parched Paper
I love Bucket Fillers! I spent all of last year subbing full time and a lot of the schools used this as a behavior system and the students got to fill their own buckets (just like in the book) when they filled others buckets through small rewards for being a great bucket filler (also tied into behavior charts) It was a great tool as you can ask them if they are being a bucket filler when you want them to make better decisions and it s abit more concrete. I even found myself saying this to my eighth grade boys (who, of course, laughed at me). I was looking for a cute way to incorporate this into my (first ever) classroom this fall and i LOVE the shoe organizer ideas. Very sleek! Thanks!
I'm your newest follower! I love your Bucket Filler business cards, too cute! 馃檪
Erin
Elementary Adventure
Really inspiring post…it will giving me new idea's for choosing different designs for my plastic cards,
keep it up..!!!!!!!
This is fantastic
cards idea….really inspiring post..!!!!!!
I need a bucket filling organizer idea for my Afterschool program. I have over 200 students in about 15 classrooms. My idea is to have each student have their own place to put in, that would make count up at the end of each incentive period easier because they are already sorted by student. The issues are they would need to be portable ( taken out of the classroom each day so they can't fall out) Also no budget for it so would have to be made relatively cheap for 15 classrooms…I love the shoe organizer but expense and not closeable..Help