Welcome Back to Lessons!

After a glorious 12 weeks at home with my new bundle of joy, I am back at work and getting back into the swing of things! Of course I have a mound of work to get caught up on, but this week I resume lessons. 

This month we are focusing on bullying and being bucket fillers as a way to combat bullying. I love the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?! 

I begin each lesson by discussing the difference between a mean kid and bully. I tell them bullies are mean every single day for weeks, not just once or twice. I tell them bullies are big deals that we need help with. I also tell them they can try to solve problems with mean kids first (because it still upsets us when someone is mean only one time) by telling them to stop or playing elsewhere. 

Then I begin to tell them that a great way to stop bullies and mean kids a like is to be a bucket filler. We read the book and then do a developmentally appropriate activity based on grade. I do this with ALL my students K-6!
See this post for our bucket filling adventures from last year. And visit my TPT store to get a copy of the activity sheets I use for each level.

What other lessons work well with combating bullying? What do you use at your school?

Bucket Filling Activities!

As I mentioned in my last post, I love the book about being a bucket filler. I know many teachers already use this book in their classrooms, but I use it as a kindness lesson for all of my kids K-6. As promised, here are the activities I do with them after reading the book: 

1. For kindergarten, writing can sometimes be a challenge for them. So, I give them the page below that allows them to draw a picture of how they could fill a bucket. I encourage them to think specifically about something they could do today. Sometimes students this age struggle with the concept of an invisible bucket, so I always clarify they know what invisible means. After reading the book, we do the drawing. I always follow up telling them to draw one way they will fill a bucket today by saying to draw something nice or helpful they can do for another today.  

2. For first-third, I have two writing activities. Which one I use depends on the level of the kids in each class. Sometimes first graders struggle with a complete sentence, so I have a sentence starter version for these guys where they can complete the sentence to say how they will fill a bucket today and then draw a picture of it.If they are able, I like to give them the page with just sentence lines on it. I try to encourage their academic skills whenever I can, so I do prefer to have them write the sentence themselves if possible. This page also has a spot for drawing pictures. I wish I had taken some pictures of some of the drawings I've seen so far! Some of them really are fantastic!

   

3. For fourth through sixth, I like to have them fill buckets right there in class! They use these cards to say something bucket filling to a friend. I always proof these before returning them to the teachers. Sometimes they say hurtful things

meaning well. I let them do as many as they have time for or want to do. Many of them have great ideas! 

For this lesson, I also try to teach about good compliments. They know saying someone's shirt is pretty is a compliment, but I encourage them to focus on something about the person. What is cool about them as a person? What thing is that person good at that they respect or admire? What do they value in the other person? Superficial compliments are good, but this kind of compliment is even better I think. 

All of these activity pages are available in a pack you can find in my TPT store. :) 

So, what do you think? Will this work with your students? Have you done bucket filling before? If so, what are your activity ideas?

Bucket Fillers

Whew! Things have been so crazy at my schools I've hardly had time to stop! This month my classroom lessons are about kindness. I'm using the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.

I love this book! I use it will ALL of my kids, K-6. The book is a little young for 5th-6th grade, but the lessons is good for them. It gives a great example of filling up another person's invisible bucket with good thoughts and good feelings about themselves, and that empty buckets leave us sad and lonely. People who dip into buckets also feel sad, but can't fill their own buckets by dipping into another's. I'll try to do a post soon on the activities I use with this book in my lessons!

What books/activities do you like for teaching kindness?