Bucket Filling 101

Bucket Fillers Pledge:
I promise to do my best to be a bucket filler every day
at school, at home and everywhere I go.

This year I will be trying to encourge positive behavior in my classroom by using bucket fillers.  We will read, "Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud. The book explains that we all carry an invisible bucket in which we keep our good thoughts and good feelings about ourselves. This bucket represents our social and emotional health. When our buckets are full, we are happy; when our buckets are empty, we are sad.

So how do we fill our bucket or someone else's bucket? You fill a bucket when you show love to someone, when you smile, make someone feel special or do something kind. By filling other people's buckets, we fill our own bucket too!

What is bucket dipping? Bucket dipping is when you rob someone of their happy thoughts and feelings. People dip when they refusing to help with a task, by saying or doing mean things, by making fun of someone or by ignoring or excluding someone. Usually someone who bucket dips has an empty bucket and they think dipping someone else bucket will fill thiers. That never really works. A bully bucket dips.

Bucket Filling: 

•  To create a safer, kinder, more respectful classroom environment where children are ready to learn
•  To create a classroom community where all children grow up confident, resilient, caring, and responsible
•  To create a positive, supportive workplace for students
•  To make bucket filling a habit and a way of life, resulting in individuals with full buckets who are healthy mentally, emotionally, and socially.

Why do you need a lid? A lid protects you from bucket dippers. If we remember that bucket dippers usually have an empty bucket, that will help us proctect our happy feelings when they try to dip into our bucket.

Listen to Carol McCloud explain her book