Kindness: Being a Bucket-Filler

One of my big topics each year is kindness. Treating each other with kindness is a great way to make friends and solve problems before they start. A lesson that was a real winner was a lesson I did about being Bucket-Fillers.

I read a book to each class to start off the lesson:

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud (K-1st)
• How Full Is Your Bucket? (For Kids) by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer (2nd-4th)

Then we did a bucket filling game. I did the game Minute-to-Win-It style. I had a bucket (on which I drew a smiley face), a stopwatch, and about 20 wads of paper made out of colorful copy paper or construction paper. The object of the game was to toss as many paper wads into the bucket as possible in the minute. Then, for each paper wad that made it into the bucket, the class had to give an idea of something kind they could do to fill someone's bucket. They could choose an idea for bucket filling at school, home, or in the community. 

This lesson was such a hit that I had students asking to repeat it for later lessons.