Have You Filled A Bucket Today? (With Video)

Kindness, compassion, and the ability to make others feel good about themselves come easily to some kids. For others, it’s a lesson that needs to be learned. With that in mind, Ryerson Second Grade Teacher Christine Ackermann searched for a book two summers ago that would help her teach those values.

She found Have You Filled A Bucket Today?: A Guide To Daily Happiness For Kids by Carol McCloud, David Messing, and Merrill Lundgren. The concept is straightforward. When you are nice and kind and caring, you fill someone’s bucket. When you’re mean, you’re dipping into their bucket. You can use your bucket lid to protect yourself from someone else’s bucket dipping. You can use your bucket lid to protect someone else who is being bullied. But don’t leave your bucket lid on all the time, or you won’t be able to receive the love that your friends give you.

Ryerson Principal Kelly K. Spooner was so impressed with the curriculum Ackermann presented in conjunction with the book, that she worked with Ackermann to implement the program on a school wide basis, integrating regular lessons that emphasize values such as courage, which was the subject of a recent assembly.

 "It really is a character education program about good citizenship and being a compassionate caring person looking out for others," Spooner said.

Ackermann said after she tried it out in her classroom, she was gratified to see how quickly the children starting picking up on the language provided as part of the curriculum to start talking about their own actions and the effect those actions were having on others.

"The kids became aware of what they were saying and how it could be received by other people," she said. "They just internalized it so quickly that it was just amazing to see."

Appearing in the video, in addition to Spooner, are the following:

 1: Ruth Rose, math specialist

2: Georgeanne Keirstead, one-on-one paraprofessional

3: Elizabeth Solin, one-on-one paraprofessional

4: Kerry Tucker, special education team member

5: Jen Maxwell, second grade teacher

6: Erin Chester, second grade teacher

7: Eileen Martin, fourth grade teacher

Green shirt: Andrea Valley, world language teacher

Purple shirt: Christine Ackermann, second grade teacher