Last year, Martin's family donated the book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? to our classroom. Yesterday, I pulled it off the shelf and read it to this year's group.
I can't say enough good things about this book! The concept is very simple...acts of kindness towards others fill their bucket but also your own. If you hurt someone's feelings, it empties both their bucket and your own.
While many of my normally revered gurus (Bev Bos, for one) claim that 4 and 5 year old children are incapable of empathy, I find the children really embrace this bucket filling metaphor and there are lots of opportunities for successful practice from smiling, to gifting a friend with flowers, or simply inviting someone to play. These are all so easily and independently accomplished at school and home.
After reading the book in school yesterday, some of the children returned today to say they talked about it at home and parents were asking, "What's this book about a bucket you read yesterday?" One parent likened bucket filling to the practice of mitzvahs in the Jewish religion.
McCloud has written several other bucket filling books, although I haven't read them. This one is perfect for our classroom use. Check it out!
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