September 17, 2012

         Today I was full of energy. I spent, what feels like, the whole weekend recuperating (napping) from last week! I met Mrs. Irvin in the classroom in the morning and she greeted me with a gift. I have an amazing mentor – if I haven’t mentioned that yet! She picked out a very cute pair of earrings and a matching bracelet from a jewelry show she went to over the weekend. I love them. Anyway, today we started an awesome new character development program called Bucket Filling. Bucket filling is an easy-to-understand concept: Everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds our good thoughts and feelings. When our buckets are full, we feel happy and when our buckets are empty, we feel sad. I was first introduced to this development program during my pre-internship, at Mattawan Later Elementary. After my first week in Kindergarten I mentioned the program to Mrs. Irvin. Luckily, a few other teachers in our school were implementing this program into their classrooms as well. So Mrs. Irvin decided to give it a try. I launched the program in our classroom this morning. I began by reading, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud and David Messing in Books. After I read the story, we brainstormed as a class what it means to be a “bucket filler”. We came up with a great list! I then told our students every time I see a student acting as a “bucket filler” I will fill our class bucket with a cotton ball. When our bucket is full of cotton balls the students will earn a popcorn party, special treat, extra recess, etc. Children quickly understand that they can fill buckets when they do and say things that are kind, considerate, caring, and respectful. During this school year we will be encouraging, reminding, and recognizing everyone’s efforts to be bucket fillers at home, at school, and everywhere they go. If you would like to learn more about bucket filling, visit the Bucket Fillers website, www.bucketfillers101.com.

My note from one of our students!

         My highlight of the day today was when one of our students asked me if they could go to their backpacks to get something. I of course let her, and she came running back into the classroom with a note that she wrote me over the weekend. The note had a number of words that she had spent time practicing spelling over the weekend. It was sealed with a kiss in an envelope addressed to her home address. I loved it! It was exactly what I needed and put a big smile on my face for the whole day.