Community Building, Here We Come!

Funded Jun 22, 2023

I'm so grateful for all of the books you donated to my classroom. I feel like starting out reading multiple community books a week when we started off this school year really made an impact on the class community. We love to gather on the carpet to listen to the stories and then do any activity afterward or have a discussion.

My favorite lesson that we do was with the book "Have you filled a bucket today?" As you can see from the photos, the students colored their own bucket for this. I gave each student four stars to write a "bucket filler" or kind note to someone else in the class. Since kids automatically want to only choose their best friends, I had them write 2 stars to a friend and 2 stars to someone they want to get to know better. I saw their faces light up as they received stars, and I made sure to make some of my own for students who I felt might get a low amount of stars. We talked about how spreading kindness not only makes the receiver happy, but the giver of kindness happy too, and in return fills our bucket.

Lastly, we discussed things that dip into our bucket and why people might be bucket dippers. We went over how sometimes bucket dippers are unhappy themselves, so they take it out on others. The students shared how they feel when they dip into someone's bucket and how they feel when someone dips in theirs. In the end, we decided we are going to try to fill at least one person's bucket a day, even with something as simple as a compliment or holding the door open.

I feel like books you donated such as these, have really made them think deeper about their actions and words, so I'm eternally grateful I've been able to implement them and have such a positive culture in my class this year. THANK YOU FOR ADDING TO MY BUCKET:) <3 I hope this appreciation letter does the same to yours.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Bowens