Bucket program encourages positive behaviors

Friday, Nov. 11, 2016

By Sam Weyher

Special to the Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School second-graders are all “bucket fillers” in (and out) of the classroom. Bucket fillers are those who help without being asked, give compliments and kind words, and generally spread their love and good feelings to others. Bucket filling is a common act in our classroom, but does not go unrecognized.

The first book we read in my class on the first day of the school year is Carol McCloud’s Have You Filled a Bucket Today? We learn that we all carry an invisible bucket in which we keep our feelings about ourselves. When our buckets are full, we are happy; when they are empty, we are sad. It is important that students learn that when they fill a friend’s bucket, they also fill their own bucket because it feels good to make others happy.  

At this time, I also introduce the concept of being a bucket dipper. A bucket dipper is a person who hurts other people’s feelings – essentially dipping into their invisible bucket. Making fun of someone, saying and doing mean things, or ignoring someone are examples of bucket dipping. A bully is a bucket dipper.  

We discuss the idea that many bucket dippers have an empty bucket and think that they can fill their bucket by dipping into someone else’s. This will never work; you never fill your own bucket when you dip into someone else’s.

After we read the book and discuss the idea of filling buckets, we brainstorm ways we can fill each other’s buckets both in our classroom and around our school. After making the list on chart paper, I type up the students’ ideas and create a poster that is hung above our bucket-filling display.

To promote the act of bucket filling in our class, each student is given his or her own real bucket. The buckets are hung on a shoe rack attached to a bulletin board in the classroom. Small, multi-colored pom-poms are stored in the bottom pockets of the shoe rack. When a student fills a classmate’s invisible bucket, both the bucket filler and the person whose bucket was filled get to add a pom-pom to their buckets.  (Remember, when a student fills a classmate’s bucket, he or she is also filling his or her own invisible bucket because it feels good to make others happy.)

This activity is an honor system, so students do not need to report to the teacher every time they fill a bucket. They simply add their pom-poms to the buckets at an appropriate time during the school day.

When your bucket is full, you feel more confident, secure, calm, patient and friendly. Your thoughts are positive and you expect positive results. When your bucket is overflowing, you experience an intense happiness that can spread to those around you. Have you ever felt better after someone gave you a friendly smile or happy grin? This is the “ripple effect” of a full bucket.  

Bucket filling focuses on the positive, it’s easily understood, and simple to implement. Catholic character virtues and social skills such as mercy, compassion, respect, kindness, trust, social justice and many more become more tangible when the action is described as filling a bucket.

Sam Weyher is a second-grade teacher at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School.