"Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" written by Carol McCloud has a great message to integrate within the classroom. The story explains that doing small acts of kindness can go a long way. There are many ways to incorporate this story into any grade and lesson, however during my last practicum in a grade four classroom, I decided to use it as I was teaching a lesson relating to the topic bullying. Before the lesson, I created a Minds On called "Warm and Fuzzies". Each student was assigned one of his or her peers and he or she was asked to write down three kind things about that certain somebody. The students were so excited to receive their compliments and positive feedback from their peers. Once the students had the chance to look at their notes from their peers, the class had a group discussion speaking about how the activity made them feel. I then read "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" to the class and asked the students to turn to their elbow partner for a think, pair, share. They were asked to brainstorm why kindness is important and what ways they have displayed kindness in the past. Once the students had time to discuss, I had a handful of students share their ideas with the class. As the students shared, I recorded their ideas on chart paper posted at the front of the room. I then explained that the paper would become the classroom "contract" where each student would sign his or her name showing that they understand that they will show kindness to others. This contract hung on the wall of the classroom throughout my whole practicum!
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