Bucket Fillers

        This is the second year that my students and I have been bucket fillers.  This is such a great way for the students to recognize the kind things that they say and do for one another.   I always read the forms before delivering them (to make sure that everything is appropriate) and I have been really impressed with the notes that I have read. 
         My favorite bucket filler story this year has to do with the first time we emptied our buckets.  I have a student that had an extremely tough year last year.  He felt alienated and alone even told me that he has never had a best friend before.  So anyways . . . this student was absent the day we emptied our buckets and when he returned on Monday this student saw that he had four bucket forms waiting for him in his cubby.  He asked if they were all from one student in the class and I told him no that they were all from different people.  His whole face lit up!  It was a sweet day.
         If there is anyone out there not yet participating in the bucket filling "movement" let me encourage you to do so.  It does not take much time but it will be well worth the classroom community and closeness that it will foster among your students.