KANSAS COUNSELING

DEVELOPMENTAL CLASS LESSON TEMPLATE

NAMES: Group 2 - Adrianna Hahner, Shelby Langvardt, Amanda Marchesini, JJ Oden

GRADE: 1
TOPIC: Kindness
DATE: March 10th, 2021

STANDARDS:
ASCA- PS: A2.7, A2.8
KSDE- SE: 1.2.2, 1.3.1, 1.3.3

MATERIALS:
• Book: Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily
Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud
• Small plastic cups
• Multicolored mini pom poms
• Bucket Filler Worksheet

ACTIVITY:
1. Read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide
to Daily Happiness for Kids and stop to ask clarifying
questions throughout the read-aloud. (8 minutes)
a. Page 12-13 explains examples of “filling a bucket”.
Counselor will define and discuss what kindness
and respect mean. Ask students for another
example of showing kindness.
b. Page 14-15 explains how actions like bullying can
affect a person’s bucket. “What emotions do you
feel when someone has ‘dipped into your bucket’
or been unkind to you?”
c. Pages 23-25 contain specific examples of how to
fill a person’s bucket. Explain to the students that
we are now going to “fill each other’s buckets”
and put those ideas into practice.
2. Pass around 1 cup and 5 pom poms to each student. (2
mins)
3. The counselor uses modeling to “fill the bucket” of one
student in the room. Example: give a student a
compliment on their shirt and put a pom pom in their
bucket. Counselor will explain that their partner (the
student) will now reciprocate with filling the Counselor’s
bucket. (2 mins)
4. Students pair up with a partner. The counselor instructs
students to do something kind to “fill the bucket” of their
partner. (Examples could be a high five, a compliment, an
encouraging phrase) Students will switch partners four
more times, finding new partners around the room. (6
mins)
5. Students will return to their seats with their buckets. (1
min)
6. Counselor will ask the students questions to check for
understanding and evaluate progress. (4 mins)
a. “How do you feel now that your bucket is full?”

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 b. “What did your partner do to fill your bucket?”
c. “Let’s say someone stole a pom pom from your
bucket, how would you feel if your bucket wasn’t
full?”
7. Pass around the Bucket Filler worksheet. (1 min)
8. Students will draw a picture of how they filled someone’s
bucket during that time, or how they are going to fill
someone’s bucket. (5 mins)
a. Counselor will give examples like:
b. Draw a picture of you filling someone’s bucket a
recess.
c. Draw a picture of you filling your parent’s bucket
at home.

EVALUATION:
• Formal evaluation will be based on the worksheet:
students will draw a picture of themselves filling
someone else’s bucket. Questions throughout the
lesson will check for understanding and provide an
informal assessment.

ESTIMATED TIME: 30-minute lesson

SOURCES:
• Pom pom activity was self-created by Shelby
Langvardt.
• Discussion questions were self-created by our group.
• Worksheet came from Teachers Pay Teachers.

The Creative Court. (n.d.). Bucket Filler. Retrieved March 11,

2021, from
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bucket-
Filler-
2150606?st=65117ee521f2b80718788936aee873f5
McCloud, C., & Messing, D. (2016). Have you filled a bucket
today?: A guide to daily happiness for kids. Brighton, MI:
Bucket Fillers.

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