Evergreen: Have You Filled A Bucket Today?
January, 2013 Anti-Bullying Program
Dear Parents/Guardians:
The Waterford Graded Safety Committee and the Anti-Bullying Committee created a program for the
month of January focusing on positive, kind actions toward others. To introduce the program, we will be
using the “bucket” books which have been written by Carol McCloud. The concept of “bucket filling” is
described in Growing Up With A Bucket Full Of Happiness, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and Fill Your
Bucket. These books emphasize the importance of being kind to others which fill others’ imaginary
bucket as well as their own. A person with a full bucket feels happy and good about themselves. The
concept is also the direct opposite of what a bully would do. We feel the program is a positive
reinforcement of anti-bullying behaviors.
During January, students will focus on what they can do to “fill others’ buckets and their own bucket”.
Students will continue to work to fill their classroom buckets with positive notes recognizing acts of
kindness. Students and teachers will recognize when a student is “filling” someone’s bucket by giving
them a heart or star to put in their classroom bucket. At the end of the week, their buckets will be
emptied into an all-school bucket. By the end of the four weeks, we hope to see our buckets
overflowing with acts of kindness. Each week, we will also be drawing names out of the classroom
buckets and awarding small prizes at each of the schools to reinforce these positive acts of kindness.
Throughout the month we will focus on one of the steps to bullying prevention: Recognize, Stop, Walk
Away, Report. Student Council members or trained 6th, 7th, and 8th grade “Upstanders” from your child’s
school will do announcements each week on the bullying prevention step for that week. The schedule
for the month and the “spirit” days for each week are identified on the back of this letter.
Please encourage your children to talk about the “bucket” concept and brainstorm with them ways they
can “fill” the buckets of their classmates or family members. Take time to talk about your “buckets” at
home, as well as the steps to take if they are ever bullied. Help them gain the skills to become an
“upstander” in our schools. We thank you for helping us extend the learning from the classroom and
school to the home and community.
Should you have any questions about the program, please feel free to contact your School Counselor,
Social Worker, or a member of the District Safety committee. Again we thank you for your cooperation
in making this program a success for the students and school.
Week of January 2(Wednesday through Friday)
The students will hear the story of the Filling Buckets. Depending on the age/grade level, the age
appropriate story will be read to them at some point that week.
Week 1: (Week of January 7-11)
Theme: Recognize
How do you recognize a bully? Bullying can include physical violence and attacks, verbal taunts, namecalling, put-downs, threats, intimidation, exclusion from a peer group. Bullying is a conscious, willful,
deliberate, hostile and repeated behavior by one or more people, which is intended to harm others.
Friday, January 11, will be a spirit day: Wear mismatched clothes to easily recognize bullying behavior
Week 2: (Week of January 14-18)
Theme: Stop
If someone is directing problem behavior to you or someone else, tell them to “stop”. Show the hand
signal to stop in case talking is difficult in an emotional situation. Also, we will stress that if you are in a
situation where you are asked to “stop”, you have hurt someone’s feelings and should stop the
behavior. If you are ever asked to “stop” they should do the following things: stop what they are doing,
take a deep breath and go on about their day (no big deal).
Friday, January 18, will be a spirit day: Wear red and be part of a STOP bullying picture
Week 3: (Week of January 21-25)
Theme: Walk Away
Sometimes even when you tell others to “stop”, problem behavior will continue. When this happens,
students are to “walk away” from the problem behavior. Walking away removes the reinforcement for
the problem behavior.
January 25, will be a spirit day: Wear workout clothing and tennis shoes in order to remember to walk
away from a bullying situation
Week 4: (Week of January 29-February 1)
Theme: Report
Sometimes even when students use “stop” and they “walk away” from the problem, the person
continues to behave inappropriately toward them. When that happens, students should “report” to an
adult and talk about the situation. Reporting is when you have used the steps “stop” and “walk away”
first. Tattling is when you do not use those steps first before you report to an adult and is intended to
get the other person in trouble.
Friday, February 1, will be a spirit day: Dress up as a trusted adult to remember who to report bullying
to