Bucket Fillosophy

IT'S NOT TOO LATE! If Bucket Filling has touched your classroom or family over the past 20 years, you are not alone. I hear powerful stories every day. Email yours to [email protected] by September 1 for a free gift. Be sure to include your name and mailing address. Be that bucketfilling teacher that each child needs.

One of the joys of sharing ideas is seeing how they inspire others to create something new. 💛
After attending the Move Mountains in Kindergarten Virtual Summit in July, teacher Kathy Martin wrote this wonderful Bucket Fillers song to the tune of Alouette and kindly gave me permission to share it. Since Alouette is in the public domain, I'm excited to pass along her creative work.
Thank you, Kathy, for turning kindness into music and for inspiring young learners to be bucket fillers every day! 🎶🪣💛

Author Carol McCloud

🌟 The Ripple Effect of Bucket Filling: Teacher Story #2

Twenty years ago, I began selling 'Have You Filled a Bucket Today?' at our local Farmer’s Market shortly after its release. A month earlier, my husband Mike was diagnosed with kidney cancer. We survived financially the summer of 2006 on $10 book sales as teachers, parents, and grandparents discovered it. This little paperback remains in Amazon's top 500 of all books.

This month, I received this letter from Rachel, a teacher in Louisville, Kentucky. It shares a common theme:

“I have been blessed to spend many years helping children grow academically and socially. Whether teaching third grade or now first grade, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? has always been one of my favorite books to read at the start of each school year.

The Bucket Filling philosophy is part of my classroom culture. Throughout the year, we talk about whether we are filling or dipping buckets. One of my favorite moments is hearing students naturally use the vocabulary with one another. They proudly tell me when a classmate filled their bucket or recognize opportunities to fill someone else’s.

The bucket concept helps create a classroom community built on kindness, empathy, and respect. I am grateful for its impact on my students and the opportunities it provides to remind children that even the smallest act of kindness can make a difference.”

Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your story, filling those little buckets, and teaching them to be bucket fillers. ❤️

If you would like to share your story, email it to [email protected].

Author Carol McCloud

🌟 The Ripple Effect: 20 Years of Bucket Filling: Teacher Story #1

One of the greatest gifts of our 20th anniversary celebration has been reading the stories from educators. Here's one from a kindergarten teacher that touched my heart and introduced an engaging, interactive lesson plan.

As we celebrate 20 Years of Bucket Filling, we honor this educator and thousands more who continue to spread bucket filling from child to child, classroom to classroom, and generation to generation. You are making a difference.

“On the first week of school, we do a hands-on bucketfilling sort at the carpet that the kids absolutely love. If a slip of paper shows a bucketdipping behavior (like pushing), I dramatically crumple it up, toss it in the trash, and say, ‘That doesn't belong in our classroom!’ The kids love the drama. If it shows a bucketfilling behavior, we all give a thumbs-up and glue it onto our class bucketfilling poster, which features a giant hand-drawn bucket that reads, ‘We are bucket fillers.’

Afterward, we review our bucketfilling ideas together, and the kids decorate their own paper buckets with a drawing of one way they plan to fill buckets in class. We keep our class poster up all through the first quarter as a constant reference, and the kids adopt the language so quickly!

Your book also has a permanent home on display in our classroom library, where the kids love to flip through it all the time. The words and drawings are perfect for keeping my students engaged and helping them understand this important lesson.

Thank you so much for the incredible impact you’ve made on students and teachers all around the world!”

Thank you, Daniella Toledo, for filling buckets every classroom day for the past five years. You are shaping a generation of children who know how to encourage, include, and care for one another. ❤️

Author Carol McCloud

My bucket is overflowing. 💙
Last week I had the joy of speaking at the very first Kindergarten Classroom Kickstart Summit, where I shared "12 Time-Tested Steps to Create Your Bucketfilling Kindergarten Classroom."
When I invited teachers to share how Bucket Filling has impacted their classrooms over the past 20 years, I hoped to receive a few wonderful stories.
Instead, 153 educators wrote.
I've read 65 letters so far, and I have laughed, smiled, cried, and thanked God for allowing this simple message to become part of so many children's lives. Many stories shared my own experience that Bucket Filling is a wonderfully fun, simple, and effective program to help children understand that their words and actions affect others. Every story reminds me that small acts of kindness really do change classrooms and hearts.
Thank you to every teacher who took the time to write. Please know that I'm reading every single submission, even if it takes me a little while to get through them all.
On September 2, we'll randomly select and announce the recipients of 100 signed copies of the 20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition of "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" We'll begin mailing them that same week. If you have not sent me your story, please mail it to [email protected] by September 1.
A special thank-you to Mountains In Kindergarten and the amazing Kayla Hair for inviting me to be part of this inspiring summit and for the incredible work you're doing to support kindergarten teachers.
Thank you for filling children's buckets and mine over the past 20 years. ❤️

Author Carol McCloud

Kindergarten Teachers Rock! More than 22,000 have signed on for next week's Virtual Summit. Can't wait to see you all. Let's fill some buckets! There is still time to sign up.
Carol

https://thekway.movemountainsinkindergarten.com/kindergarten-classroom-kickstart

The excitement around the July 7 – 10 Kindergarten Classroom Kickstart Virtual Summit is incredible. More than 10,000 educators have already registered! It's just two weeks away!

Get your free pass here:
https://thekway.movemountainsinkindergarten.com/kindergarten-classroom-kickstart

📣 Calling all Kindergarten Teachers 📣

I'm excited to be speaking at the FREE Kindergarten Classroom Kickstart Summit happening July 7–10! I'll be sharing 12 time-tested steps to create your own bucketfilling classroom on Wednesday, July 8, at 10 am EST.

This VIRTUAL event is packed with amazing speakers and practical strategies for kindergarten teachers covering classroom management, literacy, math, engagement, routines, classroom setup, social-emotional learning, and so much more.

Please share this link with your favorite Pre-K and K teachers looking for fresh ideas and classroom-ready strategies. I'd love for you to join us.

🎉 Grab your free ticket through the website listed in the conference info.

Carol

📣 Calling All Bucketfilling Educators 2006 – 2026! 📣

For 20 years, we have seen the Bucket Filling message transform lives through acts of kindness. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids, we would like to collect these stories as an anniversary keepsake. 💙

What is your story? Did Bucket Filling impact your home, classroom, school, or community? What did you like most? Do you have advice for others? Please email your story to: [email protected] with the subject: MY STORY.

As a thank-you, 100 letter writers will be randomly chosen to receive a signed, limited, hardcover, jacketed 20th Anniversary Edition of 'Have You Filled a Bucket Today?', released on August 1.

Send your story to me by September 1, 2026, and include:
• Your name
• Mailing address (for September book winners)
• Email address
• Permission to use or not to use your story
• How would you like to be identified if your story is shared—full name, first name only, or anonymously?

Share this post with educators, counselors, principals, librarians, parents, and those who have helped fill buckets. Thank you for being part of the Bucket Filling family. We look forward to hearing your story!

With sincere appreciation,
Author Carol McCloud

It was a great honor to be invited to the Inaugural K20 Kindness Without Borders Summit held this past weekend at The Roots of Compassion and Kindness (ROCK) Center at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
Thank you to the summit’s co-founders — Francesca Donlan, Alan Williams, and Jenny Haase — for bringing together inspiring leaders from around the globe. Thank you as well to the many contributors and participants, all united by one powerful goal: spreading kindness.
As Bucket Fillers, you know that kindness has power — and our world needs more of it.
So today, let’s remember to ask ourselves:
Whose bucket will I fill today?
How will I choose to be kind?