In this learning module, kindergarten to year 1 students learn about giving through bucket filling. They explore values of respect, tolerance, responsibility and honesty in the classroom and in the playground, and develop their unit/class code of cooperation.
Giving, Relationships, Social Skills, Literature, Cooperation, Belonging.
This learning module is based on the Australian Curriculum.
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CAPABILITY - Level 1b
Self-awareness - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Recognise emotions
Understand themselves as learners
Self-management - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Express emotions appropriately
Develop self-discipline and set goals
Social awareness - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Appreciate diverse perspectives
Contribute to civil society
Understand relationships
Social management - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Work collaboratively
Make decisions
Negotiate and resolve conflict
Develop leadership skills
ETHICAL UNDERSTANDING - Level 1
Understanding ethical concepts and issues - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Recognise ethical concepts
Reasoning in decision making and actions - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Reason and make ethical decisions
Exploring values, rights and responsibilities - Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:
Examine values
Explore rights and responsibilities
Consider points of view
ENGLISH
Oral language
Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured situations (ACELY 1646) through:
Connecting with text
Identify connections between texts and their personal experience (Foundation Year Achievement Standard) by:
Analysing texts
Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text (ACELT1578) by:
Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts (ACELT1783) by:
Applying values
Value relationships and friendships, recognising how words and actions can help or hurt others, and recognise the effects of modifying their behaviour (for example, discussing the effects of characters’ words and actions on others in texts).
Understand that language can be used to explore ways of expressing needs, likes and dislikes (ACELA 1429).
Learning Intention: To understand that everyone is special.
Success Criteria: Think about and contribute to class discussion about what makes me special.
Activity:
Purpose: For students to discuss why they think they are special and to listen to others say why they are special. This activity is designed to set a positive, safe and inclusive tone for the classroom and to help students feel as though they belong and they are special.
Teaching Tips: Explicitly teach the following cooperative learning strategies/circle time behaviours.
Resources: Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
Learning Intention: To understand what a bucket filler is.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Learning Intention: To understand the reading strategy connecting and what it means to be a bucket filler.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Listen to the teacher explain and model what the strategy 'connecting' means.
Make personal connections to the story in a circle time using the sentence starter 'I was a bucket filler when I....'
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the concept of bucket filling and its effects through the focus text, 'Have you filled your bucket today?'
The open-ended questions are designed to encourage students to think about the text and respond.
Making personal connections to the text is an important reading strategy to use when comprehending new texts
Teaching Tips
Ask students questions:
Resources
Learning Intention: To understand the difference between a bucket filler and a bucket dipper, and the effects of each.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is for students to deepen their understanding of bucket filling by identifying the difference between filling and dipping and discussing the positive impact that bucket filling has on themselves and others.
Activity:
Teaching Tips
Resources:
Learning Intention: To understand the author's message in a text.
Learning Intention: To understand how being a bucket filler and/or dipper makes you feel and how it makes others feel .
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
The purpose of this task is for students to understand that authors write for real purposes and that books can hold a special message for us. It is also to identify that there are only winners when it comes to acts of bucket filling; both the person doing the bucket filling and the person being bucket filled.
Activity:
Teaching Tips
Resources
Learning Intention: To understand how to BE a bucket filler.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is for students to put into practise their understanding of 'Bucket Filling' and to learn how to fill their friends buckets and hopefully extend this to all other students, class, unit, wider school community and at home.
Teaching Tips
Resources
Learning Intention: To understand what respect means and how it relates to bucket filling.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
For students to understand what respect is and recognise similarities between this and bucket filling. Students will begin to apply their understanding of respect to real life situations and hopefully practise respect in the classroom, on the playground and at home.
Activity
Teaching Tips
Resources
Text: Mr Pusskins
Awards: show students what Gordon Gold awards look like
Learning Intention: To understand different ways to show respect or be respectful.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
For students to understand HOW they can be respectful or show respect to others. In this lesson students will brainstorm many different ideas on how they have shown respect in the past and how they can continue to show such respect in the classroom, on the playground and at home. The purpose of the class discussions and the worksheet is to provide students with a 'menu' to work from - to give them new ideas of how to show respect in different settings.
Teaching Tips
Resources
Learning Intention: To understand how showing respect makes me and others feel.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for student to understand how showing respect makes themselves feel as well as how it makes others feel. This is an opportunity to explore also what would happen if no one in the world showed respect - what sort of world would be live in? This lesson is to reinforce the importance of respect at school and at home and in the wider community.
Activity:
Resources:
Activity/worksheet attached:
Learning Intention: To set a personal goal about how you are going to show respect to yourself, to others and to property in our classroom and in the playground.
Success Criteria:
Activity
Purpose
Students apply their learning about respect by setting a personal goal for how they will be respectful to themselves, to others and/or to property in the classroom and/or the playground.
Teaching Tips
Learning Intention: To share knowledge about elephants.
Success Criteria:
Activity
Sit in a circle with your class. When it is your turn, tell your partner one thing you know about elephants.
Your teacher will record your ideas.
Look at the front cover of Elmer and think about what this book might be about. Draw a picture of something that you think might happen in the story. Your teacher will help you to write your prediction.
Look and listen as your teacher reads to you.
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to draw on students' prior knowledge so that students can connect to the text.
Teaching Tips
Resource
"Elmer" by David McKee, 1998, Random House Children's Press
Book Orientation
At the beginning of this activity explain to students they will be imagining or predicting what the story will be about. Scribe their predictions for students.
Explain that predicting (thinking about what might happen based on what you already know) is what good readers do.
Read the text. Students share their ideas about the text.
Learning Intention: To understand similarities and differences, and what are some bucket filling/dipping behaviours.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
As a whole class circle time work with your class to talk about the following questions:
In our class, each person is different and unique, but we all need to work together to make the classroom a safe and friendly place.
Connecting with the story…
Prompt with the following questions:
Re-read the book and identify the different ways of being a bucket filler. Re-visit page 1 and 2 and get students to orally describe the differences between elephants.
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to define belonging and bucket filling in relation to the story.
Teaching Tips
Learning Intention: To understand what makes each of us special and have the words to describe it.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Looking at pages 1 and 2 of the book, think about how the elephants are different?
With your partner, do a 'See Saw' to describe some of the elephants.
It is now your turn to draw yourself as an elephant.
Think about yourself.
Make sure you include the things that make you different, so that the elephant you draw is as special as you.
Show your elephant to the class and describe the things that make you different. (Teacher writes descriptive words on elephant.)
Purpose
To understand that we are all different and to develop oral language to express that difference.
Describing differences
Teacher shows pages 1 and 2 from 'Elmer'. Students look at image closely and discuss orally:
In partners, students do a 'See Saw' (Kagan cooperative strategy) to describe an elephant. Discuss the concept of what it means to be 'unique'. Give students paper to do their elephant drawing on. Once students are finished drawing, do a circle time to share students' elephants and hear their describing words. Teacher goes around and scribes the describing words that make each student different in the middle of each of their elephants.
Teaching Tips
Learning Intention: To understand and express a range of emotions.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Look carefully at the expressions on the animals in the book.
Act out the expression that is shown in the book. Pretend you are that character and walk around the room and show that expression to other people.
Freeze when the teacher says SNAP! and pose.
Look around you at the expressions.
Which expression would you choose to use to show someone that they belong? Could we use this expression when being a bucket filler?
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to understand how body language (standing) and facial expressions can make people feel they belong or not. Relate this to bucket filling, e.g. a smile is an act of bucket filling that makes others feel like they belong.
Gestural grammar
Analyse the expressions of the different animals on the smartboard or in the book.
Display images from the text one at a time and get students to think about what expression the character is showing and how they would be feeling. (label them)
Model miming an expression/emotion.
Students individually mime the expression that is displayed and walk around the classroom sharing that with others.
Teacher calls out SNAP! Students must freeze their expression and pose. Discuss after each image if seeing that expression on someone else makes them feel happy and if they feel like they belong.
Repeat through all images from text.
At the end, students think about the expression that they saw on other people and which one made them feel happy and that they belonged and which didn't?
Teaching Tips
Learning Intention: To understand the difference between bucket filling/colourful elephant behaviour and bucket dipping/grey elephant behaviour.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
As a group, share and record ideas about what could be 'grey elephant' behaviour (bucket dipping) and 'colourful elephant' behaviour (bucket filling). Record this in the T-chart.
Listen to the examples your teacher reads out. Would these be grey or colourful elephant behaviours? Add these to the T-chart.
Grey Elephant Behaviour | Colourful Elephant Behaviour |
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Purpose
The purpose of this activity is analysing behaviours and how they relate to bucket filling.
Can we do it too?
As a class discuss when we could have “colourful elephant” behaviour at school?
Read out some situations to the class. You can add to these as appropriate for your class group. Are these 'grey elephant' behaviours or 'colourful elephant' behaviours'? Add these to the T-chart.
Learning Intention: To express creativity and demonstrate understanding of bucket filling behaviours.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Look at the last page of the book. What do you notice about the elephants? What different colours can you see? What different patterns can you see?
Using the elephant template given, design a colourful coat for your elephant, using different colours and patterns.
Finish the sentence about the behaviour you show when you are a colourful elephant.
Code of Cooperation
Learning Intention: To develop a classroom Code of Cooperation that is agreed upon by the students.
Success Criteria:
Work with your partner to think about the following questions in a Timed -Think-Pair-Share strategy.
Work together to create the class Code of Cooperation.
Learning Intention: To set a personal goal about how you are going to show tolerance in our classroom and in the playground.
Success Criteria:
Circle Time
In our Circle Time, think about where you can show honesty in our class and in the playground.
Reflection (later in the day): Did you achieve your goal. What could you do differently?
Purpose
To draw on the students' understanding of bucket filling behaviours to create a classroom Code of Cooperation and to set a personal goal for how they will be tolerant in the classroom and/or the playground. .
Students review the last page of the book again and use their observations to assist them to design their own 'colourful' elephant.
Students work individually to design an elephant coat using their own choice of colours and patterns.
Assist your students to complete the following sentence, describing a bucket filling behaviours they could demonstrate.
When I am a colourful elephant I ........
These can be used to guide the creation of the classroom Code of Cooperation.
Teaching Tips
Personal Goal: Conduct the Circle Time activity at the end of the day or after a break. The illustrations can be a prompt for their reflections on whether they achieved goals and to consider their next goal in demonstrating tolerance.
Also, after creating the Code of Cooperation, take advantage of any further opportunities in the activities in weeks 4 and 5 to add to/change the class/unit code of cooperation.
Learning Intention: To gain understanding of responsible behaviours through the story.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
What do you think the word 'responsibility' might mean? Share this with the class.
Look at the front cover of the story 'Piggybook'. What do you think the story might be about? (Think-Pair-Share)
Listen to your teacher read the story. Think about the different characters and what behaviours they are displaying.
Purpose:
For students to understand what Responsibility is and to link this to their understanding of bucket filling. Students will begin to apply their understanding of responsibility to real life situations with the aim of practicing responsibility in the classroom, on the playground and at home.
Activity:
Teaching Tips
Learning Intention: To contribute to group discussions and demonstrate continued understanding of responsibility and responsible behaviours.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Being responsible means doing what you have agreed to do, without having to be asked all the time. This could be things like cleaning up after yourself, being sensible or helping someone else who looks like they might need help.
Think-Pair-Share how you could be responsible in different situations.
The teacher will record these and provide other examples for the role play activity. The teacher will assist the students with taking on the roles within the role play examples and talk them through a short scenario. Think about the scenario:
Encourage your students to think about how responsibility can be applied in different places and with different people. Record their think-pair-share, as this can be revisited later on.
Example scenarios (these can be adapted to suit your class group):
Teaching Tips:
Learning Intention: To think further on how being responsible can effect you and those around you.
Success Criteria:
Activity:
Think-Pair-Share something good/positive that could happen if we were responsible. Also, think about something bad/negative that could happen if we were not responsible. The teacher will be able to provide examples and record your answers into the T-chart.
Think about the different ways we could be responsible that were discussed earlier.
If we all practice responsibility, we can make our classroom, home and playground a safer and happier place for everyone.
Guide the students through the Think-Pair-Share by providing examples for the students to explore.
Teaching Tips:
Resources:
T-chart worksheet
Learning Intention: To set a personal goal about how you are going to be responsible in our classroom and in the playground.
Success Criteria:
Activity - Circle Time:
In our Circle Time, think about where you can be responsibile in our class and in the playground.
Reflection (later in the day): Did you achieve your goal. What could you do differently?
Can we add some of these responsible behaviours to our classroom Code of Cooperation?
Purpose
Students apply their learning about responsibility by setting a personal goal for how they will be responsible in the classroom and/or the playground.
Teaching Tips
Conduct the Circle Time activity at the end of the day or after a break. The illustrations can be a prompt for their reflections on whether they achieved goals and to consider their next goal.
Throughout the learning module, take advantage of opportunities to add to/change the class/unit code of cooperation.
Also link to "bucket filling" where relevant
Learning Intention: To find out about telling the truth or telling a lie/fib.
Success Criteria:
Participate in a Circle Time.
Play the Truth/Lie game.
Listen to and then talk about the story of The Cocky who Cried Dingo.
Circle Time
Truth/Lie Game
Here are two statements:
1. In my family we have 3 pets - 2 dogs and a cat, and they are all good friends.
2. In my family, we never ever watch TV - never ever!
Think! Which one is the truth and which one is a lie?
Put up your hand if you think statement 1 is the truth.
Put up your hand if statement 2 is the truth.
Think-Pair-Share
Think about one thing about your family or a pet if you have one, that is true. Then make up one thing about your family or pet that is not true.
Person A tells their statement. Person B guesses which one is true and which one is a lie. Person A tells them the correct answer.
Repeat for Person B.
Circle Time Reflection:
How did it feel to tell the truth?
How did it feel to be told the truth?
How did it feel to tell a lie?
How did it feel to be told a lie?
Is it important to be honest?
Can being honest be a "bucket filler? Why?
Now let's look at The Cocky Who Cried Dingo.
First look at the cover of the book. In a Think-Pair-Share, share your ideas about what the story is about.
Think-Pair-Share: What do you think the Cocky is doing? How do you know? What do you think he might be saying?
Now listen to or watch a clip of the story.
Think-Pair-Share:
What was your favourite part? Why?
What do you think arrogant means?
Do you think Cocky should have told the truth? Explain your reasons.
Purpose: This update introduces students to the value of honesty through a game and a picture book.
Teaching Tips
Use the Circle Time to reflect on students' feelings about telling the truth and telling lies. Telling lies can cause a lot of unhappiness for many students!
Other texts to use during the week with the honesty focus include:
Pig the Fibber by Aaron Blabey
I always always get my way by Thad Krasnesky
Learning Intention: To understand how being honest makes you feel good.
Success Criteria
Read and talk about The Cocky Who Cried Dingo.
Watch, act out and discuss role plays about being honest.
Discussion
Think back to The Cocky Who Cried Dingo.
What was the problem with cocky pretending he was trapped in the jaws of a dingo?
Why did the birds in the tree ignore dingo?
What was wrong with Cocky telling lies?
Why is it important to tell the truth?
Sometimes when you are playing, you can pretend things. I could be playing a game with my friend and we could be pretending to be grown ups or animals or pretend we are driving a car. Pretending is not a lie.
ROLE PLAYS
Being honest means telling the truth, not stealing, giving things back when they belong to someone else, and owning up when you have done the wrong thing. Let's find out more through some role plays.
Watch your teachers perform some role plays. Then you can act them out too with a partner.
1a: One of you drops a dollar without realizing it and the other one picks it up and doesn't say anything. The person who drops the dollar asks the friend if he saw it, but he lies and says no.
1b: One of you drops a dollar without realizing it and the other one picks it up and returns it to you.
2a: Pretend to write on the wall. Someone comes in and asks if you did it. You tell the truth, saying why you did it and apologising.
2b: Pretend to write on the wall. Someone comes in and asks if you did it. You lie, saying you didn't do it, and blame someone else.
3a: You are playing a game with 2 friends. You see your friend cheat so that they can beat the other friend. You tell your friend that they are not playing fairly.
3b: You are playing a game with 2 friends. You see your friend cheat so that they can beat the other friend. You say nothing.
4a: You break your little sister’s toy when you are mucking around. You tell your parent that you did it.
4b: You break your little sister’s toy when you are mucking around. You don't admit it, even when your parent asks you if you did it.
DISCUSSION
Describe what happened in each role play.
How did it feel to tell a lie?
How did it feel to tell the truth and do the right thing?
Is being honest a good way to fill someone else's bucket?
Purpose
This update focuses on defining and deepening students' understanding of honesty, lies and pretending.
Teaching Tips
Teachers model the role plays in the Bluebell "Meet and Greet" sessions. Then students can work in groups of 2-3 students to act them out too.
In the Circle Time discussion, emphasise how students feel when they tell the truth and how they feel when they are dishonest.
In defining telling truth and telling lies, don't go into detail about white lies and fibs - can be very confusing for students.
Focus on the positive as much as possible.
Learning Intention: To understand how you gain from being honest and what you lose by being dishonest.
Success Criteria
Observe and discuss the cheating game.
Add your ideas to a whole class chart on honesty.
Let's Play.
I'm going to play a game of noughts and crosses. Who would like to play me. I'm really good.
After we have played 3 or 4 games, let's talk about what happened.
Think-Pair-Share
Did you feel upset when I cheated?
How does someone being dishonest by cheating, make you feel?
Is it the same as when someone tells a lie?
Let's make a T-Chart of the positives of being honest and the negatives of being dishonest.
Being Honest | Being Dishonest |
Reflect: Which is better?
Purpose: This update deepens students' understanding of the effects of honesty and dishonesty.
Teaching Tips
In the noughts and crosses game, draw the grid on the whiteboard. Allow the student to fill in one space and then quickly fill the other spaces and say "I win! Who else wants to play me?"
After winning by cheating in 3-5 games, stop and say, "Some of you seem upset.Why? Then explain that you pretended to cheat in the game to make the point that being dishonest by cheating can make you all feel bad. Emphasise the impact on feelings. You can play other games such as card games and ball games.
Then complete a T Chart as a whole class. Consider all forms of honesty and dishonesty - cheating, lying, stealing and owning up. Use Think-Pair-Shares to involve all students in contributing ideas to the T Chart.
Learning Intention: To set a personal goal about how you are going to show honesty in our classroom and in the playground.
Success Criteria:
Set a personal goal.
Illustrate the goal.
Reflect on the goal.
Circle Time
In our Circle Time, think about where you can show honesty in our class and in the playground.
Reflection (later in the day): Did you achieve your goal. What could you do differently?
Purpose
Students apply their learning about honesty by setting a personal goal for how they will be honest in the classroom and/or the playground.
Teaching Tips
Conduct the Circle Time activity at the end of the day or after a break. The illustrations can be a prompt for their reflections on whether they achieved goals and to consider their next goal.
Throughout the learning module, take advantage of opportunities to add to/change the class/unit code of cooperation.
The original version of this learning module was written by Sue Gorman, Jessica Humphreys, Hayley Hinde, Aly Allpress and Alyssa Audsley.
Title: (Source); Fig.1.1: Insert image/photo for "you are special" (Source); Fig. 1.2a: (Source); Fig 1.2b: (Source]; Fig. 1.3: Possibly two images/photos of bucket filling and bucket dipping (Source); Fig: 1.4: Cover of The Rainbow Fish (Source); Fig 1.5: (Source); Fig. 2.1: Cover of Mr Pusskins (Source); Fig. 2.2: (Source); Fig. 2.3: Image/photo of children playing respectfully in PGD (Source); Fig. 2.4 (Source); Fig.3.1: (Source); Fig.3.2: (Source); Fig.3.3: (Source); Fig. 3.4: (Source); Fig.3.5: (Source); Fig. 4.2: (Source); Fig. 4.3: (Source); Fig. 4.4: (Source); Fig. 4.1:(Source); Fig. 5.1a: (Source); Fig. 5.1b: (Source); Fig. 5.3: (Source); Fig. 5.4: (Source);
NOTE To acknowledge photos you or someone else at Gordon PS takes, instead of Source with a link, write - Photos by [Name of Photographer]