Community Read Aloud

I am excited to announce that we have launched our first Community Read Aloud book of the year!

First, we know you might be thinking to yourself "what is a Community Read Aloud book?"

It is an opportunity for the whole school to read and share a book with a common theme and message. The theme will have an importance to the students, the teachers, and the parents. The Community Read Aloud we will be sharing first will be "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud.

"Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" teaches us that we all carry an invisible bucket wherever we go. When someone does something kind to us, such as saying "good morning," helping us with a task or simply paying us a compliment, our bucket is filled. The same happens to someone else's bucket when we do something nice for them. Everybody loves to have their buckets filled and it always feels great to fill someone else's bucket as well. The truth is that when we fill someone's bucket we are actually filling our own as well!

What happens when someone says or does something to us that is hurtful? Well then our buckets are dipped into; eventually emptying our buckets. That never feels good. In fact, when someone dips into our bucket, they are actually dipping into their own. The book also shows us how it never feels good to make others feel bad.

Here at Bay Terrace we are all working to be bucket-fillers; not bucket-dippers.

The teachers have all read this book and over the next few weeks are excited to read it, share it and implement it with the students. We are looking at this book as not only a great read aloud, but as a philosophy as well. So many wonderful, bucket-filling gestures have been made at Bay Terrace for many years. This book reinforces what we already know and  will remind us of how good it feels to encourage positive behavior and make others feel great!

We encourage you to ask your children about the book and about ways to fill buckets. We also have a copy of the book so if you are interested in seeing it, just let us know. It's been a great beginning to the school year! I look forward to more bucket-filling times and future community read alouds! Thank you for filling my bucket!

Happy Reading!

Bradley Richman