Students may easily get the concept of bucket-filling, but they might also need help generating more concrete ideas. After you've read the book and talked about the idea, ask students to brainstorm different ways that someone could fill another's bucket. Write these down to display in the classroom. When you finish this, think of all the ways you might add to someone's bucket. Reward students' ideas into general versions. For example, you might change, "Telling someone you like his or her shirt" into "Giving someone a compliment."
Though children might know that certain actions can fill someone's bucket, it's helpful to be able to see it actually happening. Scholastic suggests giving students an actual bucket than they can fill. To fill these buckets, a student might write something nice about another student and put it in his bucket. Another idea is to let a student put a cotton ball into both her own bucket and the other student's bucket when that student does something kind for another student.
When you recognize students for their good behavior, they may be more likely to strive to earn your respect. Periodically recognize the students who have been the best bucket fillers over a period of time. You might have a "bucket filler of the day," for example. This recognition is bound to fill the student's own bucket and you should try to let each student have a chance to be recognized. When a student is more of a bucket dipper than a bucket filler, you might work a little harder yourself to fill his bucket, causing him to want to fill others' buckets.
One of the best parts about using this book for classroom management is that it gives you a language to use when discussing behavior. If you want your students to keep up their good behavior, maintain consistency in the language you use, even past the time when you've finished a lesson on the book. For example, throughout the year, you'll want to remind students to be "bucket fillers" rather than switching to other typical language, like "being good" or "acting nicely."