Compliments Web: School Counselor Spotlight
Emily was one of the first school counselors to be featured in the School Counselor Spotlight with her Kindness Garden Bulletin Board. Emily shared another creative and affordable idea promoting kindness.
Emily wrote:
My Kindness Garden Bulletin Board was a previous spotlight of yours, but I did something different in my new school this year that I thought you would enjoy.
I have switched schools and districts, and now I split my time between an Early Learning Center (Kindergarten) and Primary Center (Grades 1-2). My lesson plan for the first half of this year has been focusing on teaching pro-social behaviors. I began the year by reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? at the Primary Center and Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child (both by Carol McCloud) with the Early Learning Center classes. This lead to different lessons with each grade level, focusing on quality compliments with 2nd grade. Our culminating activity in 2nd grade was a compliments web.
This lesson required only a large ball of yarn, which you can generally find for $1-5 at a craft store. We had spent the previous few weeks talking about quality compliments, which are not compliments about what you can see on the outside of a person, but something you know about who they are on the inside. For this lesson, we gathered on the carpet in a seated circle.
Thanks so much Emily for sharing another awesome School Counselor Spotlight lesson with us!
Have you used How Full is Your Bucket with students? What other ways could you use a "web" in your work with students? Share in the comment section.
Emily wrote:
My Kindness Garden Bulletin Board was a previous spotlight of yours, but I did something different in my new school this year that I thought you would enjoy.
I have switched schools and districts, and now I split my time between an Early Learning Center (Kindergarten) and Primary Center (Grades 1-2). My lesson plan for the first half of this year has been focusing on teaching pro-social behaviors. I began the year by reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? at the Primary Center and Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child (both by Carol McCloud) with the Early Learning Center classes. This lead to different lessons with each grade level, focusing on quality compliments with 2nd grade. Our culminating activity in 2nd grade was a compliments web.
This lesson required only a large ball of yarn, which you can generally find for $1-5 at a craft store. We had spent the previous few weeks talking about quality compliments, which are not compliments about what you can see on the outside of a person, but something you know about who they are on the inside. For this lesson, we gathered on the carpet in a seated circle.
I started by complimenting a student and then gently tossing him the ball of yarn, holding on to the end. That student then chose another student to compliment and tossed ball of the yarn, holding on to the yarn where it reached them.
We continued to weave our web until every student had both given and received a compliment. It was amazing to see how even the most wiggly students were captive, respectful listeners while their peers were talking.
At the end of the activity, when everyone was holding a piece of the web, we talked as a class about how we are all connected to each other and how our actions affect everyone else in the class. We can choose to be mean or we can choose to be kind. Isn’t it better to be connected with kindness?
As we wrapped the web back into a ball of yarn, students had the opportunity to talk about how it felt to both receive AND give a compliment. They quickly noticed that all of our buckets were full! I then pointed out that it was easy to make every day feel as good as that moment; all we have to do is remember to give quality compliments every day.
- I love teaching kids (and adults!) about bucket-filling! I love that Emily combined Carol McCloud's bucket-filling books with a tangible lesson. (P.S. Another great bucket filling book is How Full is Your Bucket by
- The Compliments Web is a simple lesson with a big impact. I love that it gives a visual way for students to see how they are connected.
- The Compliments Web is easy and affordable. Yarn is cheap and can be re-used year after year. I love when you can re-use items!
Have you used How Full is Your Bucket with students? What other ways could you use a "web" in your work with students? Share in the comment section.
Do you have an innovative idea, creative lesson, or quality resource you want to share with other school counselors? Have you done something to make a positive impact on your students, your school, and yourself? School Counselor Spotlight is a way for you to share your innovative ideas, creative lessons, and quality resources with School Counselor Blog readers!
Send your stories, ideas, creative lessons, and/or resources to danielle@schcounselor.com with School Counselor Spotlight in the subject line. Please include a description of the idea, lesson, or resource, including costs, inspiration, pictures and how it impacted your students or school!
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Chosen ideas and stories will be featured in the School Counselor Spotlight on School Counselor Blog!
Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.
