678.Resource, Gordon, Buckets, Dippers, and Lids: Mentor Text for Emotional Regulation (K-2)

The theme of Emotional Regulation includes a teachable, complex set of skills for managing emotional states.  The skills include identifying and naming emotions, self-control (managing impulses, delaying gratification), managing stress, using coping skills, and reflection.

Buckets, Dippers, and Lids is a self-help book about what gives happiness, what takes it away, and what we can do to protect our happiness. Through a series of examples and illustrations, the author explains that everyone has an invisible bucket for storing positive emotions and actions--being loved and cared for, receiving acts of kindness and forgiveness, being kind and helpful to others. As our buckets fill, our self-confidence grows, and we help to fill other people’s buckets. When, however, someone disrespects us or is unkind and hurtful, they dip into our buckets and remove something beneficial. We empty (or dip into) our own buckets when we act this way, too. That’s why we need lids, and the knowledge of when to put on the lid. We also need to practice self-control so we don’t dip into someone else’s bucket or our own.

Heart of Georgia RESA teachers may request a free copy of the book to use with their classes by listening to the short VoiceThread about the book, reading a brief handout that includes the ELA standards and suggested strategies for using the mentor text, and completing a request form.