Stiegel Elementary School students read together and sang songs as part of a bullying prevention event that continued on Tuesday.

"Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids" by Carol McCloud was read to support the Olweus Bullying Prevention program adopted by Manheim Central School District during the 2010-11 school year.

Stiegel Principal Wendy Hancock said, "The book is about making people feel good or filling their buckets."

After being read schoolwide and in classrooms, the book will serve as a launch pad for discussions.

She said, "The best way to deal with bullying issues is to be proactive rather than reactive, and this is a schoolwide and districtwide effort."

Since the program was been implemented, a team in each school was trained by the Olweus staff.

The results, Hancock said, are examples of students looking out for one another to deter bullying and a decrease in discipline referrals.

Teacher Carolyn Kline said she read the "awesome book" to her first grade class and introduced two class projects. "We all want to become bucket fillers," she said.

Students in Kline's class were paired as "bucket buddies" for a week, and they had to write a note with positive comments to one another. The following week, each student was paired with another partner.

Brady Harbach read the note he wrote to one of his bucket partners. It said that the student was kind to others and was a good person.

The other project featured a bucket containing one small Styrofoam ball for each of the 17 students in the class. Each day that the students do something nice for one another, one of them is selected to add water to the bucket with a ladle.

Kline said, "As we fill the bucket, the balls are lifted up. It shows how each of us is 'lifted up' or feel more positive when we fill someone else's bucket."

Hancock will attend the school board meeting on Monday to report on Stiegel's bullying prevention efforts.