25 Alternatives to Handshakes

I always took pride in teaching my students the proper way to complete a handshake. After all, shaking hands is a life skill, isn't it? Well, maybe not any more! But we still need to greet each other!

Building community in the classroom involves interactions.

 

Children (and adults) need to greet each other each day. The skill of positive interactions is one I am proud to teach because it is one they will need for the rest of their lives.

I think we can agree, handshakes are questionable with today's health challenges. But there are parts to the handshake that have value: a moment of "connection," eye contact, a greeting, and a respect for the other person.

I've come up with a list of 25 different greetings that students can do as part of a morning greeting, and end of school meeting, or simply saying hello to their teacher in the morning. Plus, they can be done in online meetings as well!

Here they are:

#1: Give the peace sign!

#2: Give each other heart hands!

#3: Give air hugs! 

#4: Share a squirt of hand sanitizer!

#5: Wave!

 

#6: Smile with your eyes!

#7: Jazz hands!

 #8: Give each other a salute!

#9: Do a "One Second" Dance!

#10: Raise your eyebrows!

#11: Throw your hands in the air!

#12: Do two claps!

#13: Do a fist pump!

#14: Give the "Sup" nod!

#15: Give a thumbs up!

#16: Blow air kisses!

#17: Jump for joy!

#18: Give "air" high fives!

#19: Give the "Live Long and Prosper" signal from Star Trek!

#20: Place your hand on your heart!

#21: Namaste! 

 

#22: Bow to each other!

#23: Wink at each other!

#24: Give each other the home alone face!

 and #25: Have your class make up your own greeting!

Well there, now you have 25 ways to start or end your day that can be used in a socially distant classroom or during remote learning!

Here are some other ways to build community and team work in the classroom:

Morning Meeting Greeting Activities

Who am I Boom Cards  

Building Friendships Boom Cards

Good Citizenship Boom

20 Team Building Socially Distant Games and Activities

Back to School Success Strategies Part 1: Establish Routines!

It's getting closer to that time again. 

No matter where you are in your summer vacation, getting back is in your future. This series of posts is designed to make that return a bit smoother for you.

Today is Part 1 in a five part series about returning to school successfully.

Establish Routines!

Establishing routines make children feel safe. It takes the "guesswork" out of each day when students know what to expect and what is expected from them. It makes children (and adults) feel secure when they know what is going to happen.

 

I like to start each day with a morning meeting. I typically have a question for discussion that's based on that day. These Morning Meeting Greeting Activities and Calendar Writing Prompts are perfect for displaying whether you're having a morning meeting in the classroom or virtually.

Each month comes with daily pictures/ prompts for display, plus matching text for writing answers.This is a great routine that could be started every morning in the classroom. They could also be discussed, then given as a written assignment as well.

 

Math facts are an important part of the math routine, as research tells us these should be practiced a little bit each day. I swear by this system, which gives the students a small amount of fact families at a time to master. It's very easy to differentiate, as they can move to the next level as soon as they show mastery. Plus, there's a digital component for practice and/ or assessment! Math Fact Fluency Systems for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division Fact Fluency.

 

For years, I have started the beginning of the school year by teaching these Six Strategies for Success. We recited them (along with gestures) every morning during Morning Meeting. Six Strategies for Success in School: Activities, Booklets, and Posters. 

Another routine to start is regular communication with parents. Here's something that will make your life easier! (The Back to School edition is free, if you want to check that one out!) Parent Communication Monthly Brochures. 

 

  

I If you have some time in the classroom at the beginning of the school year with yoru students, starting Writer's Workshop would be a top priority! This resource will help you get going. Writer's Workshop Starter Kit. Once the students learn the routine, they can practice at home. For more about Writer's workshop, see this blog post: Writer's Workshop.

Here are a couple more resources to help you get started on some important beginning-of-the-year routines:

These are perfect for learning and spelling sight words: Research Based Sight Word and Spelling Activity Cards.

Research tells us that sight words are best practiced in phrases. I've used these Warm-up Phrases as a warm up to my reading groups for years! It's great for building fluency! The first in the series is free: Dolch Warm-up Phrases: Pre-primer Level.

Be sure to read the other four parts of these Back to School Success Strategies!

 

  

 

 

 

I imagine you're thinking of more routines that will be important. 

I hope you'll share some of these in the comments below.

 

 

 

Inspire Your Girls (and Boys, Too!)

March is Women's History Month! 

There just aren't enough role models in our lives for girls. But they need encouragement and inspiration just as much as the boys do!

March is a great time to explore ways to inspire your girls, since it's Women's History Month! Here are some books to share with your girls (and boys, of course!)

• A is for Awesome: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World
• Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World
• She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World
• Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World
• Bold and Brave: Ten Heroes Who Wom Women the Right to Vote
• The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience

The right words at the right time can really inspire many to improve their lives and become successful.  Here are some of my favorite quotes from women, appropriate for children.

 These are great words for girls (and boys) to think about, aren't they? 

Yes, we're expected to spend time teaching reading, writing, and math, but getting kids to think about their future and their own impact on the future is pretty important, isn't it? 

Kids need to learn about the power of their own voice, don't they?

I love to have the kiddos talk (or write) about what they think some of these quotes mean. They make great Morning Meeting prompt!

These discussions are a great way to start the day. Perfect for morning meetings!

Seriously, don't you want your students to think about this?

I have a set of 50 of these quotes, available here:

Inspirational Quotes by Women to Read and Discuss 

How you inspire your students to be the best they can be?

Building Social Skills and Academics with Morning Meeting!

I am so thrilled with my schedule this year! Last year my students had RTI first thing in the morning, so I was never able to spend mornings with them. They came in, dropped off their stuff, and ran off to their Tier 2 assigned groups. This made it tough to build relationships with my students, and build community within my group.

 

 

This year, the children stay in the classroom in the morning, and we are encouraged to start our day with Morning Meeting!

Most typical Morning Meetings have these parts:

1. Greeting

2. Sharing

3. Group Activity

4. Morning Message

There are many ways to do each part, and hundreds of references for ideas, but here are a couple: 

     

Why do Morning Meeting?

Morning Meeting helps build social and emotional skills. It builds community and helps children learn to work as a team. It helps children develop a positive tone to their day, and affects their focus and productivity for the rest of the school day. Morning Meeting helps establish a climate of trust and motivates students to feel significant. It builds relationships with classmates and teachers.

Looking for some ideas for the group activity? Try these:60 Team Building Games and Activities for Classrooms.

I did Morning Meetings ages ago (I'd estimate 20+ years!) but I haven't been able to do it recently, so it's like starting over. I'd love to hear what other teachers do during their morning meetings!

Sneaking in a Little Curriculum with a Morning Greeting

We always start our day with a morning greeting. 

One at a time, the children shake hands and greet each other by name. Then they say something related to a given topic.

As we know, squeezing in enough time for everything is nearly impossible, so we squeeze in some learning any place we can! Time for social studies and science are especially strained, but we squeeze them in!

 

  

We all love starting our day with a morning greeting, and I usually try to squeeze in a learning concept while we greet each other. 

After a lesson on States of Matter the day before, they were asked to state something they remember from the lesson.

 

After working on the 4 kinds of sentences, I had them tell statements about themselves one day, then ask each other questions on another day. Their questions were priceless! (Some of their answers were even more priceless!)

 

For a writing project this week, they had to tell why their school was great. (We'll be writing opinion stories!)

 

I read an information book about Bats, so the next day they had to tell a fact they remembered about Bats. It was amazing what they remembered!

 

It's never tough to think of a topic, 

we just think about what we've been learning! 

Of course, sometimes we just have a fun question. 

 

Today we shared our favorite kind of ice cream!