Goofy Greetings or Greetings Getting Goofy...

 Ideas for 4^th Grade & Older Students:

So now you have introduced Kehillah (or Morning Meeting) to your students.  Greetings, are well, they are getting a little goofy.  But yet, you know the importance of helping each student feel part of the group (validated and recognized), of making sure everyone knows each other’s name and providing opportunities to extend derech eretz – all necessary in building a class into a community.  So what to do…

Responsive Classroom secular school teachers* are a great resource, and have ideas that will work in our religious school environment.  Try out some of their suggestions (tweaked by me):

·       Practice a Hebrew Greeting (If you are comfortable with this):  How are you?  Or My name is? Teach the students a few Hebrew words to use as answers.

·       Pass the Greeting Ball: Ok, you know this one.  Student 1 greets Student 2, Student 2 says the greeting back to Student 1 holding onto the ball. Then Student 2 tosses the ball to Student 3 and greets Student 3, etc.  VARIATIONS for OLDER STUDENTS:

o   Second time around.  Silently (no greeting or talking),  but this time the students have to repeat the pattern of who the ball goes to next.  Again – now time it. Faster.

o   Repeat above – but now add one more ball, going around in the same pattern. Then add another ball.

o   Do Greeting ball the first time.  Now reverse the pattern and tweak the greeting.

·       Cross Circle Greeting: One by one, students greet someone sitting on the other side of the circle who hasn’t been greeted yet.  Perhaps use a theme – find someone wearing the same color as you… Use a signal to indicate – been greeted (arms crossed, sit down, thumbs up).

·       Mix Match Cards: Create a set of ‘cards’ (on the computer) with Questions & Answers or Go togethers (Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca- or something related to the learning topic). Find your match – greet each other, perhaps ask a set question (sharing)… this can be count as an activity also.

·       Pantomime Greeting:  Student 1 pantomimes something about herself (favorite sport, hobby,).  Class says, “Boker Tov  XXX” and mimics the pantomime.  Repeat around the circle. Variation:  add pantomimes from each student as you go around.  Time it, try for speed.

·       One Minute Greeting:  use a Goofy or Fun Greeting signal (elbows, hand jive, etc).  In one minute students have to greet as many students as possible (teacher and madrich also play). Must look each other in the eye and use names!

Remember to model, teach and reinforce proper greeting techniques: eye contact, being respectful, using proper words and body movements… and have fun!

*taken from The Morning Meeting Book K - 8 (3^rd Edition) by Roxann Kriete & Carol Davis