The greeting is the first component to a successful morning meeting. The greeting welcomes all of the students and allows the students to greet a classmate by name. The greeting can be as simple as a handshake followed by "Good Morning _______", or the greeting can be as elaborate and fun as the students taking a pretend selfie together. No matter how you choose for your students to greet each other, it is the first pivotal step in your students developing strong, trusting relationships with their peers. The greeting also allows your students to learn who their classmates are much more quickly and allows them to become comfortable greeting new people.
Simple greetings:
Proper hand shake:
Student's shake with their right hands, maintain eye contact and greet one other with " Good Morning ______".
High 5/Fist Bump
Students greet a peer with either a high five or a fist bump. Students still verbally greet during this process with a "Hi ___________" or "Good Morning _________."
Snowball
Each student writes their own name on a small piece of paper. Students crumble up their paper into a ball and throw it in the middle of the circle. Each student then grabs a "snowball" and greets that peer.
Stinky Shoes
Students take off on shoe and toss it into the middle of the circle. Each student grabs a shoe that is not theirs. Students greet the peer who owns the shoe.
Dice Roll
Roll a dice, whatever number is rolled, that is how many peers each student will greet.
Knock, Knock
This greeting is done in pairs.
Student 1: Knock knock!
Student 2: Who's there?
Student 1: (says their first name)
Student 2: (repeats student 1's first name) who?
Student 1: (says their first and last name)
Student 2: Good morning (repeats first and last name)
Action Alliteration
Ask students to think about an action that begins with the same letter as their first name. After wait time, the students greet a peer or the entire circle by saying "Hi everyone, I'm ______(action word) ______(first name)." For example, "Hi everyone, I'm swimmy Steph"!
Silly Voices
Students greet a peer using a silly voice.
There are endless greetings that you can teach and implement into your morning meeting. Having greetings that are fun, exciting, and different will encourage your students to express themselves and their creativity.
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