Dear Families,
As I mentioned last week, I will be sharing about each component of Eagle Community Building (ECB) in the next few newsletters. Today, we focus on the GREETING as part of the process. As laid out in The Morning Meeting Book by Roxann Kriete, there are several purposes for greetings:
- Set a positive tone for the classroom and the day
- Provide a sense of recognition and belonging
- Help students learn and use each other’s names
- Give practice in offering hospitality
Greeting time also teaches and encourages some positive aspects of social awareness such as eye contact, politeness/manners, conversation skills, and confidence/self-assurance in interacting with others.
Depending on the brief type of greeting teachers implement, they can reinforce academic skills with students as well. For example, a teacher could ask every person in the ECB circle to select an adjective to describe the way they are feeling, thereby encouraging the use of descriptive words and reinforcing learning of a part of speech. Teachers encourage students to practice effective communication through voice and body language, clear and audible speaking, respectful listening, etc. Teachers also help students to forge relationships with students beyond their normal social circle when they teach children to notice and greet others. This helps in breaking down cliques and broadening friendship lines.
Even when adults greet each student by name as they arrive in the morning, we are reinforcing how to greet one another during ECB. Overall, what takes mere minutes can dramatically impact social emotional learning for students! Next week, we will discuss the SHARING component of Eagle Community Building.
In joyful service,
Mrs. Dolan
Read the full newsletter here: https://stjlutheranschool.org/eagle-connection-11-05-2020/