Hello! Bonjour! Konnichiwa! Hola! Namaste! How will you say hello, this World Hello Day?
What and when is World Hello Day, you ask? Well, it’s next week, November 21st, and it’s a day to encourage world leaders to resolve their issues through communication!
Any person can participate in World Hello Day simply by greeting ten people or more. This demonstrates the importance of personal communication for preserving peace.
As teachers, we understand more than most the importance of communicating clearly. With children, peers, parents or admin – teaching lessons about acceptance and communication from a young age is a great way to foster positive relationships in the classroom.
Successful communication is integral to working together with our school communities to educate our young students. Adults who can safely and sensibly express their feelings and emotions were once children who learned about conflict resolution!
11 Activities to Promote World Hello Day
Celebrate World Hello Day with your class by hanging our Hello Around the World bunting, putting up our A Simple Hello Positivity Poster or our Hello Around The World Poster and organizing one of the following activities!
Greet Your Class
Start World Hello Day by saying hello to your students! Give each student one of our Hello Greeting Cards to start off the day the right way.
Why not give them a boost by telling them how well they’ve been studying that week or complimenting their behaviour at school?
Students will love a personalised message from their teacher and will see straight away how much of a difference saying ‘hello’ can make!
Sing a “Hello” Song
Participating in World Hello Day can be as easy as saying hello to 10 different people. Why not teach your class how to say hello in a different language?
Early years students will love this video on saying hello in different countries!
Play an Ice Breaker Game
Even if you’ve spent all year with your class, it can be easy to forget the unique qualities that each of your students possess. When you see everyone every day it’s easy for your students to treat each other as just ‘another piece of furniture’ in the classroom!
Play one of our 12 Fun Getting To Know You Icebreakers for Kids or choose a card from our Icebreaker Game Cards. “Getting to know you” activities can help you remind your children to value themselves and each other as unique individuals.
Words of Affirmation
Sometimes the kindest way to resolve conflict is to show that you appreciate and value those around you.
Ask your students to create a self-portrait using our Self-Portrait worksheet. Glue it onto a larger piece of card to display in the classroom.
Throughout the day, your students can fill out our You Are Adjective Cards and anonymously stick words of affirmation to their peers’ self-portraits! This is a wonderful activity to encourage your students to think positively about their classmates.
Promote Unity and Build Friendships
We have a number of wonderful teaching resources designed to promote positive friendship and teach students lessons about what makes a good friend.
Explore our What Makes a Good Friend Resource Pack with your class and learn the fundamental social skills of being a positive friend.
[resource:52001][resource:51997][resource:51970][resource:2051254]
[resource:587998][resource:51993][resource:921734][resource:15665]
How About a Handshake?
When it comes to non-verbal methods of saying ‘Hello’, you can’t go past a good ol’ handshake.
The history of the handshake dates back to the 5th century B.C. in Greece. It was a symbol of peace, showing that neither person was carrying a weapon.
Incorporate some gross motor development into your World Hello Day and ask your students to develop their own personalised handshake.
Roll call will never be the same!
Letter to the Teacher
Students who feel valued by their teachers are more likely to positively contribute to the class community. Asking students to re-introduce themselves to you in a Letter to the Teacher can help them feel like they are understood and acknowledged as important individuals.
An added bonus is that this activity reconnects you with your kids, and gives you a better idea of how they perceive themselves. This can help inform your pedagogy and how you run your classroom.
Explore Social Skills
Drama provides a fun, hands-on way to explore the complex topic of Social Skills. Choose from our huge selection of Social Stories Resource Cards and ask students to role-play the incorrect behaviour, followed by the correct behaviour.
[resource:67597][resource:67671][resource:67675][resource:67575]
Ask your students to consider the following questions:
- Why was that behaviour incorrect?
- Was there a victim and aggressor in this story? Who?
- What thought process went into making a more positive behaviour choice?
Students can explore the themes demonstrated in the drama activity by completing a Social Stories – Pictures and Templates storyboard worksheet.
What Does Respect Mean to You?
Have you ever heard this come out of a student’s mouth?
“Well, I wouldn’t care if they (insert various unkind act) to me, so why should they care if I do it to them?”
Despite the fact that respect is a universal value, it can mean very different things to different people.
Your students will have to think deeply about what the word ‘Respect’ means to them and explore how they show respect to others with our Identifying Respect Worksheet.
As a class, discuss each child’s thoughts at the end of this activity. This will help your students recognise that they should treat people how they themselves wish to be treated, but also think how the other person wishes to be treated.
Create a Class Puzzle
Appreciating and respecting each other as individuals is a wonderful lesson to learn. However, recognizing that your classroom is a sum of its unique parts is a great way to build teamwork and co-operation in the classroom!
Represent the idea of unity in the classroom by creating a Class Puzzle. Ask each of your students to personalise a puzzle piece and then feature the complete puzzle in a prominent place in your classroom. Students will love the opportunity to be a part of a community, while still being able to remain their unique selves!
Reflecting on the Day
At the end of World Hello Day, ask your students to contribute one thing to your Random Acts of Kindness Display. Facilitate a class discussion about how they felt during the day, and what they hope to take from the day and keep in mind for the future.
Comments