Celebrating Diversity with Say Hello

Hi everyone! Say hello! Welcome to our Back to School Blog series where we have a ton of posts with quick and informative information for your classroom.  Some ideas will be exclusive for the first week of school, but most ideas will be useful all year long. Please know that while we suggest a book for each post you can substitute with any book that you have on hand.  Make sure to check back every week day for a new post in July.

Back to school time means teaching children cooperative learning which almost always includes Think-Pair-Share. Think-Pair-Share can be looked at not just as a way to collaborate in the classroom, but also a way for students to learn skills for working with others in the world.  What better way to teach Think-Pair -Share then to incorporate it with a diverse book like "Say Hello" which celebrates many cultures in one community. This book is great for grades k-3 and does a great job making children feel warm and friendly.  One of our friends on Instagram asked if we introduce each student on the first day of school.  The answer is yes on a perfect day.  Our main goal is to make children feel welcomed and safe and return them home safe.  As most teachers know this can take some time these days.   If possible, we will learn this Think-Pair-Share procedure and practice it while introducing ourselves to some of our classmates.  Where the anchor chart says "share your thoughts", we will have students introduce themselves and share something about themselves.  One of the most important parts for our class community is to end every collaboration by thanking the other person for their thoughts.  It's a great way to learn a procedure and develop community within the classroom.  Click on the video below for more information. Make sure to come back tomorrow for another idea that you can use in your classroom.