The week of September 24-28 was Start with Hello Week and Marshall School proudly participated. This is a week of activities designed to help students to take simple steps to make peers feel connected and included in an effort to prevent social isolation. At Marshall, we don’t want our students to feel left out or lonely! Assistant Principal Laura Swyberius spearheaded our Start with Hello activities and made an announcement each morning about the importance of being kind and including others. Marshall teachers took ownership and engaged the students in conversation during morning meeting or at other parts of the day, reinforcing the concept inclusion. Below are our activities:
Tuesday, September 25th
* Morning announcement to Explain/Kick off Start with Hello
* All students/staff were provided with name tags to wear for the day and students were encouraged to greet people by name. The goal was to have students make new friends and include others during classroom activities, recess, and lunch.
Wednesday, September 26th:
* Morning announcement encouraging students to continue connecting with others
* We wore green in honor of Start with Hello (the official color of this initiative).
* Circle Question: “Share a time that you were lonely or a time that you helped someone who was lonely” or “Share about a time you helped to cheer someone up who was sad.” The goal was to help students recognize that we are all sad and/or lonely sometimes, but we can help each other with acts of kindness and friendship.
Thursday, September 27th and Friday, September 28th
* Morning announcements about kindness and inclusion
* Classes stopped by our “Pledge Wall” to sign their names to a school-wide pledge to be a friend to all who need one.
We are certain that students recognize that one kind word, even simply saying hello, can change someone else’s day!