From September 23-27, thousands of schools and youth organizations across the United States will participate in Start With Hello Week, including Stillwater Elementary.
Start With Hello was started by Sandy Hook Promise and teaches students be more socially inclusive and connected to each other.
Throughout the week, students will be shown how they can make a difference with their peers in a simple, fun, and impactful way. They will take small but powerful actions to promote connectedness and inclusion within the school building.
Below is the schedule of activities for the week:
Monday: Say Hello!
Today, homeroom teachers will provide students with a name tag. The students will be challenged to say hello to at least 3 new people today. This might be a younger or older classmate or a staff member they don’t know.
At lunch, Mrs. Toleman will be sharing a special video with each grade level in the cafeteria.
Tuesday: RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness Day!)
Today, students will be challenged to perform a random act of kindness. This could be as simple as holding the door for someone, helping someone pick up something they dropped or giving someone a compliment.
At the end of the day, teachers will ask students what random act of kindness they performed, or if something special was done for them, they’ll be asked how it made them feel.
Wednesday: Mix it Up!
Today, we are going to mix it up! Students in grades 2-5 will be sitting with students from different homerooms! Instead of sitting with homeroom, students will be assigned a color table to sit at and it might not be where they usually sit and it definitely won’t be with all of their homeroom classmates. Enjoy having fun with some new friends!
Kindergarteners and first graders will have a special activity at their grade level.
Thursday: You are Amazing!
Everyone at Stillwater Elementary School is amazing! The teachers and staff are always happy to see the students as they arrive, in the hallway, in the lunchroom and classroom! Today, students will find a surprise in their lockers at the end of the day!
Friday: Making a Promise
Today, we’ll be wrapping up Start with Hello Week. We will all be making a pledge, or promise, to always include and be kind to our classmates and school family. Every class will have a chance to sign the “Start with Hello” banner to show that we will all continue to be Stillwater Friendship Warriors!