How to Use Greeting Rituals in Sophie’s Classroom

Greetings provide a way to connect with every family that enters the classroom. In an infant/toddler classroom, the greeting is as helpful for the parent/guardian as it is for the child! All parents/guardians want to know their children are going to be safe and valued, and have a fun day of learning while at school. You can assist in this felt sense of safety and security for both parents/guardians and children by taking a moment to authentically connect during drop off. For the children, this felt sense of safety and connection is essential to a day of cooperation, caring, learning and fun!

Select a location where you will stand every morning to greet families. Send the verbal and nonverbal message, “Hello, I’m glad you’re here today! I will keep your precious child safe.”

Infants and younger toddlers will engage in a cooperative ritual between you, the child and the parent/guardian. A brief I Love You Rituals is an excellent choice for a greeting. So is the simple greeting ritual described below:

With loving eye contact, say, “Good morning __(parent/guardian name)__. I see you’ve brought your precious __(child name)__ with you and __(child name)__ has brought his/her __(elbow, toes, etc.)__!” Give the named body part a squeeze and lift the child from the parent/guardian’s arms.

Older toddlers may enjoy props like a greeting apron or a greeting poster that offer them choices about how they would like to be greeted. This also enables you to utilize the “Greeter” job on your School Family Job board to assist in greeting children as they enter the room. For example, you might put images of a butterfly, a hand and a bear on aprons you and the Greeter wear or on a poster near the classroom door. Point to the greeting images, ask children how they would like to be greeted and then share a playful greeting together. (Make up greetings to go with the images.) A downloadable digital template for a greeting apron is included in the Make-N-Takes section of our Premium Resource Toolkit.