GREETINGS

The Circle of Power and Respect is something we do first thing every morning. Each session of The Circle begins with a greeting, followed by sharing, then a short activity, and ends with the day's news. It is a great way to start off our day and really offers an opportunity for each child's voice to be heard. On this page you will find our most popular greetings and activities; just pass your mouse over the greeting or activity title.

use two equal size circles of students, an inner and outer circle- after this greeting is shared with a friend then the inner circle moves over one, while the outer circle is stationary

Hello friend, what do you say?(shake hands)
It's gonna be a wonderful day
Clap your hands and boogie on down
Then raise your hands and turn around

This is the group speaking to one individual student

Group: Hey There ____________(student's name)
Student: Someone's calling my name
G: Hey There ______________
S: Must be playing a game
G: Hey There __, you're wanted on the phone
S: Since it's my good friend, ______________ (student next in circle) tell her I'm at home.
Group:
Just sitting on the sofa watching the clock
Go tick-tock tick-tock de wa wa
Tick-tock, tick-tock, de wa wa wa!

Hey There _____________
You're real cool cats
You've got a little of this (snap your fingers)
And a little of that (snap your fingers)
So don't be afraid
To boogie and jam
Just stand up and chugga
As fast as you can
Chugga up - chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga
Chugga down - chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga
To the left - chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga
To the right - chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga

use two equal size circles of students, an inner and outer circle- all students sing the song while walking in opposite directions; when the song ends each student greets the student facing opposite

A rig-a-jig-jig and away we go
Hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho,
As I was walking down the street
Down the street, down the street,
A friend of mine I chanced to meet
Hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho

One student stands in the middle of the circle and calls out each line and all the other students respond.

Student: Hidey, hidey, hidey, ho!
Class: Hidey, hidey, hidey, ho!
S: What d'ya say, what d'ya know!
C: What d'ya say, what d'ya know!
S: I got the _________ ___________ boogie.
Student decides what to fill these blanks in with)
C: (S/he's) got the _______ ________ boogie.
S: And I got it right now.
C: And (s/he's) got it right now.
S: I'm gonna pick it on up.
C: (S/he's) gonna pick it on up.
S: And pass it on down.
C: And pass it on down.
S: To my good friend, __________
C: To (his/her) friend __________.
S: And (s/he's) got it right now.
C: And (s/he's) got it right now.
Now the student who was named hops into the circle and starts all over again.

All students are sitting in a circle and close their eyes, imagining that it is night time in the African Jungle. This greeting uses two phrases: "Sawa Bona," which means "I see you," and "Sikhona," which means "I am here." The person who begins the greeting opens his eyes, turns to the person beside him and says,
Sawa Bona, _____________(the student's name). That student opens his eyes and responds,
Sikhona, ___________(responding to the student who greeted him)

The student who begins, pantomimes something about herself (favourite sport, food, animal). The whole class then greets that student by saying,
Hello, ____________ and then everyone mimics the pantomime. This continues around the circle until all the students have been greeted.

Students use different languages for greetings:
Bonjour
Buon giorno (Italian)
Shalom (Hebrew)
Buenas dias (Spanish)
Gutten morgan (German)
Kale mera (Greek)
Asalam alakum (Arabic)
Sign language

One student gets up and standing in front of the student next to him/her either bows (if it is a boy giving the greeting) or curtsies (if it is a girl giving the greeting) and gives a greeting, then the next student rises and continues the greeting until everyone has been greeted.

Each student greets another student, then gently rolls a ball to that student, who returns the greeting but not the ball. S/he then chooses a new student to greet and to pass the ball to. The greeting continues in this way until all the students have been greeted.

The student who begins the greeting turns to his/her neighbour, and the two students look at each other and smile while the group chants:
(First student's name), (First student's name), what do you see?
The first student then answers:
I see (second student's name) looking at me. Good morning!
The second student then turns to the next person and the chant repeats with new names.

The group sits in a circle. The student who is "it" gets a card with a word written on it taped to his/her back. The word names a person, place, or thing; the word is usually related to subjects the class is studying. The student can ask the class ten yes or no questions to try to figure out what is written on his/her back. Each time a question is asked, the class responds with thumbs up for "yes" and thumbs down for "no."

Sitting in the sand
And the sea comes up
Class is squatting down and slowly stands up.
So you put your hands together
And you use them like a cup
Students cup their two hands together.
And you dip them in the water
With a scooping kind of motion
Students pretend to dip their cupped hands into the ocean.
And before the sea goes out again
You have a sip of ocean.
Students then take a sip of the ocean water in their cupped hands and all of them make a particularly disgusting noise, something like, "Aaagggghhhh!"

Student one to Student two: This is a potato.
Student two to Student one: A what?
Student one to Student two: A potato.
Student two to Student one: Oh, a potato.
Student two then starts it up all over again with Student three. We don't really use a potato, the students find it much funnier if we are passing around any other object such as a pencil.
After the "potato" gets started around the circle, begin passing a second item in the opposite direction, giving it a different name.
This is an eggplant.
A What?
An eggplant,
and so on. When the items meet in the middle, things can get pretty chaotic.

One person begins on "stage" - they are in their home. Stage left is the front door, stage right is the back door. Students may enter scene through the front door by saying, "Ding dong!" or they may enter the back door by say, "Yohoo!" or they may call on the telephone from the audience, "Ring, ring!" Students must enter with a PURPOSE and all offers must be ACCEPTED by the owner of the house.

You start with an object that can easily be passed around the circle behind the students' backs. One person stands in the middle of the circle and closes his/her eyes for a moment. Students begin to pass the object behind their backs, as sneakily as possible. They also pretend to pass so that at all times students are either passing or faking a pass. The person in the middle tries to figure out where the object is in the circle. He/she has three guesses, which must be made before the object gets back to the student who first passed the object.

Choose two students to be the "contestants." Those two students turn their backs while you reveal a secret word to the rest of the class. With the two students back in the circle, the rest of the students raise their hands to volunteer one-word clues that might help the contestants guess the word. Contestants take turns calling on clue volunteers until one of the contestants correctly guesses the secret password. The contestant who guesses the password remains; the student who gave the final clue replaces the other contestant.

In this game, nobody wants to hold the rubber chicken -- the game's only prop! Select one person to be It. That person holds the rubber chicken. The teacher or a "caller" says to the person holding the chicken, "Name five breakfast cereals!" As soon as the caller says, "Pass the chicken," the person holding the chicken passes it to the right. Students quickly pass the chicken around the circle. If it returns to the original holder before he or she can name five breakfast cereals, the holder is still It. Otherwise, the person holding the chicken when It finishes listing five breakfast cereals is the new It. You should prepare the topic cards for this game in advance. Topics can relate to your curriculum or be general information topics. The student who is It must name five items in the called-out category in order to get rid of the dreaded chicken!

This activity, which builds group interaction and concentration, is not as easy to play as it may seem. Students must count from 10 down to1 with only one person calling out a number at a time. Students are instructed to call out a number when they think it is appropriate. The game begins with a student calling out, "10." When two or more players call out a number at the same time, the game starts again. When the class finally reaches "1," the whole class chimes in, "Blast-off!!"

You need a blindfolded student who knows the trick. Announce that the blindfolded student can magically guess any number between 1 and 5. The remaining class members take turns indicating secret numbers with their fingers.

When the secret number is 1, turn to the student and say, "Yes?"
When the secret number is 2, turn to the student and say, "Ready?" or "O.K."
When the secret number is 3, turn to the student and say, "Ready now?" or "O.K. Go!"
When the secret number is 4, turn to the student and say, "Are you ready?"
When the secret number is 5, turn to the student and say, "Are you ready now?"

Have all players sit in a circle and then chose a person to be “it”. IT is to leave so that IT cannot see or hear. Have one student move in the circle. When IT returns he is to figure out who has moved in the circle.

The first person says, One Frog.
The next person says, In the water.
And the next person says, Kerplunk.
Now, increase everything by one.
So, the next person in the circle says, Two Frogs.
And the next person says, Two Frogs.
The person after that says, In the water.
And the next person says, In the water.
The person after that says, Kerplunk.
And the next person says, Kerplunk.
Keep going around the circle increasing everything by one.

The leader is "Cabree." Cabree gives the group instructions. Group members follow the instructions only if the instructions are preceded by, "Cabree says ..." For example, if the leader says, Cabree says touch your knees, group members touch their knees. However, if the group leader says, Touch your knees, group members sit still. This activity is similar to "Simon Says," except no one is ever "out."

One player leaves the group and stands where she cannot see the group. The teacher chooses a leader who does a movement, such as folding her arms or snapping her fingers, which the others follow. The leader changes the movement regularly and the others follow the leader's movements. The player who left the group, returns and stands in the middle of the circle, watches the movements, and tries to guess who the leader is.

In this activity, one person goes to the centre of the circle and mimes some simple action such as brushing one's teeth. The next person in the circle approaches the teeth-brusher and asks, What are you doing? The teeth-brusher responds by saying something completely different, such as, I'm washing the floor. The person who asked now pretends that she is washing the floor. The next person from the circle then comes to ask the floor-washer, What are you doing? This goes on until everyone in the circle has had a chance to mime an action.

Choose a real object, such as a metre stick, and use it to pantomime something else: a guitar, a horse, a bat, etc. The group guesses what the object is that you're pantomiming. Then pass the object around the circle. Any student who wants can pantomime something with it while the group guesses what the object is.

Some examples:
· You are roasting marshmallows over a fire.
· Your shoes are too tight.
· You're delivering newspapers.
· You are sneaking cookies from the jar.
· You are eating spaghetti.
· You didn't do your homework and your teacher just found out.
· You don't have enough money to pay for that cookie you just bought at the cafeteria.

Some examples:
· A girl bring a dog (not another actor- just pretend it is there) into her house who "followed her home." She tries to convince her mother to let her keep the dog.
· Two siblings play a board game. One accuses the other of cheating. An argument ensues.
· Two friends are out in the tent camping and one of them thinks they heard something.
· A child tries to convince parent to stay home from work and let her stay home from school.
· A mother and son are shopping and he tries to convince his mother to buy something he wants.
· One friend tries to convince another friend that she has seen a UFO. The friend is disbelieving.

I Woke Up Saturday Morning
Players sit in a circle and put both hands out in front of them with palms facing up.
Overlap hands so your right hand is above the left hand of the person sitting on your right.
One person starts by reaching over with their right hand and clapping the right hand of the person sitting on their left.
The clap is passed around the circle while the group says this rhyme:
I woke up Saturday morning
I looked up on the wall
I saw a team of roaches
playing basketball.
The score was ten to nothing
the roaches in the lead
I got a can of bug spray, one, two three!
If a player's hand is clapped on "three," that player is out. If the player pulls her hand away in time, and the person claps their own hand, then that person is out. When there are only two people left in the game, the hand positions change. Player 1 holds both hands out, palms facing up. Player 2 slaps Player 1's hands with both of his hands, palms facing down. Now, Player 2 holds his hands out, and Player 1 slaps his hands. Play continues until there is only one person left!