Teacher's Book Offers Fun, Safe Ways to Greet Others in Pandemic

When children return to school this fall, it will have been six months since they last saw their teachers and classmates in person. In normal times, they might hug or high-five as they greet one another. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means physical contact is not recommended.

Over the summer, this weighed on Claremont School reading teacher Mary Catherine Hillman, who has a 4-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son and taught kindergarten for many years.

“I just started thinking about what school would look like for my own kids and for all the students that I usually see and greet at the door,” she said. “And I knew that it would be different and I was trying to come up with a way to tell a story that might help students know what it will be like when they go back to school.”

She came up with “But How Will I Say ‘Hello,’” a short book that suggests creative ways of greeting friends and teachers without physical contact. Park School recently invited her to read the book – which is in English and Spanish – to incoming pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students on Zoom.

In the book, a young girl arrives at school only to find the chart with options for greeting her teacher at the door has some of the choices blocked out. But there are many ways to greet people safely, she learns, such as elbow and foot taps, salutes, winks, jazz hands, pretend hat tips, and of course, waves.

“Or my favorite – a simple dance move I created myself!” the girl says.

Ms. Hillman said she wrote the story and shared it with her brother, who encouraged her to publish it and helped with the design and production. He worked with her to find an illustrator and set up a Kickstarter campaign to raise money. With the generosity of colleagues, family, friends and strangers, she exceeded her goal. Park School dual language teacher and longtime colleague Claudia Lavado translated the book into Spanish.

“With a topic like this at this moment, you won’t find any material in Spanish and I felt like this book could spark conversations,” she said.

This is children’s reality right now, Ms. Lavado said. They go out, see facemasks, and wonder what it will be like in school. The book will help them be safe as they find new and fun ways to greet one another, she said.

Ms. Hillman said she would donate books to the Ossining School District and other neighboring school districts. The soft-cover version is at the printer, and there is an ebook edition. There are also colorful stickers and bookmarks in English and Spanish available.

“I said to people, ‘I hope that we’re not going to have to use this book in 10 years, but I do hope that it can open up conversation now,’” she said. “There’s research that shows that greeting children at the door contributes to both social-emotional learning and academics. Creating meaningful relationships is huge, so we need to keep that in our routines and how can we do that?”

Ms. Hillman said she hopes the book will help teachers too. “We’re all so nervous right now and have so many feelings and emotions we’re going through” with the reopening of schools approaching, she said.

Park School Assistant Principal Melissa Stoller said she likes the book because it is easy for children to understand and was written by someone who understands the value of greeting children personally in the morning. Research has shown that doing so sets a positive tone for the day, increases academic engagement, boosts attendance, lowers stress levels, reduces disruptive behavior, and builds a sense of community.

Ms. Stoller said she appreciates how responsive Ms. Hillman was to the need to help children, parents and teachers adjust to the changes COVID has brought to the classroom, as well as her collaboration with Ms. Lavado.

“What I love so much is the teamwork that teachers have in Ossining,” she said.

For more information about “But How Will I Say ‘Hello,’” visit www.haffandhawfbooks.com.