Classroom rules make students feel safe, secure and happy. Properly explained and consistently reinforced (place them prominently on your wall) they will make your teaching year run smoothly!
In my experience keeping them simple is essential. Children have a hard time remembering the first letter of their name in the early days of school, let alone streams and streams of long complicated words that express your desired expectations for classroom behaviour.
When you consider most expectations in the classroom, they will fit within one of these six simple rules. The goal of your class rules should be to have the students remember and fulfil them. Not to explain every aspect of the human condition. Make them simple and easy-to-remember
My printable classroom rules resource includes 6 class rules that will apply and cover most areas of expectation in your room.
Let's zoom in and look at one example. The rule - 'be safe'.
You see a student rocking on his chair - you point to the rule poster and say 'are you safe'? A student is running. Again - 'are you safe'. A student is sitting in the wrong area for lunch - 'are you safe'?
You can get to the detail of a situation in private conversation with a child when they are ready to listen. When you are managing behaviour in the moment - keep it simple and direct.
I have provided 3 options for you to display:
1. Create a rules display with the large page sized posters
2. Create a vertical line up of rules using the half-page lengthwise rule cards
3. Display the 'all on one page' rule review
This Classroom Rules display will help your students demonstrate positive behaviours. Involve your students in the arrangement and they will treasure it and use its information to make meaningful connections to their classroom environment.
Two titles (small and large) "Our Classroom Rules" are also included to be a heading for your rules.
Each rule has a colourful picture to help those students not able to read yet.
Ask your students to draw and write the 6 simple rules on the follow-up worksheet to reinforce the expectations.
The six rules covered are:
1. listen
2. be nice
3. try hard
4. be safe
5. share
6. care
I am certainly not a child psychologist but one thing I have learnt in what seems like a lifetime of working with children is that your words have the potential to induce anxiety.
One sure way to make a child anxious and amplify their inappropriate behaviours is to drown them in long complicated phrases and terms that take much life experience to understand. Stand in front of them with your hands on your hips and demand to know why they are not acting in a way that is represented by a word they do not understand.
In contrast set a platform for growth understanding and learning by helping them understand how their actions fit into your set of expectations called 'rules' using words that are abundantly clear and familiar with. Give them words that they can instantly visualise themselves acting out.
When the foundations are clear, strong and meaningful we can then grow and move into more intricate detail and understanding.
Head over to TpT if you would like to take a peek at this resource.
Have a lovely day friends and thanks so much for stopping by!
- Mel x