Classroom Rules and Expectations FREEBIE
Start as you intend to go.
Have you heard this line before?
My mentor said this to me as I was preparing my lesson plans my first year of teaching.
I didn’t really understand what she meant at the time, but then, funny enough…. someone said the exact same thing with me when I had my first daughter.
Start as you intend to go.
I suppose parenting has similar correlations with teaching.
When I started teaching, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into… just like when I became a first-time mom.
Do any of us new mamas or teachers?
BONUS: this kit has now been translated to Spanish as a FREE update included in your download.
My mentor and I reflected a few weeks into my first month of school, and she explained, “You don’t want to start too easy on them. Students will live up to your expectations. Expect they know nothing about how to act at school. Keep the bar high and students will meet you there.”
Everything she said was so true (I honestly find the same to be true enough with parenting too!)
I was frustrated at the time because my students weren’t raising their hand to talk, they weren’t listening to me when I was speaking, they weren’t staying in their chairs, etc.
But had I explicitly taught them exactly what I expected them to do?
I now start the school year assuming my students do not know how to push in their chair, sit in a circle, raise their hand, stand in a line, put away supplies, etc.
If you teach kindergarten then you know that children usually come to school with absolutely no idea on how to behave at school.
I explicitly teach them every single rule and expectation.
I have worded the slides in a positive format stating, “I can…” instead of “Don’t _______”. I know my student CAN follow each of these, so we start by using this language.
And by teach, I actually mean TEACH - I do not just tell them the rules and expectations.
We actually go through the motions and practice every single expectation - do not skip this important step!
I’m sharing a FREEBIE on this blog post for you to use with your students as well!
Student need to see what rules LOOK LIKE, SOUND LIKE, FEEL LIKE and finally they need to actually PRACTICE the rules and expectations.
So how do you explicitly teach students rules and expectations?
Where do you even begin?
Just like anything you teach, make sure this process is hands-on and engaging.
Get students involved! If you just talk at them, students will tune you out.
After you show them the slide (or poster if you choose to print these out) so they can SEE the expectation, they need to actually physically practice the rule and/or expectation so they know what it FEELS like.
See my suggested steps below:
After I teach a slide, we discuss and practice, then comes the follow up activity where students turn to the coordinating page in their mini books and they read the sentence and color the picture.
Then we buddy read the page with a partner and review the previous pages in their books for fluency practice and to review the expectations and rules!
27 rules/expectations are already made and formatted for you.
These cannot be edited.
But what if you have additional rules you wish to include?
There is an editable slide that you can add text and/or photos to included in the Google Slides file.
Watch this quick video on how I use this resource to teach classroom expectations.
Print this FREEBIE as a follow up activity.
You can print multiple copies and make students a book, or print one at a time to reflect on each rule.
Even though most schools no longer implement pandemic rules/procedures, I added these slides to this resource back in 2020.
They are still included in your download.
Some of the slides are still applicable such as washing hands, keeping your desk clean, etc.
I also made an adorable FREE poster to remind students of a few things we can do to stay safe.
Print this FREE poster HERE
Ready to explicitly teach classroom rules and expectations in a positive, hands-on way?
READ THE REVIEWS ON TPT
“I am so excited to have a visual when teaching my students school rules at the beginning of the year! My students will love the coordinating book that goes along with each rule! Thank you for making such an important task so much easier! :)”
“I love how these rules are positive reinforcements of the desired behaviors rather than having a negative aspect.”
“I love using real pictures with real kids. The children can relate to real pictures of kids in the act of better than just the words. Thank you.”
BACK TO SCHOOL RESOURCES
Click the pictures below for more of our favorite resources to use during the back to school season.
