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Step 3 - Classroom contract
Elicit from students other rules they would add (to a maximum of 5 total classroom rules) to ensure that everyone feels safe and respected. I'd like the wording to come from the students, to ensure the rules have meaning for them. We talk about the effect of saying "Don't" or "no", and I ask them to frame rules by telling what should be done, instead of what shouldn't.
Once everyone agrees on the rules listed, we role play a couple of scenarios, and sign and post the contract. -
Step 1 - Coming in
I like to have my students line up outside of the classroom before we begin our first day. I tell them the procedure for entering the classroom: We enter calmly and quietly, hang up backpacks and coats, change shoes, and put our communication folder in the pocket. We find our desk, take down our chair, and look for the morning task (either on the white board or an activity I have placed on their desk). -
Step 2 - Our safety
Students know, by the end of the first day, about procedures that keep us safe. We see and practice:
- Lockdown procedure
- Fire drill exits and procedure
- Bathroom sign out sheet: All student names are on a small card that they move into one of the two spots on the sign out poster. This ensures I know who is out of the classroom at all times (because I can forget even 5 seconds after telling a child they can go!) and that we don't have 6 kids playing around in the bathroom at once! -
Step 4 - Introducing Consequences
Explain to students that, because Respect and Safety are the most important rules in our class, anyone who breaks these rules will face a logical consequence.
3-step process for broken rules:
1. Warning
2. Meeting with teacher/reflective writeup
3. Contact with home or principal
For smaller, but more frequent issues (in my class, the big problem is interruptions during discussion), students will see their name written on the board as warning, with check marks for minutes owed at lunch. -
Step 5 - Practicing Procedures
With my young class I like to model, then have them practice, the following procedures:
- Transitions between classroom spaces (ex desks to carpet)
- Lining up and walking in hall
- Finding a partner
- Moving desks into groups
- Class responsibilities (8 are posted, names rotate through each week. They include: distribution; recycling; watering plants; lights on/off; checking for communication folders; recording temperature; calendar)
- Cue to stop and listen
- Class discussion mode