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"Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners" by Laurie Keller

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"Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners" by Laurie Keller

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Do Unto Otters is a fun read for students to learn about kindness and treating others the way you want to be treated. Mr. Rabbit has some new neighbors, the otters. He worries if they will get along until he hears the saying, "do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you". Mr. Rabbit lists out all the ways he would like the otters to behave like saying please and thank you, not mocking him, and including everyone when they play.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which otter manners do you think are the most important in our classroom, and why?

2. How would you want someone to treat you if you were new in the class?

3. Can you think of a time when you showed good manners—or when someone showed good manners to you?

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"What If Everybody Did That?" by Ellen Javernick

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"What If Everybody Did That?" by Ellen Javernick

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"What If Everybody Did That?" by Ellen Javernick follows a young boy around his community. This boy does things like litter, runs around a grocery store, and feeds animals at the zoo, all things that we should not do to keep order instead of chaos. After each event someone reminds the young boy "what if everybody did that?", signifying that if all people behaved how he is behaving, there would be complete chaos! This book reminds students that they play a big role in the order and routines of the classroom. And if everyone misbehaved or did not turn in their homework, it would be chaos!

Discussion Questions:

1. Can one small action really make a big difference? Why or why not?

2. What’s something positive you wish everyone would do? What would the world look like if that happened?

3. Have you ever done something small—like littering or interrupting—that seemed okay at the time? What would happen if everyone did the same?

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This video can be shown to teachers and students in order to review important classroom rules and procedures. Teachers can show this to students and pause and discuss when an important procedure is mentioned.

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Building Strong Foundations With Classroom Routines

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This blog post can be used with teachers and students alike. It is filled with important reminds for teachers as to why having clear and simple rules for students is key to a successful school year. For students, provide the reccommended list of rules:

1. Listen and follow directions.

2. Raise your hand before speaking or leaving your seat.

3. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

4. Respect your classmates and your teacher.

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Listen to my interview with Michael Linsin here or read a full transcript.

When I was a teacher, classroom management was not my strongest suit. I relied heavily on forming good relationships with my students, thereby preventing misbehavior. This worked about 90 percent of the time; I really didn't have a whole lot of behavior problems. Unfortunately, the way I dealt with that other 10 percent was rather haphazard: Far too often, I defaulted to the "Wait till there's a problem, then react" mode.

If I had known about Michael Linsin back then, if I'd had access to the stockpiles of advice he shares on his website, Smart Classroom Management , I would have done things differently.

For you, though, it's not too late. If you haven't already discovered Michael Linsin or Smart Classroom Management, this will be a good day for you. Because a few weeks ago, Michael and I spent close to an hour talking on Skype. I asked him to share his advice for teachers implementing a classroom management plan for the school year.

For those who want the quick version, I have pulled the four most important points he made-four keys to setting up and implementing a classroom management plan so that it really works-and summarized them here.

My biggest classroom management mistake was that "wait and see" mentality I mentioned before. I never really had a clear plan, and I don't remember ever giving more than a few minutes to explaining my rules and procedures to students. Honestly, I didn't want them to think I was mean, or boring, or lame. I wanted to talk about the good stuff on day 1, not bog students down with a bunch of negativity.

And year after year, that bit me in the butt. It's not that I had badly behaved students, but my lack of clear structure made my job way harder than it had to be. If I'd set up and communicated a clear behavior plan at the beginning of each year, I know I would have enjoyed teaching a lot more.

A classroom management plan should not be complicated. All you need are rules and consequences.

Classroom Rules

Linsin recommends creating a short, simple list of rules. "It's important just to think about how you can protect your students' right to learn and also protect your freedom to teach. You want to think about all those behaviors from your experience that are interfering with those two goals, and you create a set of rules as boundaries that protect that freedom."

In his basic classroom management plan , Linsin recommends including the following rules:

1. Listen and follow directions.

2. Raise your hand before speaking or leaving your seat.

3. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

4. Respect your classmates and your teacher.

Now I'll tell you this: I have always had my doubts about simple lists like this, because I felt they were way too open to interpretation (and misinterpretation). Too much gray area. But that's because I didn't understand how to effectively implement a simple list of rules. Now I do, and I'm going to get into that in Key 2. But first, the consequences.

Classroom Consequences

To accompany the simple list of classroom rules, Linsin recommends a short sequence of consequences for breaking the rules:

1. Warning

2. Time-out

3. Letter home

Linsin acknowledges that these rules and consequences are pretty standard, and he does not insist that all teachers stick to his specific choices. "There is no magic in the rules and consequences themselves," he says. "It's how you present them and then how you fulfill them."

That's where the magic starts to happen.

This is not the same as "going over" the rules. That's just reading off a list and basically telling students what you expect. While that's better than nothing, it isn't enough. If you want students to really understand exactly how they should behave and exactly what will happen if they don't, you need to teach your behavior plan as you would any other piece of content. The bulk of this, Linsin says, can be accomplished through detailed modeling of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors.

"Model those rules so there are no misunderstandings about what they mean, and what behaviors they cover. You would model from your perspective as the teacher and as a student, so you may be sitting in a student's chair with the students surrounding you showing them precisely how to raise their hands."

Linsin urges teachers to be excruciatingly specific in this modeling. "The more detailed you are, even to a ridiculous degree," he says, "the more effective and powerful it is. I may show them the actual bend in the elbow of how to raise their hand, the finger placement..."

And after you model the behavior, have the students model it back for you. "You may have the whole class showing you how to raise their hand, how to get up to get a tissue. You may have one model, and then you'll have five model, and then you'll have them all model at the same time."

Although this kind of detailed teaching takes time at the beginning of the year, it ultimately saves you time and frustration later. And it may not be necessary to teach ALL the rules on the very first day. "Let's say you have time to only model one rule," Linsin says. "If you model it in a highly detailed way, it transfers. They begin to understand that you're going to expect that with everything. The first routine you teach of the year, you want to teach the heck out of it, to a remarkable, ridiculous level, because you're not so much teaching the routine, you're teaching how to do things the right way. You're teaching excellence. You're setting the tone of 'This is how we do it here. We do things the right way, and we pursue excellence in everything we do.'"

When it's time to enforce your rules and consequences, establish some professional distance between you and your students. Execute your plan without getting emotional about it. Linsin advises teachers to be "incredibly personable with the students, and build really close relationships, but when it comes to classroom management, you're an unfeeling robot almost. Or a referee on a football field. You call them like you see them."

For a lot of teachers, this is easier said than done. I know it was for me. When students misbehaved, I did kind of take it personally. My heart believed that if they respected me, if they cared about me, then they wouldn't talk when I was talking, they wouldn't fool around when they were supposed to be doing something else. It upset me, and I'm sure that showed on my face and in my voice. It added an extra layer of tension and compounded the problem, making the interaction more about the student and me than about the behavior.

It would be far more effective for teachers to train themselves to perceive misbehavior the way Linsin does.

"It's not me," he tells himself. "It's a choice they're making, and there's a consequence for that choice. I'm not going to take it personally. I'm not going to feel like that student is doing that because of me."

He urges teachers to treat infractions quickly and with no emotion. "I believe in never lecturing, scolding, any of that kind of stuff, because every time you do it, it just makes managing your classroom more difficult."

Although making sure students have razor-sharp clarity of your behavior plan is essential, it's just as important to make students want to be in your class.

"You have to sell your program," Linsin explains. "My number one goal is not that at the end of the day that they know the rules and consequences. It's that they're happy and excited to be part of the class. That they run home to their parents and say, 'Oh my gosh. I have the best teacher. I have this awesome class. We're going to do this and that this year. It's going to be great.' Because that's what's going to give you the leverage. The classroom management secret is to create a classroom that students love being a part of."

So spend lots of time that first day getting students excited about the year, about the learning they're going to do and the community they will create. "The idea of classroom management, of my website, is not just to get through the day," Linsin says. "It's to create an experience those students will remember for a lifetime ." ♦

Michael Linsin is the author of several books on Classroom Management: Dream Class , The Classroom Management Secret , and The Happy Teacher Habits *. His most recent publication is an e-book, The Smart Classroom Management Plan For High School Teachers .

* Some of these are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I get a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you.

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join the Cult of Pedagogy mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading. If you are already a subscriber and want this resource, just check your most recent email for a link to the Members-Only Library-it's in there!

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Classroom Management: 4 Keys to Starting the Year off Right

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How to set up and implement a classroom behavior plan that really works, with advice from Smart Classroom Management's Michael Linsin.

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"David Goes to School" by David Shannon is a great tool for explaining the importance of rules to young students. Providing students with examples of unnacceptable behaviors can help them understand what is expected of them.

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David Goes to School - Animated Read Aloud Book for Kids

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This video is very helpful for teachers to establish a good morning routine that can be easily followed by students. Morning routines allow students to start their day on the right foot.

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Three classroom morning routines for 1st or 2nd grade!

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Classroom transitons can become pure chaos if left unchecked. This article gives teachers and students steps in creating positive and organized transitions in their classrooms.

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Move students in and out of class and between activities smoothly to save valuable instruction time.

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Activity #3: Introduce Back to School Procedures with Fun Task Cards

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Activity #3: Introduce Back to School Procedures with Fun Task Cards

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Students are provided rules and procedures on task cards that have grammatical erros. Their task is to edit and rewrite the errors and gain an understanding of the rules, while payin gattention to grammar.

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Establishing classroom procedures tops the list of almost every teacher around back-to-school season. This post lists 10 fun ways to teach classroom procedures that are easy to implement and effective!

Not only that, but you can grab FREE back to school lesson plans to cover 30 days of teaching. 🤩

*This post contains affiliate links that pay a small commission to the site owner. I don't recommend or include affiliates that I don't love! Please see the full disclosure for details.*

Procedures and routines help students know what they can and cannot do in your classroom.

What is the Purpose of Classroom Procedures?

When I first starting teaching, my mentor said, "If you don't do anything else, Tanya, you need to establish clear procedures for EVERYTHING."

She was SO right! Establishing procedures effectively impacts classroom management in a major way, no matter what grade you teach.

But teaching procedures in a lecture-style with a long list of do's and do-not's will backfire!

Here are the goals I set at the beginning of each school year:

Begin teaching academic content as soon as I can.

Build community and form relationships.

Teach procedures starting on Day One.

So each idea below combines all three of these goals for creative and fun ways to teach classroom procedures!

What Are the Three Steps to Teaching Classroom Procedures?

Teaching procedures for back to school can be a piece of cake with a dash of humor and these three simple steps:

Show and Tell: Don't just talk about it, model or demonstrate the procedures to your students.

Practice Makes Perfect: Dive right in! Let the students practice the procedures themselves.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: Keep reinforcing until those procedures become as routine as brushing your teeth.

With these steps, transforming any classroom rule into a back-to-school routine is a breeze! Now let's dive into 10 creative and fun ways to teach classroom procedures.

1- Introduce Back to School Procedures with Fun Task Cards

One fun way to begin teaching procedures while also reviewing learning standards is with pretend letters and notes through task cards.

Not only are students learning new classroom procedures in a fun way, but they are also reviewing important grammar and writing skills.

Students get letters and notes about back to school procedures written with tons of grammatical errors. The goal is to work as a team to edit and re-write these procedures correctly.

2- Establish Procedures with Interactive Bulletin Boards

I keep my back-to-school classroom decor simple and minimal. It's important to me that students' work fill up the walls and bulletin boards, instead of just having pretty decorations.

We learn classroom procedures through our first days of school bulletin board crafts and activities.

For example, each year I choose a class theme that stays on one bulletin board all year, like our Play Nice-Work Hard-Stay Kind theme from a couple of years ago.

Students collaborate to discuss what the theme means, practice the procedures which model that theme, then complete fun follow-up activities with it.

Establishing classroom procedures using bulletin boards sets up your environment for success in more than one way!

But I Need Some Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas!

When it comes to using bulletin boards for teaching procedures, it can feel overwhelming to get started. Trust me, I used to sit paralyzed for the longest time trying to think of what to put on each board. So, I've compiled a list of my favorite back to school bulletin board ideas to help you get the ball rolling.

Read-alouds are an excellent fun way to teach classroom procedures!

Here are some ideas on how you can use read-alouds to creatively teach procedures and routines:

I wanted to features ideas for not only boards, but doors and walls too! Why? Because you may not the space to teach procedures with a bulletin board. Plus, it's effective to make any surface in your classroom interactive for establishing procedures.

All of the boards, doors, and walls featured in the post will make back to school a little bit easier with fun ways to teach classroom procedures!

For instance, one card will say "When my pencil breaks, I..." and the matching card will say "...Get a newly sharpened pencil from my pencil basket."

3- Include Back to School Read-Alouds with Procedures

Classroom Procedures Ideas for Pencils:
Plus, they allow students to collaborate AND begin practicing academic content, like working on reading comprehension skills.

Choose books and characters that break common classroom rules and have students "act out" the story. This helps you model what NOT to do and leads to a discussion on what students SHOULD do.

Have students re-write sections of the story pretending that character was a student in your class. The requirement is that the character has to follow your classroom procedures in the re-written version.

I also use fun, free learning tools like Blabberize with my back-to-school read alouds. Students take a picture of a character from our book and record themselves explaining our classroom procedures as if they are the character. Students LOVE this fun way to review our procedures!

As you can see from the video above, there are several diverse back to school read-alouds you can use. But if you're looking for more, I have a separate list of Read-Alouds for Back to School. You can also see how I implement read-alouds in my routines training with these FREE back to school lesson plans! 👇🏾

The fun part is that each video lists rules of what to do and not to do in school. Students can compare and contrast these lists with our classroom procedures lists.

4- Play Classroom Procedures Partner Match

Getting students out of their seats really helps them have fun learning classroom procedures. That's why my kids LOVE playing Procedures Partners.

I type our classroom procedures on index cards. Then I mix them up and give each student a card. They move around the room to find their "procedure partner."

This also gives students a chance to collaborate with one another while learning our classroom routines.

Plickers are a lot like QR Codes and each students gets their own Plicker. I create questions in a game-style format like Jeopardy. Students form teams and use their Plickers to answer questions about our classroom procedures.

5- Show Classroom Procedure Videos

Another creative way to teach classroom procedures is to use interesting videos about classroom routines.

I use BrainPop Jr. often for learning topics. (No affiliate or sponsorship!) The site also has fun back-to-school videos like this one.

Plus, I will be honest...with so many things that need to be completed for back-to-school, I need a few minutes to get organized while my students quietly watch the video.

This idea may not seem as fun to students initially, but they will be HAPPY to have these! You will be happy to have these too...trust me!

6- Use Technology for a Fun Way to Teach Classroom Procedures

In addition to using videos, incorporating technology can be a fun way to teach procedures as well.

My two favorite technology games for procedures are Plickers and Kahoot. (No affiliate or sponsorship for either!)

You can use this same idea with the free online system Kahoot. Students LOVE the high-energy format of Kahoot, which keeps them engaged.

Since they're engaged, they are more likely to remember the procedures.

Especially when you consider that most teachers are covering LOTS of procedures during the first days of school.

7- Post Classroom Procedures Checklists on Your Students' Desks

I attach our classroom's entrance and exit procedures on students' desk with small velcro strips.

Here's why it works great for reviewing classroom procedures:

Students practice following our procedures for entering and exiting the classroom by following the checklist on their desk. Since it's printed for them, they have no excuse for not learning these procedures quickly!

8- Teach Procedures Using an Exit Tickets "Twitter" Board

Another creative and fun way to teach classroom procedures is to use exit tickets, which review and reinforce all the procedures you teach.

I post a fun Twitter-themed board in my classroom that stays up all year. Each student is assigned a number where they get to post their "tweets."

And even though Twitter has changed its name to "X," I still think this is a creative way to review class rules and routines.

Not only are we reviewing other classroom procedures, but I use the game as an opportunity to remind them of my expectations of behavior when we have high-energy classroom activities.

This board is our exit ticket board for just about everything we do in class. Students write their responses on sticky notes and post it on their "Twitter" numbers.

Each "tweet" follows the 280-character limit which forces students to be concise.

I can easily see who understands the procedure and who needs more practice.

Students enjoy the idea of "tweeting" in class, which is great for schools that don't allow classroom social media use.

9- Play Charades to Model Procedures and Routines

As I mentioned earlier with the back-to-school read-alouds, acting out procedures is such a fun way to reinforce your routines.

Charades is a game where a person acts out a word or phrase without using words. Everyone has to guess what is being acted out.

I incorporate this as a fun way to teach procedures by having students act out certain tasks. BUT I revised the rules to keep my students under control while we play. Here's how it works for us:

Only one student acts while another student gets to talk in order to guess the action. I do this to prevent everyone from screaming out at the same time.

Everyone gets a spoon with Y on one side and N on the opposite side. Y=Yes and N=No

They participate in charades by holding up the spoon to vote on whether the procedure is being acted out correctly or not.

With charades, I try to feed-two-birds-with-one-seed by addressing correct behavior WHILE we play the game.

10-Transform Popular Board Games into Classroom Procedures Teaching

Fun board games are fantastic for teaching classroom procedures! And they don't require a lot of teacher prep.

Those same index cards I mentioned earlier where I type our procedures are the same cards I use with my board games. #EfficientTeacherPrep!

Students follow the normal board game rules, but have to answer the classroom procedures cards I include.

Here are my favorite board games to use:
Be sure to share this post on your favorite social media site to help other teachers!

Most students are already familiar with the rules of these games, which is less prep and teaching for me. They can just jump right into this fun way to learn and review our procedures!

BONUS: Set Up Classroom Routines with No-Prep Worksheets

An extra idea that you can use with establishing procedures involves fun back to school printables. Even though it may seem less effective, worksheets can be a very efficient way to begin setting up rules and expectations.

As you consider using worksheets like these during back to school, keep these things in mind:

No prep printables make great bell-ringer activities

You can use these to review procedures throughout the first few months of school

Sit these out during open-house or meet the teacher night to begin setting expectations

If you need a sub during the first weeks of school, these activities make excellent no-prep sub work

They are FUN for your students to complete! 🤩

In addition to this list, I like to use them as "lesson warm-ups." For example, before teaching the procedures for eating in the cafeteria, I have students complete the "Food Rules" crossword puzzle. This warms my kiddos up to learning more about our eating procedures.

More Back-to-School Classroom Ideas

If you are looking for more classroom procedures or back-to-school resources in general, you will enjoy this post:

Each resource and activity is designed to help you and your students have an easier and smoother flow to your routine during those first weeks of school.

These ten ideas featured in this post will help you and your students have fun with establishing classroom procedures.

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10 Creative and Fun Ways to Teach Classroom Procedures

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Establishing classroom procedures is essential! This post lists 10 fun ways to teach classroom procedures + a FREE procedures checklist!

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Activity #2: Classroom Behavior Contract

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Activity #2: Classroom Behavior Contract

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Teachers have the class help create a list of classroom rules to then have written on a poster and hung upwithin the classroom. Students then sign the poster and agree to follow the established rules of the classroom, that they helped create.

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Ten Activities for Establishing Classroom Rules | Lesson Plan

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Surprisingly, student-created rules are often much the same as rules a teacher might create.

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This lesson plan is to be paired with the book "Interrupting Chicken" by David Ezra Stein. Students get involved in the rule making process by creating their own rules for the classroom. Additionally, students work on a hands-on activity where they become a rule rooster!

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1. What is your topic, and why did you choose it?

I chose classroom rules and procedures as my topic because I believe a successful classroom needs to have these established as soon as possible. Without rules and procedures, students will understandably so, take advantage of the freedom and chaos will occur. Additionally, establishing rules and procedures allows your students to know what you expect from them always.

2. Why is this topic important to teach?

This topic is important to teach because it allows your classroom to run smoothly when all students know what is expected of them. Rules and procedures are not just key for a succesful classroom, but serve to teach students the importance of following rules and procedures in their everyday lives. This topic is especially important to teach to new and young students, because they have almost no prior knowledge of rules and procedures of a classroom.

3. How would you teach this topic in your future classroom?

To teach this topic in my future classroom I would utilize the books, lesson plans, and activites that I have provided here. Most importantly, I would allow my students to participate in the creation of our classroom rules and procedures. This provides students with a say in how they want their class to be ran, and therefore motivates them to follow the rules they created.

4. What are 3 questions or concerns you have about teaching this topic?

1. With students of different backgrounds or cultures where some rules or procedures may not be able to be done, how can we as educators provide different variations of these ruels or procedures?

2. How can we as teachers motivate our students to follow rules and procedures outside of our classroom?

3. What are the incentives or consequences that will accompany following or not following the rules and procedures?