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Setting down the rules at the beginning of the school year makes the boundaries clear.

Whether children are in a classroom or at home, it is important that they recognize boundaries and established rules so that they behave properly. Creating and following rules lets children understand what is expected from them and that inappropriate conduct has consequences. Since there are many children in a classroom, and often only one teacher, it is especially important to introduce rules in a manner that children understand them.

Rule Making

When a class first starts, divide children into groups. Ask children what type of rules they think will help make the classroom a good environment for learning and let them brainstorm a list of rules. Let each group create a poster and present their rules to the class. Then discuss the rules and create a list of rules for the class. Discuss consequences for breaking the rules and add them to the poster. Invite students to sign the class poster.

Rule Police

Choose pairs of children to be the rule police for the day. If someone calls out or does not follow rules, the police are responsible for writing their names on the board. Appoint new rule police every hour so that children get used to watching for improper conduct. A small prize or ticket can be given to any student that is not caught by the rule police for an entire week.

Mystery Question

In the beginning of the school year, students have questions about classroom procedures. Prepare questions about classroom procedures regarding sharpening pencils, getting drinks, talking out of turn, lining up and bullying that may concern students. Put all the questions in a hat. Let each child pull a question out of the hat and read it. Discuss the answer and form a set of classroom rules together.

Pledge of Rules

After creating classroom rules, help students create a classroom pledge that reminds them of the rules. Practice the pledge and let the children write out the pledge and keep it on their desks. The pledge can be said every morning and will keep the rules fresh in the children's minds. As part of the morning jobs, one child can be the classroom pledge leader.

Role Playing

Divide students into groups. Give each group a classroom rule and ask the students to demonstrate what happens when it is not followed. Have the other students guess the rule and then discuss why the rule is important to follow.

Mystery Rule

Write down one rule at the beginning of the week and do not tell the children which rule it is. If the class does not break the rule more than three times during the week, they get a sticker. Every time the class gets 10 stickers, they can choose a class prize. Prizes may include lunch with the teacher, a no-homework night or a few minutes of free time. At the end of each week, students learn the identity of the mystery rule. Keep a chart listing the mystery rules so the class can see where they need work on following directions.

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Classroom Games on Teaching Rules | Synonym

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Setting down the rules at the beginning of the school year makes the boundaries clear. Whether children are in a classroom or at home, it is important that they recognize boundaries and established rules so that they behave properly. Creating and following rules lets children understand what is expected from them and that inappropriate conduct has consequences.

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Today was absolutely wonderful. Maybe it was due to the fact that I did not have the nerves of a first year teacher, or possibly just because I knew how great this group of kids was going to be. If today is any sort of indication of what the school year is going to be like, I am going to be one happy teacher!

One way you can tell that it is the first day of school is the amount of school supplies that occupy your room.

The sad part is that I actually will end up with at least twice the amount of tissues that are pictured because at least half of my kids did not even bring their supplies today. Unfortunately, on my campus the ELA teachers are supposed to house the tissues for the entire grade level, but too bad I do not have anywhere to put all of them. You can bet I will be passing these out to the others rather quickly.

After we got all of our housekeeping things take care of in my classroom, I knew that I wanted to do an activity that I saw earlier this summer over at Dandelions and Dragonflies. I think it was a big hit and I was able to learn a lot about my 6th graders. We did go through 600+ sticky notes today though.

I am pretty sure this is going to be my go-to BTS activity from now on.

How was your first day of school?

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Today was absolutely wonderful. Maybe it was due to the fact that I did not have the nerves of a first year teacher, or possibly just because I knew how great this group of kids was going to be.

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Basic Rules Game Show

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Raise Your Hand and Wait to be Called On - YouTube

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write contract of rules and student sign with their handprint

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Taking Attendance and Displaying Schedules

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Questions to Help Start Rules with Students

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Questions to Help Start Rules with Students

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

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We appreciate your interest in the program and would like to keep you updated. Please complete this short form so that we can stay in touch on next steps.

Please send further questions/concerns to snl@aaas.org.

Science NetLinks is an award-winning website offering hundreds of standards-based lesson plans, online tools, videos, interactives, podcasts, news, hands-on activities, special resource collections and after-school activities for K-12 teachers, students and families.

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March 9, 2022 Dear Science NetLinks Community, We apologize that the Science NetLinks website is unavailable. Unfortunately, the server and website became unstable and a security risk so the website needed to be taken down immediately. We appreciate your interest in the program and would like to keep you updated.

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CanTeach: Songs & Poems - School/Class Pledges

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CanTeach contains online resources for educators, including lesson plans, links, discussion lists, and more!

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Helps kids learn to raise hands

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Activities for Establishing Classroom Rules

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Activities for Establishing Classroom Rules

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Simple Ideas for Establishing Classroom Rules and Manners | Scholastic

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Books, activities, and other ideas to help you establish classroom rules and introduce a behavior chart at the start of the school year.

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Classroom rules work best when students understand why rules exist and how rules will help them, as individuals and as a group. I have found several children's books over the years that help inspire conversations about these topics. Here are some suggestions:

Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller. When his new neighbors, the otters, move in, Rabbit learns of the guiding principle, "Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you." He asks himself, "How would I like otters to treat me?" He comes up with some ideas, such as "I'd like otters to be considerate" and "I'd like it if we could share things," which Keller illustrates with some hilarious asides and speech bubbles. You could use this book to start a conversation about how children would like others in the class to treat them.

Never Spit On Your Shoes by Denys Cazet. In describing her first day of school, Annie the dog describes her own teacher's efforts to lead a rather wild class in a discussion of the rules. Some ideas the animals contribute are "Always keep your tools dry" (from a beaver) and "Just say no to catnip" (from a cat) and "Never spit on your shoes" (from a goat). You could use the book to launch a discussion about how the rules the class in the book developed did not really help them learn and enjoy school (as the pictures show!). Then encourage your class to think about what some more positive and helpful rules would be.

Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann. Officer Buckle is dedicated to teaching children about safety rules ("Never stand on a swivel chair," "Never leave a thumbtack where you can sit on it," etc.), but his earnest presentations put children to sleep. All that changes when he starts taking his dog Gloria along, and behind his back, Gloria acts out what would happen if children didn't follow his rules. Children start paying attention and become fully engaged in his talks! Use this book to launch a discussion of why rules are necessary, or to practice taking a list of many specific rules and putting similar ones into categories.

What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick and illustrated by Colleen Madden. Funny and engaging illustrations show what happens when a boy imagines possible answers to the question he keeps hearing from adults: "What if everybody did that?" For instance, we see the fat zoo animals that would result if everyone broke the rule about not feeding them, and the cluttered roadside and animals dodging flying objects that would result if everyone threw cans out of car windows. Reading this book could inspire a great class discussion about why rules exist. And, because at the end of the book the boy's thoughts turn in a more positive direction ("What if everyone gave out hugs?"), you could also use it to start a conversation about rules that would make your class a safe and happy place.

I also asked some colleagues for suggestions about great books and ideas for classroom rule creation with students in the upper elementary grades.

A teacher in a workshop I led recently said she uses The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski to start the rule-making process with fifth graders. Wisniewski portrays the multitude of rules grown-ups have developed and the reasons they give for those rules as mere pretexts for the real, top-secret story: behind each grown-up rule is an issue of critical importance to our national security. For example: The reason children have to eat their vegetables? Otherwise vegetables might regain world domination! Children will be drawn to the idea that there is an adult conspiracy afoot and to Wisniewski's hilarious explanations. To use this book, you'd need to move into a discussion of what rules your class might need this year, along with the obvious and not-so-obvious reasons for those.

Martha Hanley told me she ties the rule-creation process into learning about the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. She sometimes uses the book by David Catrow. In it, he takes the preamble to the constitution and makes sense of it through cartoon-like illustrations of three children and their dog on a camping trip. For instance, for the words "provide for the common defense," Catrow portrays the dog standing guard outside, as the children play in the tent. This fun take on the preamble, along with School House Rock's musical version, would inspire students both to learn more about the Constitution and to create their own meaningful set of classroom guidelines.

Martha reminded me that September 17th is Constitution Day! Even if you have already finished making your classroom rules, that makes it a great day to revisit and celebrate them!

Tags: Classroom Rules, Language Arts

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Classroom rules work best when students understand why rules exist and how rules will help them, as individuals and as a group. I have found several children's books over the years that help inspire conversations about these topics. Here are some suggestions: