This Pyramid Model share site will not be maintained after June 30, 2025 due to the 'retirement' of MNCoE.

Program Wide Rules and Behavior Expectations

What will our team's process be to develop program wide rules and expectations?

How will we gather input from staff and families when developing expectations?

What will visual representation of the rules look like? How will we support consistency across the program?

Where will information about program wide expectations be stored in our implementation plan? What information should be included?

How might we build upon (align) existing Building or K-5 expectations to meet the needs of our preschool program, ensuring that the expectations are developmentally and culturally appropriate for all children?

Developing Program Wide Rules & Expectations

Thank you North Branch for sharing the process you used to develop your Program Wide Rules & Expectations. Click in the box to the left to access a Power Point from North Branch that walks through the steps they took to create Program Wide Rules & Expectations, in addition their Implementation Plan around Rules & Expectations. A big thank you to NCPMI as well for the chapter from their Implementation Manual that walks through the following steps:

Developing Rules & Expectations
Teaching & Acknowledging Rules & Expecatations
Public Acknowledgment
Staff Acknowledgment
A Case Study to follow a program through this process

It's important to ensure program's have staff and family input during the creation of Program Wide rules and expectations. View the two handouts to the right for some ideas from our national partners at NCPMI.

How might your program go about securing input from staff and families during this process?
How can you ensure ALL families and staff have the opportunity to provide input?

Sample Behavior Matrix's and Rules

Do we have 5 or fewer rules for each routine? Are our rules & expectations all positively stated? Culturally responsive?
What visuals will you include on your Behavior Expectations Matrix and rules?
Will you include pictures of children in your program on the visuals?
Where will you post the Behavior Expectations Matrix versus the individual routine rules posters throughout your program and in classrooms?
What system will be put in place to ensure the visuals are consistently represented throughout your early childhood buildings?
How will you share the Behavior Expectations Matrix with families ? What about when new families arrive in your program?
What will be your team's process to review, revise, and/or update your program wide Rules & Expectations? How often will this take place?

Thank you to the Rockbridge Pyramid Model Team for sharing their complete set of visuals they use for rules in all routines in their program. Notice each set of rules has less than 5 rules, each rule is paired with a visual, and each rule uses simple language.

Rules & Expectations Social Stories

Thank you to NCPMI and the Prior Lake team for both sharing examples of social stories around rules in preschool classrooms.

What social stories would be helpful around program wide Rules & Expectations in your program?
How might a social story support staff in teaching program wide Rules & Expectations?
What additional visual supports might be needed to represent the Rules & Expectations visually in your program?
Where should visual representation of Rules & Expectations be throughout your early childhood buildings?

Celebrating Rules & Expectations

How can your program create energy and excitement around program-wide rules & expectations?

How could you involve families in recognizing rules and expectations in your buildings?
How can you ensure all staff have the opportunities to participate, including staff in your building who are not in classrooms?
How can you share your program's excitement with other programs/initiatives in your district?
What might a program wide approach to how expectations can be acknowledged look like in our program?

Thank you to Albert Lea's Pyramid Model team for this example of a Bee Hive in a hallway. Staff members provide positive praise to each other and add their note of praise to this Bee Hive.

Resources for Teaching Children Rules & Supporting Staff

What support might staff need to teach expectations and rules
What support do staff need to acknowledge children meeting expectations and rules?
What additional resources/materials might staff benefit from in teaching Rules & Expectations?

Thank you to the Jordan Pyramid Model Team and others for contributing these ideas.

Teaching Children Program Rules

A big thank you to Prior Lake's Pyramid Model Team for sharing this YouTube video that shows how they teach children about program-wide rules by having teachers model the rules. What materials do you use to teach program-wide rules and expectations?

Videos?
Puppets?
Social Stories?
Songs?
Small group activities?

Supporting Caregivers Use of Rules at Home

Rules at home activity NCPMI

Click on the images to the left to access resources from NCPMI to support caregivers in using rules at home.

How can you support conversations with families around the use of rules at home?
How can your program wide rules apply to rules at home with families?
How might this type of activity be helpful in an ECFE class?
How might you have conversations with families around rules that they use at home and a connection to the classroom?
How might you talk with children about rules at home versus rules in your classrooms?

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