1G's Rules

During the first weeks of school, our class worked together to create a list of rules to make sure our classroom is a place where everyone can reach their hopes and dreams for 1st Grade.  We came up with 48 rules!  Everything from No Pushing to Do Not Call People Names and Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated to Include Others.  We talked about how great our rules are but it would be difficult to remember 48 rules everyday! We noticed that our rules could fit into 3 categories: Be Respectful - Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated, Be Safe, Be Responsible - Take Care of Materials. 1st Graders worked together to sort our 48 rules into those categories. 

After we agreed upon and finalized the rules, each child signed his/her name, indicating that he/she agrees with the rules and plans on trying his/her best to make our classroom an enjoyable place for learning. Our classroom rules include: 

Be Respectful - Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated

Be Safe

Be Responsible - Take Care of Materials

Have Fun and Try Your Best

We will be working hard in the upcoming weeks and throughout the year to establish and maintain specific classroom routines and expectations.  But everyone makes mistakes. As part of the learning process, there will be times in first grade when students will face the logical consequence of their behavior.  They may need to help fix something that was broken (including hurt feelings), clean up a mess that they created, take a break from a group to regain self-control etc. Students are learning that mistakes are okay, as long as we take steps to fix them.  They will also be encouraged to learn from their mistakes to prevent the same mistake again.

Periodically throughout the year, we will celebrate our successes and the students will get to choose a special activity such as an extra recess, a short movie, a class game or craft project.

For information  about the Responsive Classroom approach to social-emotional learning, visit the Responsive Classroom website.

The Process

We worked together to take our list of 48 rules and sort them into 3 categories:

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Safe