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 45 rules! Everything from No Kicking to Don't Distract Others During a Learning Time and Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated to No Running in the Hallways. We talked about how great our rules are but it would be difficult to remember 45 rules everyday! We noticed that our rules could fit into 3 categories: Be Respectful - The Golden Rule, Be Safe, Be Responsible. 1st Graders worked with a partner to sort our 45 rules into those 3 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

Try Your Best.

We will be working hard in the first few 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 with a partner to take our list of 45 rules and sort them into 3 categories:

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Safe