Classroom Expectations

Classroom expectations begin with a casual conversation about WHY we come to school. Kids say the usual things, like, "To get smarter," "To learn new things," or "To see our friends." We then talk about goals as related to why we come to school. Here, they are encouraged to reflect on their year spent in 3rd grade, with regard to what they did well and what they still have to accomplish going forward. After, students are asked to think about and name their "hopes and dreams" for the upcoming school year. We do some special work to get these thoughts down on paper with visuals to display in our classroom.

We don't end there, though!

I firmly believe that children grow and work best in an environment where they are presented with the opportunity to give voice to the rules created. To this end, we continue our casual conversation on what we want to ACHIEVE when we are at school, how we want to FEEL when we are at school, and ways we want our classroom to BE at school. Loads of ideas for rules will be written down, but no one will be expected to memorize them. Instead, we will then categorize the numerous ideas into 4 basic rules (unveiled in September!). These rules will become our class contract that everyone, myself included, will sign. We will post our contract in a prominent place.

And we still have more work to do!

We will then think about and share what it LOOKS LIKE when we're following our rules! We will make classroom visuals to share ideas each student has to consistently meet classroom expectations.

Creating hopes and dreams, and classroom expectations, we are able to refer to our rules throughout the year in positive ways that help the kids to feel valued and safe!