2024-2025 Classroom Rules  

Dear Families,

The children and I have been talking a lot during these first weeks of school about our building a community and about our classroom rules. Each child thought about what first graders can, have, and will do in the class. You may want to ask your child about this. Then the class figured out the kinds of rules we will need if all of us are to reach our hopes and dreams. Here are the rules we came up with:

1.  Be kind and help each other.

2.  Listen to everyone and be quiet when we need to.

3.  Be safe.

4.  Be respectful of materials and put them away.

5.  Practice.

 We recognize that no one can be expected to follow the rules 100% of the time. When children make mistakes in following the rules, I will help them solve the problems caused by their mistakes through the use of logical consequences. Logical consequences are not punishments. They are ways to help children see the effects of their actions, repair the situation, and learn to do better next time.

There are three kinds of logical consequences:

Loss of privilege: If a child misuses a material or acts out during an activity, that child will be told to stop using the material or stop doing the activity for a short period of time. The privilege will be restored when the child and teacher have talked about how to prevent a similar problem in the future.

You break it, you fix it: If a child damages something or hurts someone’s feelings, she/he will try to fix the damage. In the case of hurting someone’s feelings, the child might offer an “apology of action” by writing a card, helping with an activity, making an illustration, or taking some other action beyond verbally saying ”sorry”.

Space and Time: If a child is being disruptive, they go to a designated spot in the room to pull back together. The time is short. The child comes back as soon as they have regained control. Children may go voluntarily to help them regain their self-control.

My goal is to help children believe in their ability to create a caring learning environment. Learning to live by the rules they have created is an important step.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lauren Dow

Class Dojo

I will be using ClassDojo for class announcements and daily correspondence. So, please make sure you have the App downloaded on your phone or device. ClassDojo is free and will be used for messaging, Class Stories and individual photos sent to families. Any messages you send only come to me and not other families. I will respond as soon as I have a moment and not teaching your wonderful kids!