Behavior Management,  Teaching,  TPT Products

Importance of Rules & Procedures in the Classroom

January 2, 2023 /
Establishing Rules & Procedures in the Classroom is Essential.

Rules and Procedures in the classroom are important for the success of the year for both teachers and students. You can never assume, no matter the age of the students, that they understand how to behave inside of your classroom. By establishing, teaching, and reviewing rules and procedures you are ensuring that students will understand the expectations you have which will likely mean less behavior interruptions throughout the year.

Establishing Rules & Procedures

Hopefully you are working at a school that implements PBIS, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. If you’re not, do not fret. This post will help you. It is important that instead of a long list of rules for your classroom that your school, or you if you do not have PBIS at your school, creates 3-5 expectations for students to follow that can be embodied in every environment at school. For example STAR which stands for Safe, Timely, Accountable, Respectful. These will be the guiding expectations you use and reference when establishing all of your classroom rules and procedures.

You must be prepared to spend weeks establishing your rules and expectations. For something to become habitual, students must practice it repetitively. I like to create a chart with what each expectation LOOKS LIKE and SOUNDS LIKE in my classroom so that students understand what to do with their bodies during the different times of the day. Math rotations in my room will look and sound different than reading rotations.

Practicing Rules & Procedures Throughout the Year

A good rule of thumb is to practice rules and procedures a lot the first two weeks of school. It can be a lot of heavy upfront work, but you will thank yourself throughout the year for doing it. Be sure to praise students each time they follow a rule or procedure as often as you can throughout the year, but especialy when teaching or reviewing the expectations. After the first two weeks of school, I always review with the class if we get a new student, after long weekends or school breaks, and if I see that the class is struggling to maintain the procedures and expectations at various times of the year.

Practicing rules and procedures doesn’t have to be boring or look the same each time. You can choose to do this during morning meeting, at the start of certain segments, through games, or through task cards.

I created task cards for you to use to review Rules & Procedures in your Classroom

Rules & Procedures Task Cards

I created a resources on my TPT store to help you review Rules & Procedures in your classroom in a fun and engaging way! You can check out or purchase the task cards here.

I love task cards because they get students up and moving around the classroom. This product has task cards that you can print & use, with some additional task cards that you can edit on your own. It also includes answer sheets for students.

To differentiate for younger students, ELL students, or students with IEPs you can read the task cards aloud while students draw their answers on the answer sheet, or you can allow students to work in pairs. Remember to review the answers with all students to ensure the correct understanding of rules and procedures are in place for your classroom.

If you are looking for more behavior management tips, check out this blog post about 4 Things You Need in Your Calm Down Corner

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