At the beginning of the school year, you tell your students all of your rules and expectations in the classroom right? However, they might not be as clear as they were months ago. As we begin nearing the second half of the school year, it’s important to revisit your classroom management rules often! Kids become comfortable and while your expectations may not have changed, they’re not quite at the forefront of your students’ minds anymore like they were at the very beginning of the year.
Because of this, I’ve created 5 super simple ways you can implement your classroom rules in a clear, calm, and concise way. No matter when or how often you need to revisit them, your students will be sure to catch on quickly!
My Classroom Rules
Before I give you my implementation tricks, I should share my own personal classroom management rules! To start, I like to brainstorm with my class. Then, I guide them toward my favorite 5. As we brainstorm, we discuss possible scenarios we would need rules to keep us safe and be able to learn at our best. We also talk about logical consequences that could be put in place when rules aren’t followed.
You’re more than welcome to use my classroom rules. However, no matter what you and your students decide to come up with, make sure they’re all written as a positive statement! Avoid using words such as “No” or “Don’t.” I’ve given my below:
- Use nice words.
- Walk carefully.
- Hands to yourself.
- Look and listen (to the speaker).
- Respect others and their belongings.
5 Implementation Tips for Classroom Management Rules
Now it’s one thing to come up with classroom management rules. However, if you don’t have a plan to make them happen, it won’t be very effective. Here are the five easiest ways to implement the rules you create.
Be Clear
Once your classroom management rules are established, it’s a good idea to display them where every student can see them. This will make it easier for you to refer to them when students need correcting. It’s also very important to demonstrate your rules and expectations. This means you want to show your students what the rule being followed looks like What does it look like to walk carefully? What does it mean to respect others and their belongings? Be super clear in explaining what your rules mean! Then, you should practice your classroom management rules so they become routine.
Be Calm
We all know there are some students whose biggest ambition is to get a reaction out of their teacher. They either want to see how far they can push your buttons. Some students even feel like they’ve “won” when you get upset or angry. No matter how hard it can get, make sure the only emotion you show is positivity and calmness when you’re redirecting a student.
Simply tell them why they need to be moved to a time-out for a while. Explain the classroom management rule they weren’t following. Then, when you believe they’re ready to come back to their seat, make sure they’re walking calmly across the room. At this point, you can tell they’ve had time to calm their own feelings. This is super effective for you and the student.
Be Consistent
In the beginning of the year, as well as when you start back the second semester, it’s incredibly important to be vigilant. I don’t look at it as “searching for the bad,” but more so making the expectations known from day one. Don’t act wishy-washy! If you see something that’s on the border of “out of line,” don’t hold back and wait for it to improve. Correct it immediately. You’ll be so glad you did. 🙂
It’s also important to stay consistent when giving consequences. When your students don’t know what to expect when they bend or break the rules, or if the consequences don’t correlate with the rules, it tends to make the classroom management rules irrelevant and unimportant.
Give Logical Consequences
As I previously mentioned, the consequences you give out need to be in correlation with the rule that was broken. For example, if a child runs in the classroom or in the hallway, that’s breaking the rule, “Walk carefully.” A logical consequence would be to have the student go back to where they were, and then walk to where they were initially going.
Another example could be if a child isn’t keeping their hands to themselves., I’ll move them to another chair, time-out space, or a private area for them to calm down. Make sure you explain to the student what rule they were breaking when you’re giving your consequences. This will help them correct those specific actions in the future!
Be Positive
This is a simple rule I stand by as a teacher when it comes to classroom management, Be positive! Praise the kids who follow the classroom management rules or are modeling excellent behavior. One of the best parts of being a primary teacher is that when you compliment a student for doing the right thing. When you do, you’ll immediately have more students wanting to do the right thing, too!
Create a Reward System for Positive Behavior
A positive reinforcement system I implement in my classroom is giving table points. Any student(s) can earn table points when I catch them doing what they’re supposed to be doing. This might look like following directions the very first time they’re given. It can also be someone modeling a classroom management rule really nicely. For example, someone who is sitting calmly, has their eyes on me, and is waiting for the rest of the class to calm down and do the same will earn a table point. If a student earns a point, they get to drop it into a bucket, which really makes all the other kids want to earn their own point, too. 🙂
Finding the good behavior among the not so good really isn’t challenging. You can make it as simple as – “Oh, look how nicely Joanne is sitting and listening! She’s definitely just earned a table point.” You’ll find the more you search for the good the more you will find.
Positive Behavior Systems
If you’re looking for more ways to positively reward your students for good behavior, here are a few simple suggestions below! Of course you can always tweak them to better fit your classroom management style and system. Especially if you already have specific jobs for students on a daily basis!
- Help pass out supplies to the class.
- Sit anywhere you want during read aloud time.
- Be the calendar time assistant.
- Pick 2 friends to sit by at lunch.
- Take off your shoes and wear your socks for an hour.
- Sit in the teacher’s chair.
- Switch jobs for the day with anyone else in the class.
- Pick the center you start at for the day.
- Eat a snack you brought from home.
- Listen to music with headphones.
I’ve found that “experiences” are often much more motivating to children than material rewards like candy or treasure chest prizes. Always do what works best for your classroom, and what YOU enjoy!
Classroom management rules are the foundation for a positive classroom environment. So while you might be thinking your students should know how to act by now, you might be wrong. It’s been a long time since the beginning of the school year and a lot has happened. Therefore, you need to review these classroom management rules for your students and yourself. Remember the five things you need to do to successfully implement your rules and your classroom will be running like clockwork!
