easy way to remember negative and positive rules

There are others in this series that address behaviors such as sharing, cleaning-up, kicking, hitting, biting, and unkind words, I have listed them all for you below. During large group time I like to read Listening Time, I read this book every day in the beginning of the year before every large group lesson. This process helps children learn to internalize and take ownership of the rules.Īnother way you can introduce your classroom rules is to read the series of books titled Best Behavior to your class.

The next day, when I ask these questions a few more students will be able to answer them, and finally after several days everybody should be able to answer the questions.Īfter the first few weeks of large group daily review, I switch to having a class helper point to the rules on the picture chart and say them aloud for the class as we chant along. I explain that there are five very important things we must do to learn and I say the rules aloud as I point to each one on the chart. Explaining the rules in very concrete terms with visuals helps young children better understand the rules. Next, I explain that learning is like “getting smart” (they usually understand this much better) and in order to learn we have to follow the classroom rules this is when I introduce the rules chart with pictures. You can focus on introducing a different rule each day the first week of school and by the end of the week you’ve introduced them all! Of course, you will need to review them all daily for the best results. You may want to introduce each rule separately, on a different day so the children don’t become overwhelmed with learning too many rules all at once. I begin by asking the children “Does anybody know why we come to school?” After a few responses I may prompt them and say “We come to school to learn.” However, when your class consists entirely of second language learners or very young children this is not going to be a practical strategy.Īt the beginning of the year, on the very first day and each day afterwards, we review the rules during our large group time. Many early childhood experts advise creating the rules with the children, and I agree that this is a very effective method for native English speakers. Everything is in color and black and white. I created a printable classroom rules and routines bundle that contains books, booklets, posters, and cards to help you teach the classroom rules to your students. I’ve used these simple rules with preschool children for more than 20 years and they work well because they’re easy to understand and simple enough for young children to remember. Walking Feet (make a walking motion with the first two fingers of one hand).Quiet Voices (put your finger to your lips).Helping Hands (hold our your hands in front of you).It’s also important to keep your classroom rules positive and avoid using negative words like “don’t.” When you focus on the positive instead of the negative, your classroom environment will also be a happier, more positive one. A book about classroom rules is another way you can introduce and reinforce the rules in your classroom. Having a rules poster is great, but you’ll also want your classroom rules available to your little learners in other ways. The images used include diverse skin tones and eye colors. Remember to post it at the children’s eye level so you can refer to it whenever necessary. You can post the easy to understand rules chart on the wall in several locations throughout your classroom. Abstract rules might includes words that young children don’t understand or know the meaning of, like “respect,” “obey,” or “responsible.” Vague or abstract classroom rules don’t hold any meaning for young children. They’ll hear you say the rule aloud (verbal/auditory cue), see the picture (visual cue), and make the motion with their hands (physical cue) – all of which increases their rate of retention. When you add picture cues and physical actions to your rules your preschool children will be more successful remembering the rules. You can also add hand motions to provide physical prompts. Having just a few simple rules in place in your early childhood classroom will help your school year go so much more smoothly!Īdding visuals (pictures) to the rules in your preschool classroom will help young children better understand the meaning of the rules. Use simple words for each rule so your kids can easily understand the meaning of the rules. The more rules you have, the more difficult they’ll be for young children to remember. When it comes to preschool classroom rules it’s always best to keep them short and simple.

Easy way to remember negative and positive rules