rule school.

Last year, our school really dug into our kids' behaviors, asking why our kids make the choices they do, how we respond to their positive and negative choices, and how we can continue encouraging positive behavior choices thus decreasing negative behaviors. We did a book study on Discipline with Dignity and while we don't want one specific program to govern our school, we definitely aim to apply some of this text's ideas to our everyday school lives.

One point the book made was that kids not only need positively stated rules (using "do's" instead of "do not's"), but they also need to know why we are asking them to follow each rule. We don't just need to tell them to follow the rules "because I said so". Hello dictatorship.

Bearing our new learning in mind, I spent a bit of time revamping my classroom rules, making sure to state each rule in a positive manner and then provide a reason for following that rule. Here's what I came up with:

All of the rules are happily living right above our "Superhero" bulletin board, in a rather prominent location so that we can always be reminded of the expectations!

If you would like a copy of my rules or would like to add your own rules into my format, they can be yours by clicking here! 

{download yours here!}

What are y'alls rules like? Does your school follow a specific behavior plan?