1st/2nd grade rules-procedures

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Home : 2002 : July : 20

1st/2nd grade rules-procedures
By Amanda

Last year was my first year teaching (1st/2nd grade inner city classroom). I was taught: don't make rules that sound good - figure out what you can't stand, and make it a rule! Here's what I used last year. I am going to
be making some changes this year. Also, I think my second graders could have been able to help me create our class rules. You might want to try that.
My Posted Classroom Rules [which I did not develop until after the 2nd week of school and I got to know my kids]:
1. Respect yourself, others, and Ms. L.
2. Keep your hands, feet, things and teeth to yourself. (my kids thought it

was funny, so they remembered it)
3. Raise your hand to talk. Wait to be called on!
4. Stay in your seat unless Ms. L. says to get up.
5. No eating or chewing gum please! (roach problem)
6. Don't lean back in your chair. If you fall, you could break your head! (again, they liked the humor)

Consquences/Rewards system:
STICKERS STICKERS STICKERS STICKERS STICKERS!
My kids are freaks for stickers. They would do just about anything for a sticker. And if you have "sparkle stickers", even better! (I saved those for special occasions).

PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE
If I said, "Timothy, you are doing such a nice job standing in line!" My line would suddenly get quiet and straight and the kids would stand tall. Of course, then I'd have to go through the entire like and say "Ronald, you are also doing a nice job!" "Excellent job Devyn!" "Keep it up David!"

My management system really set the consequences/rewards tone in my room. When I was lax about it, the kids tended to weird out. I had a bulletin board with a vertical stripe of green, then yellow, then red construction paper. Each stripe was divied into three vertical columns ("zones"). Each student had a name badge (in the fall it was an apple, winter a penguin, spring frog, summer sun) that started on the far left (zone 1). If a student breaks a class rule, they have to move their name one zone. Each zone has a consequence. If they stay "in green" (zone 1-3) for the entire day, they got a star sticker on the sticker chart. Everytime they got 10 stickers, they got to pick a small prize from the "prize box" (filled with suckers and small toys from the dollar store). One of the student jobs (after about a month) was to be the person who put the stickers on the chart, which saved me work. But I also kept track on a little grid in my desk, because a few of the kids tried to steal other people's stickers. The chart worked great because they wanted to get something from the prize box, again - love the stickers, and also there was a little peer pressure to stay on green. (If I told someone to move and they got to yellow, the room would fill with "ooooooooohhh".) Oh yeah, and every day the kids started back on zone 1.

My 9 Zone Consequences (posted next to the sticker chart, rules, and bulletin board):
Zone 1 - Excellent Behavior!
Zone 2 - Warning!
Zone 3 - Corner Chair - 5 minutes [basically the good old "sit in the corner and think about what you did!"]
Zone 4 - Loss of sticker on chart
Zone 5 - Lose recess
Zone 6 - Corner Desk [I had a few desks seperated from the class for this purpose]
Zone 7 - Visit Ms. Hill [the "scary office lady"]
Zone 8 - Ms. L and student call home
Zone 9 - Meeting with principal, student, parent, and Ms. L

I never had a student all year get to zone 7. By the time they get to zone 6, they're sectioned off enough that they've got pretty much no chance to really be a distraction, unless they are trying.

Sorry this is so long. Hope it helps.