Freebie Friday!

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for the last day of teacher week...freebie Friday! Click the picture to link up with your freebie too.  

Many people say that a class should create rules together.  It is easier to enforce rules that students made (it was their idea!) BUT many of us teachers want to have our rules in place before school starts.  I know I like to have my posters printed and laminated and up  before students come...not to mention we like to put the rules on parent letters, on class sites…you get the point.  This year, I am using 3 generic rules (Respect yourself, others, and our school).  On the first day, I have students brainstorm rules on post it notes and put 

them on the board.  I make a big deal about how many rules they thought of and how  I would need a giant poster to fit all of them. Then I read them aloud and after a few start grouping them together (“These two rules both have a theme of respecting our school and the things in it”). We continue to sort until all the post-its are under the  3 themes we “magically” found.  We decide as a class that we will use those 3 Respect rules because they covered pretty much everything on the board. Then we move on.  When the students go to specials or lunch or recess, I quickly stick the rules posters on the board.  When they come back, I tell them that I made the posters while they were gone.  We add (with a wet-erase marker) some of the most important post-it ideas to each poster (you could also do that while they are out of the room).  Finally, everyone signs the “Our Class Rules” poster.  Now you have rules that are prepped ahead of time but the students also feel like they created them.  It’s a win-win!  As an added bonus, these rules also cover just about anything that can happen!  

You can grab my class rules posters here!   
(*Edit-Google Docs wasn't letting some people download these so I uploaded them to Teachers Notebook)

Don't forget to follow my blog (if you don't already)!  I will be having a giveaway soon!!