Teaching your classroom rules is a necessity. Students must be explicitly instructed on what they are, why they are important, and how to follow those rules. But it isn't always the most exciting thing to cover, whether you are teaching them at the beginning of the year, or are revisiting them at the beginning of the semester. Teaching your classroom rules doesn't have to be boring; I will show you how to make it engaging and fun! Using songs, a game, a read aloud, and more, you can make learning classroom rules fun and exciting! What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick is the perfect read aloud to use for teaching classroom rules. This book will help start important discussions about why we have rules and how they help to keep us safe and happy. You will teach your rules over the span of a week in quick mini lessons. The story is read aloud in full on Monday and Friday, and then broken into chunks for the rest of the week, much like an interactive read aloud. I have included mini lesson plans for each day, as well as sticky note questions to guide your class discussions. Your school may have a specific set of rules they want you to use, especially if you are a PBIS school. So I have included blank anchor charts for you to write your own rules. I have also included this set of rules. I like to keep them simple and broad to cover a wide range of situations. This can be printed as a large poster or as a mini poster to hang in your room. Students always get a mini version of the anchor chart on Monday to add to their Social Emotional Learning Notebook. I have them write the rules on their own mini anchor chart. You might also want them to draw an illustration to match each rule if you have time. If you know me, you know I need a song! The class rules song is sung to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It. You can break into song anytime you see that students need reminded of following the rules. It's just an easy reminder that helps students reset. On day two, we create a Classroom Promise together. I have created an anchor chart that already has the statements for the promise, or you can create your own on the blank anchor chart I have. I printed these little handprints on different colors of paper and let students cut them out. They can then write their name on the handprint to attach to the anchor chart to symbolize their promise to the class. Of course, students also get their own mini version to add to their SEL notebooks. You can have student recite their promise each day during the unit. On day three, we play a classroom rules game! I divide the students into two teams to play Classroom Rules Charades! The team draws a card and one member from the team has to act out the rule or situation. The team then has to decide on which rule that it would fall under. I display them on the board with the rule for a visual reminder for students. If the team gets both correct, they get a point. The team with the most points wins. Day four is when we always meet our new SEL animal character. Rule Follower Frog know that following rules is cool! Students get to color the frog and trace the frog's poem that reminds them why following rules is important. And on day five, we always do a mini writing assessment activity to ensure they know the SEL skill and can apply it. They will have to explain to you which rule they feel is the most important and why. You can grab these Classroom Rules Activities and Lessons by clicking on any of the photos or by clicking HERE. How do you teach your classroom rules? Thanks for stopping by!