Classroom Expectations, Poster, and Behavior Clip Chart Magnets

First, I have to share!  My cheerleaders took 3rd place in their competition this weekend! Yay!! 🙂 I was SO excited for them – they were so nervous and did awesome! 

This is a concept that was developed at my previous school.  The school had taken the letters that spelled out our school’s name and turned each one into a school-wide expectation.  Students learned these expectations and recited them daily right after the pledge.  It was great! They really understood what they meant and we did a lot of class-meeting activities with them throughout the year.   Once, I remember seeing one of my students throw a paper towel on the ground.  I walked up to him and simply said, “That is not a Hinckley expectation.” He looked at me and said (with guilty eyes), “I know…I broke K….Keep Hinckley clean and safe.”    🙂 That little guy totally knew his expectations and what they meant!  

Teachers would also send home a School-Wide Expectation letter to parents when students had to clip down, checking off which expectation was not met.  This meant the students, staff, and parents were all using the same language and wording when it came to discussing behavioral expectations. This led to some wonderful consistency and we could even keep track of data on behavior by keeping a running tally of which expectation was being broken by a target student.  

When teachers, students, and parents are all on board with the same language and expectations – the payoff in collaboration is priceless.  

When I switched districts, I created my own version of expectations for my classroom – Rittman Expectations!  🙂  Here is a picture of my poster in my classroom.  

Below is a picture of my behavior magnets. When I switched my clip chart, I was nervous my parents would have to try to decode their child’s behavior calendar each night.   So I created a magnet of my clip chart that parents can stick on the fridge. (I just print out in color, cut, laminate, and stick a magnet on the back.) Then, they can look at their child’s behavior calendar and know right away what the color means.  This magnet also has the expectations on it so that once again, common language can be used between home and school.  

What are your big classroom expectations and how do you communicate these with parents?

I hope you enjoyed! I am now off to bed.  A full weekend of coaching my cheerleaders has left this second grade teacher E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D.   🙂  

Don’t forget to enter my $10 Scrappin’ Doodles giveaway!  Giveaway ends Wednesday night!

Happy Learning,