1. We try our best 2. We are good listeners 3. We respect each other by using kind words and actions 4.

We celebrate each others success 5. We work quietly and do not disturb others 6. We enter and exit prepared 7. G. R. O. U. P. S. a. G Get along b. R Respect Others c. O On Task d. U Use Quiet Voices e. P Participate f. S Stay in your group
I choose to set up my rules for fifth grade because that is the grade that I have a practicum in right now. I really love the set of kids that I have right now, and I wanted to create rules and expectations around them. 1. I wanted my first rule to be about trying our best because I want all of my students to succeed in their own way. I do not believe that everyone is on the same level in terms of learning, but if they try their best they will exceed my expectations. I can accommodate for any student and their abilities as long as they put forth their best effort. 2. I struggled for a while to decide whether this rule should be about listening to instruction or if it should be We are good listeners. I choose the latter because I want students to not only listen to me, but also to each other and other adults that will be in the room throughout the school day. 3. I think a main part of school is not to toughen students up to a cruel world, but to teach them the skills to spread kindness. I defined a little bit of respect in the main rule with the kind words and actions, and I think that those two things are really important when giving respect to someone else. 4. Celebrating other peoples successes is something important to my own philosophy of teaching. I think this expectation is a way for students to build other people up in order to make them feel good or give them the praise that they deserve. I think this is a good skill for students to get used to because this is something that we should do the rest of our lives. 5. I believe a room that is noisy can also be productive. For the sake of rules though, I would like students to first learn to keep themselves on task while not disrupting others. After the students have this rule

down, I wouldnt mind changing it to a rule about working with soft voices as long as everyone is able to have the work completed. 6. I think this rule applies over a vast number of topics which is why I really like it. The main reason that I like it is because it sets the tone for having all of their materials for every single class which also includes their homework. It also sets the tone for students having everything that they need when they go home at night to give to their parents, finished work, or homework to be completed. 7. My working in groups rule is broken up into six smaller rules that dictates my expectations for how they work in these groups. I couldnt think of one rule that would cover everything, so I made an acrostic poem for the things that I felt were important. a. I think it is important that students learn to work collaboratively with others. This is a life skill that will help them work collaboratively with the rest of their groups in my classroom as well as in life. b. Respecting others goes along with my third main rule, but I dont think anyone can say it enough. Also, this specific type of respecting others is geared toward respecting everyones opinions and thoughts while working with them in their groups. c. I know that students love to talk any chance they get in school, so this is just a reminder that even though I want them to talk within their groups, it needs to be on task. I think that giving them my expectation will help them know what they should be doing while they are working with others. d. Once again, this is so that we are not disturbing anyone else in any other group, or other students that may be working independently. In groups, I think it is also good to set the tone of the type of voices that they should be using so that they know they are allowed to talk as long as its quiet. e. Participation is key when working in groups. I want to make sure that every student knows that they must be active participants within their groups, and that they must take everyones opinions and thoughts into account when working together. f. I added in staying in your group because I wanted to make sure students understood that they are with these groups for a reason, and cannot change whenever they want. If there are serious problems in a group, I would be willing to change, but I would like students to attempt to work out as many problems as they can.