The beginning of the school year is always a busy time in classrooms. Much of the first few weeks of school are spent practicing the routines and rituals that will make the rest of the school year flow, while also setting the expectations for the classroom community for the year ahead. In third grade, the students helped to establish the expectations within the classroom. They each had an expectation that they were working on in small groups. They needed to brainstorm what their expectation would look and sound like if someone were to observe the 3rd graders anywhere around school. After getting a good list started, the whole class had an opportunity to add their thoughts if they felt anything additional was needed. With these examples of what our expectations look and sound like, they made posters to hang in the classroom, adding drawings to illustrate what they look like in action. Having these posters hanging in the classroom allow us to reference if we need reminders of how we should be acting at school. Since the students made them, there is also a level of buy-in behind the fact that it is their work and thinking illustrating what each of our expectations should look and sound like. They did a wonderful job, and it is great to be able to have these on display in our class.
