SETTING CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS WITH A CLASS CONTRACT
Each school year, I look to introduce fun and easy methods to help teach students about respect for themselves, each other, and our classroom community. One of my favorite activities to do this with is a classroom contract.
WHAT IS A CLASS CONTRACT
A class contract is classroom rules that are created and agreed upon by the students and teachers in the classroom. A class contract is a great way to initiate conversations around culture and respect and can help set the tone for behavior management and behavior expectations for the school year. Each year our class creates a classroom contract. Our contract is displayed in the classroom and can be referenced throughout the year as a reminder to the students of the agreed upon expectations in the classroom.
READ ALOUDS FOR CLASSROOM CONTRACTS
One of my favorite ways to introduce the idea of a classroom contract is to pair the activity with a read aloud. I’ve listed a few books below that you can pair with your class contract activity.
Once of my favorite back to school read alouds is I Promise by LeBron James. I Promise was inspired by the creation of the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. In this book students declare a set of promises in which they strive to be the best version of themselves in everything they do. I love reading this story at the beginning of the year and work with my students to create our own set of promises to ourselves for the upcoming school year. Having students take the lead in creating a list of promises or agreements helps to create buy in with your students.
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold is a story that lets young children know that no matter what, they have a place, they have a space, and they are welcome in their school. All Are Welcome celebrates students for their differences and highlights our diversity as a strength. Similar to I Promise, All Are Welcome can be used as a tool to help students develop I Can Statements and promises that will help to guide the way students will treat and respect each other throughout the school year.
Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind is a follow up to the award-winning book Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave. Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind by Jessica Hische encourages students that tomorrow, they will be grateful, helpful, and kind. It is a great book for social emotional learning as students will learn about ways they can be kind and helpful to their peers. Students will use the story to help create a list of promises highlighting ways they will be grateful, helpful, and kind in the classroom which can be included in the class contract.
DRAFTING A SIMPLE CLASS CONTRACT
Drafting a class contract can be simple and easy. You can use anchor chart paper to list out a set of class promises that can be displayed in your classroom throughout the year. When introducing this activity, I like to have students begin by pairing with a partner to discuss a list of ideas for the classroom contract. Then each partner pair can share 1-2 ideas they came up with. I first start with a draft list which captures all the ideas from the discussion and then as a group, we can work to consolidate the list into one final set of classroom promises.
After we create our final list of promises, I will create the final classroom contract. I typically like to aim for 8-10 promises that we can add to the contract, but you can make your contract as long or as short as you need.
Finally, I like to have everyone “sign” our contract. Since I work with preschool students, we like to sign our classroom contract by stamping our handprint on the classroom contract. However, if you are working with older students, you can have them sign the contract another way. Here is a list of ways you can have your students “sign” the classroom contract.
Handprint/Thumbprint
Signature
Stickers/Drawing
Self-portrait/student picture
I like to give students the option of what color they would like to stamp their hand on the contract with. I will choose 3-4 color options for students to choose from. One by one each student will come up and stamp their handprint into the class contract. Our students love this part of the activity and feel a sense of ownership over the classroom contract.
What other classroom contract ideas do you implement in your class? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments below!
