Elementary lesson on teaching kids how to follow rules.

I always like to start the year off with a lesson on following the rules. With students coming back from summer break, a little refresher is needed to start the school year off on the right track.

I will begin the lesson by asking students to tell me what it means to follow the rules. Once students share, I move into explaining why it is important to follow the rules. I tell my students that rules are put in place to keep everyone safe. Next, I have students share a time when they followed the rules either at home, at school, or in the community. This part of the lesson is really important because it builds classroom community and teaches students how to listen to one another, which will lead to them feeling comfortable with expressing themselves.

Then, I will move into showing them the following video and pausing when necessary to ask or answer questions.

After the video, I will have a whole group discussion on following the rules. I might create some rules with my students at that moment and practice what following them looks like because from my experience, students are really go with telling you what a rule is but following it is a different story. So, I might create 2 or 3 rules with the class and practice what it mean to follow them. For example, if a class rule is to “raise your hand if you have a question” I will model for them what that looks like. I might call on a student to play a teacher and I will play the student. I will raise my hand and wait patiently until the teacher calls on me.

For practice, I created a cut and paste activity for my students to complete with a partner after the whole group discussion. This activity is uploaded as a pdf file so just download, print, and go!

Have your students cut out each sentence at the bottom of the activity sheet. With a partner, let them discuss which column each sentence should go under and explain why. This will spark great discussion among your students. Once complete, review their work together as a class.

**This lesson will help students analyze different sentences to determine whether they are examples of following the rules or not following the rules. It will also have them reflect on their actions/behaviors which is important when learning or reviewing information.

** For more free resources, visit my teacherspayteachers store at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Dedicated-To-Motivate

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