Rules in the first grade classroom help manage time efficiently and productively. You can design rules that streamline the learning process by reducing student disruptions. Such rules typically involve raising the hands before speaking and refraining from interrupting the teacher at all times. Ultimately, rules like these increase the amount of time that the students have to engage in the learning process.
Rules help streamline both school-mandated procedures, such as fire drills, and more basic classroom procedures, like entering the classroom. Teaching the rules for these procedures is important because it informs first graders, not only of what is expected of them in various contexts but also provides practice for the many future encounters they will have with rules. Rules are also important to determine proper procedures for tasks, such as answering and asking questions.
Rules help widen and clear lines of communication among students and teachers. Rules help promote positive and effective communication by teaching students how to listen patiently as well as wait patiently to voice their own opinions and questions. Using rules to dictate how conversation and instruction should occur in the classroom also helps instill a sense of trust in students that adhering to the rules will ultimately benefit them.
Rules in the first grade classroom help ensure the safety of both students and teachers. Students must know that when they enter the environment of the school, they must conform to certain standards of propriety and physical behavior that respect the personal space of others. Furthermore, rules that govern arrival and departure traffic procedures, for instance, help develop a sense in students that many rules are dedicated to ensuring their own personal safety.