They establish a respectful and safe atmosphere that is centered upon learning. During the first week of school, the rules will be reviewed daily. Role play between students and teacher modeling will be implemented to show the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors.

Logical Consequences

Charney (2005) suggests using a system of logical consequences to enforce classroom rules. The first consequence expects children to take responsibility by cleaning any mess or fixing any situation they make. The second is loss of privilege, and it is directly related to the infraction. For example, a child who cannot keep his four chair legs on the floor loses his chair for the remainder of the lesson. Last, students may need to spend some time reflecting on their behavior in a time-out zone. These procedures help children to connect the consequence to the behavior using real-world applications.

Conclusion

For early learners, the rules should be kept simple and should be easy to remember. They should be clearly established during the first week of school using teacher modeling and role play to show the differences between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Finally, the rules should be fair. This can be clearly established by directly relating any punitive action to the behavior through the use of logical consequences.
References

Charney, R. (2005). Responsive Classroom Strategies: Examples of Logical Consequences. Education World. Retrieved May 2, 2010 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/charney/charney007.shtml

Slavin, R. (2009). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. (9th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Wong, H. & Wong, R. (2004). The First Days of School. California: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.