Classroom Manners and Expectations

Newly revised Manners and Expectations Posters. 

Creating clear and consistent expectations is a vital part of your program throughout the year and specifically at the beginning of the school year.

I have always enjoyed helping children develop socially acceptable behaviors with gentle role-modeling and encouragement, always focusing on the desired behavior and prevention where possible.

Manners and social skills were instilled in me at as a young child by my mother who was always so soft and calm with her approach to helping my brother and I understand what was expected of us. For this reason, I enjoy classroom management and it is a core part of my philosophy.

I also believe that children will learn via a positive experience and feeling good about what they have done, thought, said or felt. I know that focusing on what you want children to achieve is more helpful to their developing brains than focusing on what they need not do. 

I developed what I called my social skills posters over eleven years ago and this is the fourth version of them. Each one with a new look and a few more social skills/expectations added. You may recognize the last set. 

N.B If you have already purchased this set via our TpT store then, the new version is ready for you to download via your 'My Purchases' tab on TpT. 

The new set has replaced the last version and is available in my TpT store, click on any image.

These posters are not designed as rules, there's way TOO MANY for that.  I have always had 5 basic classroom rules that children are very much aware of.  These overlap and are often smaller expectations to help children remember the main rules. 

Many children already know and use most of these expectations, so you can use those ones as a means to revisit the good job they are doing. 

By making these pages into a booklet, you can focus on one per week or whatever is appropriate for that expectations and your class.  I like to focus on the things most of the class is forgetting, perhaps it might be read quietly. We open the book to that page for the week and I praise, praise, praise them when they are on track. 

You may like to display your posters on a wall in your classroom.

I also like to bind a set and have it front and center, on our easel as a ready reference.

I focus on a new strategy most weeks, sometimes we focus on two in a week or one in a fortnight. It will just depend on the expectation and your students as to how long you focus on one skill.

If you notice that there is a general trend (as there usually is) of one expectation falling, like the noise level during line-up time. then choose that skill to focus on until you see progress.

I also like to make sure that straight after discussing the skill and then when we either start work or generally transition, I praise the children who I see trying hard to use their manners and specifically the skill we are focusing on that day/week. An example of this is as soon as we come to the rug, I will note how so-and-so has her hands to herself and is becoming very accomplished at remembering the skill. 

Here is a list of the manners and expectations covered in this file.

This page will help you track which expectations you have covered as well as when and how. 

You can also have your students evaluate their manners each week.

I have also included a differentiated contracts for one-on-one use with students who are finding using manners and fulfilling expectations, a challenge. 

The posters also come with a black and white version should you want to print onto colored stock or print two to a page to make student booklets. 

Grab your exclusive FREE file that is only available here (not found in listed file seen above). 

The file comes in color and black and white for your convenience. It includes one checklist and one rating scale. 

Click on any of the images to download your freebie.