Procedures, Procedures, Procedures!

Harry Wong's First Days of School is my teaching bible.  I was given his book as a student teacher 14 years ago, and read it during the summer each year.  Every time I read it, I get a better understanding of classroom behavior and student expectation.  Harry Wong is a firm believer in procedure, and after the first 5 weeks of my very first year teaching, became a believer as well.

Procedures are a part of life.  We follow procedures for eating in the cafeteria, getting off a bus, playing soccer, and attending a movie.  The reason we have procedures in life is so that people can function in society knowing the acceptable and efficient ways other people do things.

There are procedures in my classroom as well.  These procedures establish our classroom culture and allow us to function as a learning, cohesive group.

To help the students better remember these procedures, I have created a "Procedure Manual", which the student keep in their desk as all times.  This IS our reading material the first two weeks of school  We practice each procedure, model it, act it out, and generally run through them constantly in those first 2 weeks.  Periodically throughout the year, we review this manual, so as to keep the procedures fresh in their minds.

I hope this Procedure Manual is of use to some of you.  It is specific to the way that *I* run *MY* class, and will not be 100% perfect for anyone but me.  However, I encourage you to take this manual and adapt it for your own class.  Write the procedures as you want them to be followed.  That way, it becomes a useful tool for you and your students. 


But if you would like to be able to edit one, I do have one available in my TpT store here.  :)