nel-edu-guide-social-emotional-development

When children are given opportunities to decide on class rules, they learn aboutcommitment and responsibility.Some suggestions for guiding children in the process of making rules:• Conduct rule-making discussions as a response to a particular need orproblem. Present the situation to the children and ask them what can bedone about it.• Emphasise the reasons for rules. Explain that the purpose of rules is to makethe classroom a safe and happy place for everyone. When children suggest arule, ask, “Why do we need that rule?” or “Why is that a good rule?”• Children tend to think of rules as restrictive and negative. So lead them tothink constructively of things that they can do and to phrase rules in a positiveway. For example, instead of “Don’t tear pages off books”, say “Be gentlewith books”.• Record rules and visuals in a simple way and display them on a chart as aconstant reminder.32Copyright © 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore