Class Contract

At the beginning of the year, we come up with a list of rules or guidelines that become our class contract for the year. I love using the Responsive Classroom method and start with an exercise called Hopes and Dreams. 

On the first day of school, the students  think about everything they hope to learn and do in the coming year. Then they draw and write two of their hopes and dreams. 

Then we move on to rules. I explain to the kids that our rules are meant to help us achieve all our hopes and dreams for the year. We read many books- Yoko, What if Everybody Did That, and Corky Cub's Crazy Caps. After each book, we brainstorm a list of rules that would benefit our class. After reading all the books, I narrow down the list to a few general categories. 

Now the quilt part. First we have a conversation about contracts- a signed agreement. Next, we shift the conversation to everyone's unique traits and abilities. The only way to achieve our hopes and dreams is to put all our unique and special traits together. In order to sign the contract, each student designs a square for the quilt and places their square on the contract. The quilt hangs in our classroom all year as a reminder of what we can do if we all work together.