Guaranteed Best Ways To Post Writing Center Rules And Expectations

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So you’ve set up your literacy centers, but you’d like to add a chart for rules, routines, and expectations. In this blog, you’ll learn how to post your writing center rules and expectations so your students have a reminder of the tasks they need to complete.

First-Grade Writing Center Rules

Posting your writing center rules is important to keep your students accountable. It’s very helpful for them to see what is expected of them when they’re working independently.

A chart with first grade writing expectations is also a good reminder for your students. Let’s face it, they’re little kids, and it’s not easy for them to remember absolutely everything you’ve taught them all week. I know I need reminders, lots of reminders when I’m learning something new. So a chart with your writing center rules will help them remember which writing activities they need to complete.

But what happens when they cannot read your chart?

How To Post Writing Center Rules

There are a few ways to work around a writing center chart that your students can not read yet. If you’re looking for what rules and expectations to post, this blog has some great suggestions.

Anchor Charts

Let’s start with anchor charts. There are several things you can do to make your anchor chart of writing center rules understandable for beginning readers. The first thing, which is non-negotiable, is to make your anchor chart together with your students. It’s important to involve them in the process of coming up with the rules and routines together. It will help them feel like they have a hand in a routine they’ll follow each week. It also might help them remember the rules if they came up with them, rather than you telling them.

Want to know a little secret? I’ve done this for years and it’s very effective. But I don’t actually have my students come up with my writing center rules. I already have them in mind. I just want my students to THINK they’re making the rules. So I have a little sticky note with the rules I want next to me as we’re making our writing center anchor chart. Then I ask a lot of leading questions. What do you think we can do to help us write better at our writing center? What happens if I need help? Would it helps us to concentrate better if we kept our writing center silent?

Take each of your writing center rules and turn them into questions. It really works.

Make Your Anchor Charts Interesting

When you’re writing out your writing center rules on your anchor chart, make sure to use clear and concise language they will understand. For example, if you’d like to make your writing center a place where your students will not talk to each other, “Write Silently” is something they will understand.

My teaching BFF, Vicki is a really good artist. Her anchor charts are colorful and have illustrations of silent students. Mine? Not so much. I use different color markers to make it more fun and interesting, but I print off some free clipart of an emoji making the “Shhhh” hand motion and I stick it right on there.

What If Your Classroom Is Too Small To Post Writing Center Rules?

I have a pretty small classroom, so I had to be creative when it came to posting my writing center expectations. If you’re running out of wall space here are a few suggestions.

Hang your writing center rules from the ceiling. Fire Marshall approved, of course. If you have the drop-down ceilings like I have, tuck the very top of your anchor chart in the partitions and you’re good to go.

Make a smaller anchor chart and add it to your writing center using a plastic frame like this one. You can either use an 8 ½ x 11 size, or a half-size frame to give you even more room at your writing center.

In my small classroom, these frames are perfect, and they’re easy to use. I can easily switch out my writing center rules any time I need to. (Amazon link, if enough click, Bezos might send me to space!)

Scaffolding Options For Your Writing Center Rules

There are other ways to let your students know what they need to do at your writing center. Especially when you add a new writing activity. You’ll want a way to show your students what to do for each task. This is a good reminder for them, and it also helps with absent students who weren’t present when you went over your new writing activities.

Make a video. Nothing professional, just grab your phone and record yourself explaining it to your students the first time. Then, anytime they need to refresh their memory they’ll have it ready to play.

You can also make an audio recording. If you’re a Seesaw user, you can make an activity with an audio or video recording of ANYTHING you’d like your students to remember. They don’t even need to complete anything ON Seesaw, but it’s a great resource to have available to them.

Your video or audio recordings can also be put onto a Google Slides presentation, or you can make a QR code for them to scan. This helps your beginning readers remember what writing center rules you would like them to follow.

Need more advice on setting up your writing center? You’ll love these posts below.

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