Ages 5-9 · Book 1, Accountability · 4,299 places
Classroom Rules and Agreements
Rules a class helped write are the ones that survive November. This is the session that writes them.
Built on Ellis Abel and the Red Block — “Big feelings. Small choices. Real accountability.” A character series, not a curriculum with a worldview attached.
The five sessions
- Session 1
Pick the one moment in the day that goes wrong most often
- Session 2
Read the story and name what is actually happening in it
- Session 3
Write the routine down in three steps a child can say back
- Session 4
Run it for a week without changing it, even on the bad days
- Session 5
Come back to it and let the child say what got easier
Questions leaders ask
Is classroom rules and agreements in your area a religious program?
No. Ellis Abel is a character series. Each volume carries one named core value — this one is accountability — and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it, nothing to opt out of, and it is used in public schools, libraries and secular programs as readily as anywhere else.
What ages does this work for?
Ages 5-9. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is fully in it, and the discussion prompts are written in two bands so one adult can hold a mixed-age room.
How long does a session take in a your area classroom?
Twenty to thirty minutes, structured as read-aloud, small group, and one step each child names out loud before they leave the room.
Does this need a specialist to deliver?
No. It is written for the classroom teacher, the counselor, or whoever has the room that period. The leader script carries the questions and the follow-ups.
The rules that make it work
This is a character story, not a behaviour plan
Ellis Abel is a core-values series. No child is assessed, scored, diagnosed or labelled anywhere in it. It gives a room shared language, and it stops there.
Big feelings are not misbehaviour
A four-year-old at full volume is not defying anyone. Treating the feeling as an offence teaches a child to hide it, which is the opposite of the skill.
Name first, always
Every attempt to fix a feeling before naming it fails, and it fails loudly. The order in the book is the order in the room.
Ownership is small and specific
"Be responsible" means nothing at four. One job, done alone, every day, means everything, and it generalises on its own.
Adults go first
The adult naming their own feeling out loud in front of the child does more work than any session. Children copy what they see under pressure.
Routines beat reminders
A routine a child can recite is theirs. A reminder an adult repeats is the adult's, and it has to be repeated forever.
Classroom Agreements by metro area
Northeast
- Classroom Agreements — New York, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Philadelphia, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Boston, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Pittsburgh, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Providence, RI
- Classroom Agreements — Hartford, CT
- Classroom Agreements — Buffalo, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Rochester, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Bridgeport, CT
- Classroom Agreements — Albany, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Worcester, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Allentown, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Poughkeepsie metro area, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Syracuse, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Harrisburg, PA
- Classroom Agreements — New Haven, CT
- Classroom Agreements — Portland, ME
- Classroom Agreements — Scranton, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Lancaster, PA
- Classroom Agreements — York, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Springfield, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Waterbury, CT
- Classroom Agreements — Reading, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Manchester, NH
- Classroom Agreements — Trenton, NJ
- Classroom Agreements — Atlantic City, NJ
- Classroom Agreements — Utica, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Norwich, CT
- Classroom Agreements — Erie, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Binghamton, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Barnstable, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Burlington, VT
- Classroom Agreements — Kingston, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Amherst, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Chambersburg, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Bangor, ME
- Classroom Agreements — State College, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Vineland, NJ
- Classroom Agreements — Lebanon, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Johnstown, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Pittsfield, MA
- Classroom Agreements — Glens Falls, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Altoona, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Lewiston, ME
- Classroom Agreements — Williamsport, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Watertown, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Gettysburg, PA
- Classroom Agreements — Ithaca, NY
- Classroom Agreements — Elmira, NY
Midwest
- Classroom Agreements — Chicago, IL
- Classroom Agreements — Detroit, MI
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South
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- Classroom Agreements — Owensboro, KY
- Classroom Agreements — Steubenville, WV
- Classroom Agreements — Sebring, FL
- Classroom Agreements — Pinehurst, NC
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West
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- Classroom Agreements — Carson City, NV
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