If you want to know if I let kids break building rules in my classroom, watch this video [1:09].

Polly Bath: Kids don’t like it when we change the rules. If you’ve set rules in your classroom, then keep to them and follow through.

The same goes with the rules of the building. One of the tips I always give is that though each classroom will have it’s own rules, we never want to break a building rule in our classroom.

Which means that if you’re not allowed to have headphones in the building in the hallway, you’re not allowed to have them in my classroom.

One of the breakdowns I see is when building rules aren’t followed in classrooms. It really strains the system for kids. Even if I don’t like the building rule, I still follow it in my classroom.

I call them non-negotiables.