We Know What to Do! Our Classroom Expectations

We Know What to Do! Our Classroom Expectations

We Know What to Do! Our Classroom Expectations is a visual classroom resource designed to help young children understand, practice, and remember common routines, safety procedures, and positive classroom behaviors. Through colorful, child-friendly illustrations and simple step-by-step directions, the resource shows children what successful participation looks like throughout the school day.

The resource covers a wide variety of everyday routines, including entering the classroom and putting belongings away, sitting safely at the rug and table, raising a hand to speak, lining up, using appropriate voice levels, taking turns during partner conversations, washing hands, caring for classroom devices, eating lunch, playing safely outdoors, and preparing to go home. It also includes visual guidance for emergency procedures such as fire, tornado, and earthquake drills.

Teachers can use these visuals to explicitly teach classroom expectations rather than simply telling children what not to do. At the beginning of the year, or whenever a new routine is introduced, the teacher can display one visual at a time, read the steps aloud, model the behavior, and invite children to practice it together. The posters can also be displayed where the expectation actually occurs, such as near the classroom entrance, rug area, tables, sink, technology center, or playground exit.

This resource was created in Canva, making it easy for educators to customize the content to fit the needs of their own classroom. Teachers can edit wording, colors, images, routines, or expectations to better match their classroom procedures, age group, or program style. An editable Canva version allows for personalization, while a PDF version is also available for convenient printing and immediate classroom use.

Teachers may also use the resource during morning meetings, social-emotional learning lessons, transition reminders, role-play activities, or classroom problem-solving conversations. Children can look at a visual, identify what they notice, demonstrate the steps, and discuss why the routine helps keep everyone safe, comfortable, and ready to learn.

For best results, teachers can introduce only a few expectations at a time, practice them repeatedly, positively acknowledge children when they follow the routines, and revisit the visuals whenever the class needs a refresher. In this way, the resource becomes more than a set of posters—it serves as a consistent, flexible visual teaching tool that supports independence, self-regulation, confidence, and a positive classroom community.