Books to Teach Rules and Procedures

Today I am sharing 35+ of the best Books to Teach Rules and Procedures and I promise it will make your classroom run much more smoothly this school year! One of the best tips I have for new teachers or any teacher for that matter, is to make sure you have your rules and procedures explained, modeled, and practiced multiple times, the first 1 to 2 weeks of school. Of course you will continue to teach, re-teach, and re-visit many of these rules and procedures throughout the school year, but I have found that using books aids in the explanation and setting of the rules and procedures. Read on to learn about the huge variety of books that are now available to buy and use for each topic. (I have included the Amazon links to each book, since that is where I purchase 90% of my books!)

Since I teach Kindergarten, I generally read a lot of 1st day of Kindergarten books on the first day of school. But day 2?! Oh yes, I start teaching rules and procedures and I always do it in conjunction with a book. It seems to resonate with the students more and the kids get to revisit the book and rule again when they read the book in the class library. One of the first books that I read is Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen.

This book is one of many that are perfect for teaching the importance of following rules at school. Here are 8 other book suggestions for learning about rules and why they are important at school.

What if Everybody Did That (A book about breaking rules)

The Worst Day of My Life EVER (Bad things keep happening, because he doesn’t listen or pay attention to directions.)

I Just Don’t like the Sound of NO (Learning how to accept NO for an answer and to disagree appropriately)

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (Following the rules)

No, David (Right and Wrong choices)

Back to School Rules 

Mind Your Manners in School (Easy to understand about different expectations at school)

After teaching about what a rule is and reading books about rules, we talk and make an anchor chart about our own classroom and school rules. I then move on to the next social subject of making friends and being a friend. (Now of course I may use one or two of these books at a time. I do not read this whole list all in one day.) Please use your own discretion when using these books and do what works for you and your classroom! Kindergartners often need direction and tips on making friends and then how to KEEP friends. These 3 books are great for teaching those skills!

Enemy Pie (learning the difficulties and rewards of making new friends)

Teamwork Isn’t my Thing and I Don’t Like to Share (Teamwork and how to share are important skills for everyone)

Making Friends is an Art (In order to have friends, you have to be a friend)

One of my favorite procedures and rules to teach is not blurting out or interrupting during a lesson. This is hard for most kids, but especially students who have never had any school experience. A MUST-HAVE book for teaching this rule is My Mouth is a Volcano! My class loves this book and I always find it in someone’s book bin, as they re-read it! And if blurting out becomes a problem again or I have an influx of new students, I re-read this book and everyone loves to hear it!

My Mouth is a Volcano 

Lacey Walker, Non-Stop Talker (The importance of listening and not always talking)

Interrrupting Chicken (Not interrupting during a story you might know and be able to re-tell…)

Decibella and her 6 inch Voice (Learning that different situations call for different voice levels. This is also perfect is you use CHAMPS as well.)

Another big problem that tends to arise in most of our classrooms is tattling. I try and nip this right in the bud during the first week of school. My favorite go-to tattling book is A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue.

I also use the Heidi Songs song Nobody Likes a Tattletale. With the help of this book, song and an anchor chart about reporting versus tattling, my kiddos get an understanding right away and tattling is cut down to a minimum! Aw…peace. 😉

Another great book is for teaching working out big problem/small problems is :

Don’t Squeal, Unless it’s a Big Deal (Tattling and working out your own problems)

The next 2 topics are topics that I only talk/read about when and if I feel it is necessary. Again, use your judgement. Have a problem with lying in your classroom? Try these 2 books…

Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie

Lying Up a Storm (The consequences of lying)

And now for bullying…this seems to be a huge issue in not only in schools, but society. 🙁 Now…a simple piece of advice from me is to tread carefully with this topic. I say this because our school held a NO Bully week and had more fights and problems in that week than ever! It seems sometimes addressing an issue brings more light to the subject and more people crying BULLY.

I might read Mean Jean The Recess Queen the first week of school, just as a reminder that nobody is ‘the boss’ and you can play with anyone you want. We talk about being friends and using nice words with all of our friends in class. We might do an anchor chart on what a friend looks like, as this is a visual reminder for everyone. Depending on the dynamics of my class for that particular year, I might have to pull out and use some more books on bullies and teasing.

The JuiceBox Bully (Empowering students to stand up to bullies) 

Howard B Wigglebottom Learns about Bullies 

Tease Monster: A Book about Teasing vs. Bullying 

It seems that in education, there are so many ‘social’ issues that need to be addressed and/or taught in the classroom. Here are some more books I have found and some that I use to talk about these subjects. I hope you can find them useful!

Personal Space Camp (Learning about personal space and respecting others’ boundaries)

But it’s Not My Fault (Learning to accept responsibility and not blaming others) 

The Day the Crayons Quit (I love to use this book at the beginning of the year to talk about using all the colors in the coloring box and not just using all one color. I will add that it is a lengthy book and I have to skip some parts for my kindergartners, in order to retain their attention.

I Can’t Believe You Said That (Finding and using your social filter when talking to others)

Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? (Being kind; Filling buckets) 

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun – (Having the Courage to Be Who You are, in Spite of what others think or say)

Cool Down and Work Through Anger (Skills for working through anger) 

How Full is Your Bucket?

The Girl who Never Made Mistakes (For the perfectionist student)

Sorry I Forgot to Ask (Asking Permission and Making an Apology)

You Get What You Get (Dealing with Not always getting what you want) 

Ricky Sticky Fingers (Stealing is wrong) 

When Sophie Get Angry- Really, Really Angry (Everyone has emotions and gets upset)

Hands are Not for Hitting (Keeping your Hands & Feet to yourselves)

Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill (Perfect for teaching new students that Fire Drills happen and they don’t need to be afraid of them)

Whew…that is a lot of books! But I can promise you that my saving grace this last school year was CLEAR EXPECTATIONS and teaching and modeling the rules and procedures during the first 2 weeks of school. I personally own many of these books and have found them to be a wonderful tool when teaching each rule, procedure and expectation. Maybe you use some of these books or use different ones, so if you do, PLEASE leave me a comment so I can add that book to my collection, as well as add it here. We teachers need all the help we can get and working together makes for success in the classroom!

Do you need help setting up your classroom library? Check out post “Classroom Library Organization” for ideas and information.