At the beginning of the school year, all students at Gillispie have a voice in shaping their community through the creation of a classroom agreement.
Rather than simply being given a list of rules, they are invited to consider: How do we want to treat one another? What do we need from each other to learn, play, and grow together? This process invites the students to create the classroom they want to be part of.
In Willow, one of Gillispie’s prekindergarten classrooms, the process began with a simple question: “What is an agreement?” Children described it as agreeing to do something together, remembering to do something, and helping make others happy.
From there, teachers explored the idea of kindness through books, conversations, and reflection. Their answers were wonderfully concrete: love yourself, help someone who falls, invite a new friend to play, clean up a mess, and put things back where they belong.
These conversations help children understand the why behind their classroom agreements. They begin to see that their everyday choices—how they treat themselves, how they speak to a friend, care for their classroom, or respond when someone needs help—contribute to the kind of community they all want to share.
Throughout the year, teachers bring these agreements to life through modeling, role-play, routines, and everyday conversations. The agreements become a shared language for reflection, problem-solving, and growth.
In the process, children learn something powerful: the classroom they want is one they help create—one choice, one interaction, and one act of kindness at a time.