Sunday School Rules

Welcome to my first Sunday School post!

This will be my fourth year teaching our mixed Pre-k and Kinder (Prep) class. I teach our church’s little dears together with Naomi, my sister-in-law. She is totally an amazing person and I love her so much and couldn’t imagine teaching without her! We do lots of hands-on activities because we believe learning should be fun and involve the learner – whether it’s ABCs, 123s or faith-based learning, it’s should be fun!

I believe this would be a good time to mention that we teach in a Romanian church where 99.99 % of the kids prefer to speak English instead of Romanian. What does this mean for us? We translate everything – we have one kiddo, to be exact, who speaks ONLY Romanian and a handful of kids who speak ONLY English. The others can understand basic Romanian but mostly speak English. Complicated? It can be at times, especially if we ramble on too much in Romanian and our little ones start to get restless and ask, “When’s snack time?” We then remember to switch back to English and that usually gets everyone concentrating again 🙂

So, let’s get into our first lesson!

We talked about rules. Yep. Because 3.5 year old children don’t know to raise their hand before speaking. 4 year olds think they can walk out to use the bathroom whenever they please and the older kiddos have done this last year so they think they know everything and there is no need to listen! And so, we need rules.

I know people say that you should keep rules to a minimum, but our class has seven because:

  • 1. They don’t get that the first one pretty much covers all the others
  • 2. They really do think it’s OK to run around and hide under chairs and
  • 3. Rainbow colors – you can’t use ALL the colors if you only have 4 rules. So, you need 7. And that, friends, is why we have 7 🙂

(If you’d like either of these posters for your class, click on the language version you prefer to download your freebie!)

I’m sorry for the terrible photo, but this is what the rules look like in our room – they are right at the front and I attached them to the whiteboard with a huge clip. I got this idea from Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten, and she has an editable version for sale here!

I made ours double-sided – the other side is in Romanian and I usually have that side facing the front.

After we talked about the rules and practiced them, we talked about whole body listening. We used posters to communicate what good listening looks like, and then we practiced being good listeners together to get a better idea of how it feels. (Click on the image below to get the English version.)

(Click on the image below to get the Romanian version.)

We also read a book about manners. I bought my copy from Koorong.

Then we sorted some pictures of good and bad behavior choices. (Get the English version by clicking on the picture below. There is a worksheet at the end that we can’t use with my little ones, but you might be able to use with your older students!)

(Get the Romanian version here!)

I made a coloring book about our rules, but we were running short on time, so I gave it to my kiddos to work on at home. (Click on the rules poster of your choice at the top of this post to get your booklet).

I always make a Take-Home page for our munchkins. That way, parents are informed about what we learned and the kiddos have something to draw on during Sunday night service! (Click on either image to get the English version.)

(Click here to get the Romanian version.)

We don’t usually have time to take photos during the our Sunday School session, but I’ll see what we can manage for future posts 🙂

And there you have it: our first lesson all done! I hope you find the printables useful!

Before I go, I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to my friend, Andreea, who helped translate everything into Romanian. She’s another awesome person who means a lot to me!

38 thoughts on “Sunday School Rules”

    1. Emanuela-Daniela Piftor

      Multumesc frumos si pentru versiunea in limba romana! Dumnezeu sa va binecuvanteze in lucrarea minunata pe care o faceti!
      Cu aprecieri,
      Daniela

  1. Hi, I just found your blog through Pinterest & I love your work. So far I’ve only looked at the Sunday School section & I’m hooked already!I downloaded the Take Home booklet in English & just noticed that some of the text is in Romanian, even though it’s all in English in the picture. Is there any way I could get a complete English version, please? Thanks for your great work. I’ll be popping over to look at your TPT site right now!

  2. Hi, This is pretty amazing! Do you mind if I take it and remake a little to suit our needs? Because if older kids are okay with our schools rules, younger ones have troubles remembering all of it. I specially love the idea of colouring book.

    1. Hi Regina,
      I’m glad you like it and can see ways to modify to suit your needs 🙂 Please remember that the resources I create (even edited) cannot be shared via the internet and social media 🙂
      Lavinia

  3. THANK YOU!!! Im addicted! Was looking for SS “rules”, and yours was the 1st I looked at, got totally distracted with all your other great posts!

  4. I just found your blog via pinterest. You are amazing! Your kids are truly lucky to have you as their teacher. These printables that you have made available for us are incredible. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put in to them. Im in real need of them atm with my daughter trying to teach her to behave. So thanks x x

  5. These look perfect for my first grade students at our small Christian school. I had 5 of your rules as my rules already, and who can resist a rainbow-colored chart? I plan on using your take home with my students on the first day and printing out the rule cards and hanging them on a ribbon that matches our classroom décor. Thank you so much for sharing!

  6. Vicki Fishman

    How and where can I download these. I am an instructional specialist for an Elementary School in Westlake Vilagge CA. I am also a university professor for National and these will be wonderful to share for my classroom managment class. I absolutely love these. I would love a copy and would love to know how to edit them. Do you just connect one to the next? Are they each 81/2″ x 11″? Thank you so much for your gew

  7. Thank you so much for sharing. This is amazing and I cannot wait to incorporate it with my students. 🙂

  8. Multumesc mult pentru materialele exceptionale.Sunt educatoare in Romania si ma bucur de tot ceea ce este nou si interesant pentru copii.Nu pot descarca”Eu pot sa ascult”,ma poti ajuta?Multumesc din suflet!

    1. laurie ralphs

      January 1,2017
      This is adorable art work and I always try to use pictures, a visual always teaches better than just words. Creativity from the children explodes into great discussions and role playing. Thanks for your creative genius and sharing with those like me who need others help. May you be blessed for your selfless service. Love Laurie

  9. My husband is moving down to first grade after about 18 years in fifth grade. These rules are such a help to him. Thanks so much!! <3

  10. I love the simplicity of these rules. I have used them in my Catholic First grade classroom for a couple of years. They are clear and easy for young little minds to understand. The colors are great and the images are perfect! Thank you!

  11. Hi! I am a missionary in Moldova and we also have a very mixed Sunday school class at a new church plant with many English speaking kids who are learning Romanian at a Romanian church. We are all working on learning Romanian. I liked your rules in English so I clicked to see and to my joy you already have them in Romanian! I just wanted to thank you so much for this. I am so glad to have found your website.

  12. Hi I am from the Philippines…Thank you so much for this.. Im very happy to have this resources…I found what I’v been looking for… such a great help for me as a starting pre shool teacher in our church..

  13. yanti sianturi

    Hi, I’m teacher of sunday school from Indonesia….thank you very much…for helping me to teach my students

  14. The house rules poster is pretty and can get children’s attention. I printed, have enlarged it and donated to the parish where I volunteer on weekends. Thank you for sharing.-

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