Creating Anchor Charts with Students

1. Creating Anchor Charts with Students

2. What they are: • Large charts based on classroom • discussions that are created with • students during the learning • Different formats: webs, • brainstorms, KWL, Venn Diagrams, • lists, T charts, timelines, story maps, • 3 column charts, drawings

3. Why we make them: • Just like an anchor keeps a boat in place, they are a way • of “holding” or “anchoring” thinking for students • Makes student thinking visible and concrete • They serve as a visual reminder or artifact of the • learning that helps students remember a lesson, • strategy, or concept • They remain in the classroom for students who need • continuous reminders or scaffolding – they don’t get • erased like a chalkboard or whiteboard • They allow students to make connections from one • strategy to another, clarify a point, or build on earlier • learning • They show students that their thinking matters

4. How to make them: • Anchor charts are always co-constructed with the students • Capture student thinking precisely – use their own • language instead of trying to “fix up” their thinking to • mirror your own • Keep the chart focused on one particular strategy or concept • Make charts that are clear and organized so students can • understand them – graphic organizers work well • Charts are tied to a learning goal, objective, or concept • Use language appropriate to the developmental level of your • students • Get ideas from commercially-made concept posters, and then • build a class discussion to replicate the poster using your • students’ own language and ideas about the concept

5. Lists

6. 3 Column Charts

7. Drawings

8. Strategies

9. Word Lists

10. T Charts

11. Reading Tips

12. Expectations

13. Procedures

14. Genre Features

15. Questioning

16. Descriptions

17. Reading Reminders

18. Inferring

19. Comparing with a Venn