Anchor Chart Linky Party

Ahh... Anchor Charts.  I love them.  Mine are nothing special, as I would not consider myself an artist.  Seeing and reading all of the great charts on Mrs. M's Anchor Chart linky party has really motivated me to pay more attention to the artistry of anchor chart making.  Mine definitely do not compare artistically, but I'll share them anyway.  I hope they are helpful. 

http://msk1ell.blogspot.com/

I always create anchor charts with my kiddos and sometimes you can even see that they have written their own ideas themselves.  If I am scribing their thoughts, I always try to record who has said what, so that parents and visitors can see all the brilliant thinking the kids are doing in class.  It is also a great documentation of both the learning that has occurred and current understandings of the students.  (This is immensely helpful when it comes to report writing time!)

Unit of Inquiry Anchor Charts

Who We Are 

(an IB PYP Transdiciplinary Theme)

 I like to create a mind map in the beginning of a unit of inquiry and then add it to throughout the unit. Finally, at the end of the unit, we can then reflect on how our thinking has changed.  This also helps when it comes time to write report card comments.  The central idea of our unit of inquiry - Who We Are was "Friendships are fundamental to our personal development".  The blue writing shows the students initial thoughts and the purple writing shows their new thinking.  This anchor chart was instrumental in helping the students record their understandings using the Making Thinking Visible routine, "I used to think, but now I think..."

In this picture, you can see the anchor chart created at the beginning of the unit before we inquired into the concept of relationships. 

  Here you can see what it looked like later in the unit as the students added their ideas.

 How The World Works
(another IB PYP Transdiciplinary Theme)

This is an anchor chart from last year that I co-created with my pre-school students prior to going on a field trip for our inquiry, How the World Works to see the materials and tools involved in making sustainable mud houses.  We re-visted the anchor chart upon our return to capture our thinking.

Writing Anchor Charts

This anchor chart is one of my favorites.  It was created when a student said he had nothing to write about...  I said, "Well, I bet you have something to say about golf.  I want you to come up with all the golf words you can think of so that you can refer to this list when you don't know what to write about".  As he started working on this, others joined him and there was a writing frenzy.  Even a parent joined in.

What can I write? - Genre List

 Not a fancy anchor chart, but while we were reflecting in our portfolios, the students used this list to reflect on questions like:  What kind of writing do you like to do?  What do you like to read? 

 

 Author's Purpose

 During one of our class discussions on an author's purpose one of my students commented that the 'I' in PIE should stand for to Inquire!  What a great addition!  The 'S' comes from the Australian First Steps Writing program.  Do any of you teach with 'First Steps'?  I am hoping to become a trainer in May! 

The Letter Writing Format

My kiddos love to write letters! This anchor chart helps them to do so independently during our Daily 5 session for Work on Writing. 

The Daily 5 Anchor Charts

Work on Writing

Here is an anchor chart from the beginning of the year when we were setting up the Daily 5.

Read to Self

 This Read To Self anchor chart was made at the beginning of the year, but we still are referring to it!

How to use the Flip That Sound Strategy

Do you use the Daily 5?  What are your favorite Daily 5 strategies?

Summarizing Text and using Check for Understanding

 These strategies are also on our Cafe Board.

Being a Reading Coach

 My kids have just excelled as reading coaches.  I love this concept from The Sisters and The Daily 5. It has transformed the way the students talk to each other about reading.

Non-fiction Text Features

Students have actually written on this Non-Fiction Features anchor chart, but it is hard to tell their writing from mine. We are still adding to the list!

Math Anchor Chart

Finally one for math...  Do you teach Everyday Math?  I would love to collaborate with other Grade 2 teachers on helping tweek the program to allow for more inquiry based learning.  Leave me a comment if you are interested!

  

I would love to hear your comments!