I have a few teacher friends who don’t like their own handwriting and swear they can’t even draw a stick figure. I’m not sure I totally believe the stick figure part, but I get the point. So you can imagine their anxiety over the thought of creating anchor charts. And seriously, don’t we all have that one teammate whose charts are museum-worthy? The kind with perfect artistry we envy? We just want them to make our charts too. Is that too much to ask?
Here’s the thing though… maybe they’re not completely perfect. Right? I’ve been in primary classrooms where the anchor charts had so many words on them, they looked like short novels. Are those effective for emergent readers?
I once attended a workshop where the presenter said, “An effective anchor chart is a lot like a billboard on the highway. It has to communicate a lot of meaning with a small amount of text. Relatable graphics are key. The sign maker has about five seconds to grab your attention.”
I know interstate traffic and a first grade classroom aren’t exactly the same, but (again) I get the point and I walked away that day with a commitment to reevaluate my own anchor charts and start the conversation:
- Are we constructing anchor charts that will help our students function independently?
- Or are we making super wordy, overly fancy charts to impress our administrators and colleagues?
LET’S SIMPLIFY
Early on, I was definitely guilty of making novella charts. And it’s not like I teach 5th grade where I might be able to get away with it. I teach kids who are six, sometimes seven. Trust me, the irony is not lost on me. There I was trying to teach tiny humans how to read using anchor charts with a word count of a hundred. What on earth?
I know… eye roll.
These days, my anchor are so much simpler. I think, “How can I say this important idea in as few kid-friendly words as possible?” Honestly, I often let graphics do the heavy lifting for me. The perfect illustration, doodle, or piece of clip art can help children remember an idea or strategy when they can’t yet decode or comprehend all of the print.
Take a look at the example above. I build this anchor chart when I want my students to begin monitoring their own reading engagement. In a nutshell, I want them to recognize when they’ve lost focus and then have actionable steps they can take to get back on track. This is just the first chart in a series of strategic lessons on this topic, but I’ve kept it short and sweet so they can begin to practice this important reading behavior.
Recently, I picked up some emoji clip art. This sleepy little face is the perfect visual reminder for little learners of what this chart is all about… disengaged reading.
In fact, being intentional about the images we use on our anchor charts is as important as the words we choose. If we want children to be able to refer to the charts as they gain more independence, they need age-appropriate cues to help them access the information.
REUSABLE ANCHOR CHARTS
If you (1) like to draw, (2) have zero qualms about your own handwriting, and (3) have a gift for getting to the point, great! The rest of this blog post may not be for you.
However, if you’re just starting out or you need a little help bringing some clarity to your chart-making, you might like these reusable, kid-friendly (and teacher-friendly) CHART PARTS.
Each comes with a planning sheet, instructional ideas, a sample chart, and all the pieces you need to build the anchor chart. You’ll likely still be creating other anchor charts on your own, but this set includes 40 different standards-based charts for 1st and 2nd grade teachers focused on a wide variety of lesson topics, such as:
- understanding the differences between fiction and nonfiction
- making predictions
- asking relevant and important questions
- visualizing images and scenes
- making inferences
- synthesizing information
- thinking about emotions
- uncovering the main idea
- determining importance
- understanding the purpose of nonfiction text features
- sharing and supporting opinions
- making meaningful connections
- providing text evidence to support ideas
- reading closely
- knowing the difference between plot and theme
- understanding the relationship between cause and effect
- participating in higher-level literacy discussions
- knowing how to stay focused and engaged
…and more! You can preview the resource and read feedback from other teachers HERE. Also, I love hearing ideas from other people, so if you have suggestions for other anchor charts that could be included in a future updated set, please feel free to write to me.
If you’d like to try one out in your own classroom, you can opt in for this anchor chart.👇 It’s one of my favorite ways to launch a series of lessons about why readers ask questions. Depending on the grade you teach, you may want to build this chart over a few days. As a first grade teacher, I know my students could become overwhelmed by all the content. Spreading it out gives me a chance to model reading behaviors and share specific examples.
Happy teaching!
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5 Anchor Charts to Support Reading Discussions
The Anatomy of an Anchor Chart
