For the Love of First Grade: Do you LOVE Anchor Charts as Much as I do!?!?

Are you down for some anchor chart L-O-V-E?!
I wanted to share with you how I use anchor charts all.the.time in my classroom.

There are 2 different types of anchor charts I use in my teaching:

1) Interactive anchor charts--those made together

2) Introductory anchor charts--those that are pre-made

Interactive anchor charts are those that my students help me construct.

Sometimes we complete them whole group. Other times I make several of the same template and put students in groups. Normally I have a title on them or a few pre-written words, but the rest of the chart is up to them to help me fill out and create based on the lesson.

We use these in pretty much every subject.

Here are some scenarios from the picture above where we interacted to make class anchor charts:

Insects--our schema and new learning

Bats--what we learned from nonfiction text

Verbs--squares from a verb search

Phonics--digraph word hunts with books

3 Sound of ED--partner word hunts

Things We Can Do--record individual verbs

Incorporating these into any lesson engages students and lets them take ownership of their learning!

Plus they feel like they are getting to "be the teacher"!

Introductory anchor charts are used to just that, introduce a skill, strategy, or concept.

I present these completely pre-made anchor charts in my very first introductory lesson. I keep it and display it so that I can refer to it during any follow up lessons, small group lessons, or for student referencing.

I use these in every subject also.

Here are some scenarios from the picture above where I used anchor charts to introduce material:

Vowel Pairs--list all the pairs

Rhyming Words--define and show examples

Scientist--who they are/what they do

Fiction & Nonfiction--define and add pictures

Reading Strategies--define and add an anchoring mental picture

Grammar--define and add pictures or examples

I feel like I make an anchor chart for everything. My room starts off SO bare but ends up so "charty".

So in order to save space, I have created printable anchor charts.

These charts are 8 1/2 X 11 (normal sized paper) and don't take up a great deal of space.

Printable Anchor Charts for Reading & Comprehension