Anchor Charts

I just spent 2 very exciting days with Debbie Diller. I attended her Math Workstations workshop as well as her Spaces and Places 2.0. Over the next couple of weeks, I will post about the most important ideas I took away from the training. Watch for posts on the basic principles behind spaces and places, classroom set up and organization, word walls, anchor charts, math talk, and the basic principles behind math workstations.

Anchor Charts

One of the big areas of discussion on the first day was anchor charts. Debbie offered several suggestions for creating effective anchor charts in your classroom. Here are a few of HER tips. 

Only make anchor charts for information and learning that you want students to return to time and time again. 

Anchor charts do not have to be created only on large sheets of chart paper. Sometimes you may choose to do them on smaller sheets of paper. 

 From One Extra Degree

Anchor charts need a title and visual cues. 

From Welcome to Room 36

They should primarily relate to academic vocabulary. 

Use color, but use it carefully.

Avoid being too wordy. Use kid-friendly language. 

 From Kim Adsit

Use borders. Debbie mentioned briefly that she has been doing some research on the brain recently and that she learned that the brain sees in borders, so by adding a border to the anchor chart, it helps the student better visualize and remember the information. 

 

From Two Writing Teachers

From Debbie Diller's blog

From The First Grade Jungle