I was also able to see right away who understood the events that defined the beginning, middle, and end of the story and those who were on the struggle bus. Allowing my students to write their own responses may not have the “appearance” of learning, but they sure were learning!!! They were excited to share, they were excited to listen, they were LEARNING! There’s a distinct difference between the appearance of learning and actual learning. But engagement soared to a new level when I handed them the pencil and sticky note. Sure, before my kids loved putting up the information that I wrote out on the chart. Let’s talk about the engagement factor here. So, we presented the information on our sticky notes to the class. My initial reaction was… wait… how could I leave this up? You can’t even READ this! Then, I remembered… they can’t read either! But, they know what they wrote or illustrated. I swear some of them were just random shapes/letters… I’m not gonna lie… their responses weren’t exactly perfect. We had read the story, “The Three Snow Bears” and were working on retelling events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. This past week, I handed over the sticky notes and had students write/draw the information to put on our chart. This is the ultimate purpose of Interactive Anchor Charts, isn’t it? To make students as part of the learning. Add Student Responses (Even If They Aren’t Legible)Īfter you’ve modeled adding student answers to the chart, eventually you have to pass off the learning to the students. To help with this, I’ll often use a mixture of pictures and words as we fill in the chart. Unless what I am writing has 3 letters or less, there was no way my kiddos could use what I wrote as a guide for any future learning. One of the hardest parts of teaching kindergarten versus ANY other grade level is that the majority of my students are non-readers or beginning readers. Not that we don’t work on any other standards because believe me WE DO! It’s just a perfect way to continue modeling how to examine story structure. This Story Map anchor chart is a staple in our classroom. I also like to continuously use the same interactive anchor chart many weeks in a row. This turns the comprehension piece of reading into something more meaningful, more powerful for your little learners. Model how you are sounding out and forming letters. Model how you are filling in the information. One of the biggest ways to use Interactive Anchor Charts in your classroom starts with using it as modeling base. Although I had to make a *few* adjustments to make them work for my non-reading, non-writing, school-is-still-new-to-me-friends, they’ve been a great asset to our learning routine! So, today I thought I’d share a few tricks for making interactive anchor charts in kindergarten (or 1st grade) work for you! Model, Model, Model So, I took a gamble and started using them in Kinder. I knew they worked in 2nd, 3rd, and even 5th grade. One of my saving graces has been “Good teaching is good teaching is good teaching” and lucky for me, good teaching involves Interactive Anchor Charts. I’m not gonna lie, switching from 5th to kinder back in October was tough. But now? Now I can say YES! Interactive Anchor Charts can (and should) be used in kindergarten! I hadn’t actually seen or used Interactive Anchor Charts in kindergarten to verify. I’ve always answered that question with a solid “teacher’s know their students best”. One of the biggest questions I get about my Interactive Anchor Charts is whether or not they’re appropriate for kindergarten.
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