If you've ever searched through the education section of Pinterest, you've seen a plethora of examples of anchor charts. Some colorful and with illustrations or designs. Some with less color and more writing. We all have different styles, so regardless of how you might design an anchor chart, we all should have purposeful anchor charts. Anchor charts stand as visual anchors for student thinking based on learning happening in their classroom. They support students and should be easily referenced.
What constitutes as a purposeful anchor chart? Well, that depends on why you're making a chart, and how you plan to use it. What is the standard you are focusing on? Anchor charts can range from:
- Introducing a skill
- Reviewing content
- List of class expectations
- Interactive graphic organizer/chart for lesson
- List of strategies for specific skill/standard
- Enlarged rubric for writing
- Character Expectations
These are just a few, but there are so many other ways that anchor charts can be used in the classroom!
Things to Remember:
1. Use academic language.
2. Writing should be large enough to be visible in the classroom.
3. Colorful writing can make charts more appealing to students.
4. Keep charts focused on one topic/skill/etc.
