I remember when I first started teaching my friends and I would get together and head to the nearest teacher supply store where we would stock up on "anchor charts" to use in our classroom when introducing new skills. Flash forward to about two years ago when I attended a professional development and the presenter told a group of elementary teachers that he leaves his classroom walls empty for the first day of school. You can imagine the gasps. He proceeded to explain that each time he introduces a topic or skill to his students, he creates an anchor chart to go along with it and his students participate. His reasoning: if students walk in on the first day to a room covered with pre-made posters they will look at them for about 1 minute and then forget about them. The posters become part of the background. But if the students are a part of making the anchor charts, they will constantly look to them for reinforcement. And just like that, he had converted us into anchor chart believers!
If you would like to read more about anchor charts and how they can be used in the classroom take a look at this great article on Scholastic. For tons of examples of anchor charts for Reading and Language Arts please check out my Anchor Charts board on Pinterest.
If you would like to read more about anchor charts and how they can be used in the classroom take a look at this great article on Scholastic. For tons of examples of anchor charts for Reading and Language Arts please check out my Anchor Charts board on Pinterest.