In my district, we use A LOT of anchor charts. I love them and have found that sometimes I end up with way too many of them! The problem I run in to is that I hang them up for the unit and then run out of room so I end up taking them down. Then I couldn't figure out where and how to store them so that they were accessible to students at any time. On top of that, hanging anchor charts has been quite an issue due to fire and safety regulations limiting the amount of wall space that we can use. So I turned to the internet, more specifically
Pinterest. After searching for ideas, I stumbled upon this blog
Teaching My Friends where Nancy, a fellow teacher, blogs about her ideas and experiences in the classroom. When you click on the link you will find the specific post where she describes her anchor chart organization system. I love her idea! She takes pictures of her anchor charts and compiles them into a binder where students can refer to when necessary. What is so fantastic about this idea is that it holds so many possibilities and is so flexible to use it in many different ways. Need to refer to an anchor chart in a small group? No problem, grab the anchor chart binder! Does a student have a question about a previously used anchor chart? Teach them to use the binder! The best part of Nancy's anchor chart binder system is that she has created a spreadsheet to serve as a table of contents so students can quickly locate the specific anchor chart that they need.
She even has the link so that you can download her anchor chart index page to keep track of the anchor charts you put in your binder!
I started using this system midway through this year and I love it so far. My students refer to it daily and it is so easy to just take a quick picture of the anchor chart, print it, and file it into the binder. I love Nancy's idea of making extra black and white copies of the anchor charts to put in the back of the binder so that you have easy access to it for small group purposes.
So tell me, how do you organize anchor charts in your classroom?
What a great idea! I have struggled with the same problem in my classroom. I keep up the essential anchor charts that I refer back to repeatedly, but have taken down others with the plan to photograph them. I was planning to put the photographs on the back of shelves in my room where they best fit. Some made it to my library corner, but I wasn't very successful following through with this idea. Thanks for sharing the idea you found online. It seems like a simple and useful idea that any grade can use!
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
DeleteI love your idea of taking the photographs and posting them in the classroom where they best fit. Maybe this can be incorporated along with the anchor chart binder?
LOVE it! I am known in my school for being the "Anchor-Chart Queen" and have too struggled with what to do with them once I'm done using them for instruction. Ideally it would nice to not have to throw them away or put them away in some closet so that students can independently have access to the posters and refer back to them. In the past I've tried laminating my Anchor Charts to keep them durable but I was finding that in one day I might create 4 different Anchor Charts and therefore was using far too much laminate paper. Creating an Anchor Chart binder is the perfect solution. I like the idea of creating a index of all the charts available to students so students can easily find charts they may need. One concern I have is about printing the pictures of the charts in color. At my school we don't have access to printers that print in color, however I think that black and white copies would be just as effective. Do you agree? Are there any additional suggestions out there?
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! What to do with old charts has always been a struggle. I try to keep them all in a bin and then raffle them off at the end of the year- the kids love to take them home and it (hopefully) encourages them to focus on some aspects of academics over summer break. Creating a class anchor chart book would be a great addition to my classroom library and it would keep them referring back to older charts all year long.
ReplyDelete