My Resolution: Better Anchor Charts!

Hey everyone! It's Angie here from The First Grade Scoop! I hope you all are enjoying your summer break. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's going WAY. TOO. FAST!

I have been thinking a lot about my goals for next year, and organizing how I want to go about using new routines in my classroom (more of a workshop approach in math is a big one!). But something I want to focus on that I think will show BIG impact is simplifying my anchor charts!

I don't know about you, but when I first started teaching, my anchor charts were very busy and often more of a record of our thinking about a particular book. Over the years, I've evolved my charts to be much more general and applicable to a variety of texts, but I realized, WAIT A SECOND! I teach first graders. Some of my students start the year at a level A book. I want to make those charts accessible to even my most emergent readers!

So I stumbled upon this AWESOME book (while on Pinterest, of course!):

(Click the cover to go to their blog)

These women are my heroes! They really focus on making charts that are:
1) Clear
2) Easy to read
3) Supported by pictures (especially important for our emergent readers, ESL students, and students with special needs)

I thought I'd share a few of the charts from their fabulous blog. (All the pictures below can be found by clicking HERE.) They have TONS of great reading charts, but I thought these were great ones to showcase for beginning of the year skills like morning routines, partner talk, and self-assessment.

(I LOVE the use of pictures of students demonstrating the strategies!)

Thanks for reading! Hope to see some of you over at my blog, The First Grade Scoop, soon!

Angie