ELA Anchor Charts

Next up - ELA Anchor Charts. If you saw my blog post on math anchor charts you already know I love anchor charts in my classroom and how they can help. 

Here are my ELA anchor charts. I print an 8.5 x 11 size and 3-hole punch it for students to keep in their ELA/Writing binder to reference back when they need to. 

There are six anchor charts in the bundle including: 

• Theme
• Character, Setting, and Plot
• Compare and Contrast
• Author's Point of View
• Text Structures 
• Main Idea and Key Details

You can buy them individually or save and grab the bundle. I provide step-by-step directions on how to print them in the anchor chart size of your preference. Click HERE to see the preview in my store for more information.

Math Anchor Charts

I absolutely love anchor charts. Having a visual up for my students to remind them of the strategies we are using in math really helps them and I constantly catch them looking over at them.

• Math anchor charts are visual aids that help students to understand and remember key concepts and skills in mathematics. Here are some reasons why teachers should use math anchor charts in their classrooms: 

•  Visual learning: Many students are visual learners, meaning that they learn best when information is presented in a visual format. Anchor charts are a powerful tool for visual learning as they use graphics, diagrams, and illustrations to make concepts more engaging and easier to understand. 

• Promote retention: Anchor charts can help students to retain information by providing a visual reference point that they can refer back to when needed. When students can see and interact with the information, they are more likely to remember it. 

• Encourage participation: Anchor charts can encourage participation and interaction in the classroom. By using sticky notes or other interactive elements, students can add their own thoughts and ideas to the anchor chart, making it a collaborative tool for learning. 

• Scaffold learning: Anchor charts can be used to scaffold learning by breaking down complex concepts into smaller, more manageable pieces. This can help students to understand the big picture and see how different concepts are related to each other. 

• Support differentiation: Anchor charts can be used to support differentiation by providing different levels of information for students with different levels of understanding. By creating different versions of the same anchor chart, teachers can provide support for struggling learners and challenge more advanced students. 

• Increase engagement: Anchor charts can make learning more engaging and fun for students. When information is presented in a visually appealing and interactive way, students are more likely to be interested and engaged in the learning process.

I created these math anchor charts for my classroom but could be used for any upper elementary grade level depending on your math targets and standards.

My primary teachers would like me to create anchor charts for their grade levels so be on the lookout for those this summer! (K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th coming soon!)

Here are a few anchor charts. All anchor charts come with step-by-step directions on how to print them based on your size preference. You can also buy them individually. Click HERE to see the preview in my store for more information.

2023-2024 School Year Calendar

I know! I know! Who's thinking about next school year. We are all just trying to make it to the end of this year! However, I had a 2-week break from my masters work so I tried to catch up on some new products for my TPT store. 

I have had such great feedback on my calendars through the years and thank you all for your sweet comments. The 2023-2024 calendar is done and up in my store. I offer a color or black and white version. I am thinking of making it digital but not sure. Leave me a comment if you would use a digital calendar. I would love the feedback. 

Here is a sneak peek at this years calendar. Click HERE to see a preview

April is here! Time for poetry!

I love when April rolls around. That means I get to teach my mini poetry unit. I made this poetry packet to inform my students about 7 different types of poetry, provide them with examples, and give them a space to make their own poetry rough draft. When they are finished with their packet they put their final pieces into a poetry slide deck I create for them to cherish forever! 

It's up in my store now. Click on the picture and go take a peek! 

Pear Deck for Learning and Assessment

Have you used Pear Deck yet? As part of my master's program, I choose Pear Deck for one of my assignments and just had to share with you how easy it is to use Pear Deck for learning and assessment in your classroom. Bringing technology into the classroom can provide a learner-center environment, provide authentic assessment, and meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom. 

What is Pear Deck? Pear Deck is an add-on tool that works with Google Slides. Teachers can create a lesson in a slide deck and add Pear Deck to initiate interactions in real-time. I used an ELA lesson on characters, setting, and plot, and explain the sequence of events using a realistic fiction story.   

Let's get started!

Teachers can access Pear Deck to add to their lessons in Google Slides. Teachers will open their lesson and then go to Add-ons, Pear Deck for Google Slides, and Open Pear Deck.

2.     Once Pear Deck is open teachers can add interactive slides from Pear Deck’s template library or create their own activity slide from the Ask students a question. 

 Once the teacher has found the interactive slide that works best, they can add it to their slide deck. The teacher can edit the text, change multiple-choice answers, add text boxes, and rename draggable pieces.

 After the lesson is complete and the teacher has added all interactive Pear Deck slides teachers can then embed the lesson into Schoology for the students to access by following these steps.

After the lesson is embedded in Schoology students can access it in Schoology, click on the tool, and immediately begin the lesson. When they are in the lesson the teacher can open their dashboard and see live feedback during the lesson and be able to provide feedback to the students as well.

I hope these steps help you. Please reach out with any questions and I would love to hear about what you created in Pear Deck for your classroom! Check back soon for a Pear Deck on math that you can use in your classroom!