Anchor Charts: Math Samples and Tips

Earlier this month, I posted samples of some of my multiplication & division anchor charts from last year. (Click here to read that post if you missed it.) I consider myself somewhat of an anchor chart aficionado, not because my charts are the most beautiful, but because I create them with the kids, refer back to them constantly, and train my kids to really use them.

With the explosion of Pinterest I think our anchor chart expectations have morphed from simple (think back to your sample charts in Guiding Readers and Writers by Fountas and Pinnell) to creating great works of art with the students and I don't think you need to do that to be effective, which is good news for me because I am not what one would call a creative genius, lol.  I appreciate all those glorious charts on Pinterest, I really do. They clearly took time and artistic talent to create and color, but in the classroom...in the moment... I just go with it and get it done. 

Here are a few samples of other math charts I created last year:

 I created this with my students after we discovered all the ways to make a dollar using like coins. This was  the product of our discussion and findings. I used the giant money die cuts to save myself some time (and make it look cool).

TIP: Use die cuts to add color and dimension to your chart. They tape right on and peel right off.

 This is a good example of a poster I made AFTER a class discussion. The kids had so many good ideas I wanted to get it ALL on the poster. It was very busy with too many colors and too much info. My kids didn't use it. It was like information overload. So then, I simplified...

Guess which one my students preferred?  :)

TIP: Keep your colors easy to read and your information direct and kid friendly.

 Excuse the crinkles in this one. It got a little beat up during the classroom clean out. I often have students draw this same chart in their math journals while I am working on the poster.  We come back and add vocabulary and models throughout the unit as needed. 

TIP: If created with the students, you can even get "permission" to use short-cuts like just saying dimes and pennies. They know. You know. It's like secret code. That obviously makes it cooler.

 This was actually a 3rd grade poster I saved.  I did have the "brownies" pre-cut and ready to glue on the top during the lesson. I also had the table already created and we just filled it in during the lesson/discussion.

TIP: Set up titles and any organization for the chart ahead of time. Then you can just fill it in.

 Eek! This one will change next year, because I just attended a whole day of professional development on fractions and the presenter suggested defining fractions as numbers between whole numbers, not simply saying they are part of a whole. Oops! So... go with this for an example of a math unit poster. Basically, it starts with defining the operation/math skill in the most simple terms, then identifying key vocabulary and models for the unit. 

TIP: Using a similar set up for anchors helps students know how to read them and how to use them. They know where to look for the information they need.

Truly there is NOTHING special about this poster. It is simply vocabulary, but I wanted to explain why I only use 2 colors. I use two colors to make it easier to review and learn the vocabulary. It helps kids narrow down the choices while they are still learning and practicing these unknown words.  For example I might say, "I'm thinking of a purple word that means two lines crossing." Students would be able to eliminated the red words immediately and look for the correct word to match my definition. More colors would narrow the choices too much.  It's like the Goldilocks of color choices...two is just right.  

TIP: Use 2 colors when listing vocabulary words.

So... those are my charts. They are not beautiful. They are not great works of art. They are definitely real and created in the moment. They are student friendly and easy to use which is my ultimate goal. 

Several readers on my last post gave some great tips for anchor charts too. 

Kaitlyn from Smiles and Sunshine says:

• I also try to block out sections that I know I will draw or do something special-and then work around it! When making a list, I try to do the bullet points a quick little picture-like a heart or star, so it looks interesting but doesn't take up a lot of time to do. 
• A fun font always works for the title-the kids love it when I do titles, because they like it when I hand draw the letters wonky! 
• I also post new charts directly above old ones-so by the end of the year, we have a nice stack! This way, my kids can look back at previous charts if they need help remembering something.

Jane from Learning in the Little Apple says:

• I've taken photos for students to add to their reflection journals.

Brilliant, right?! I think adding pictures of your anchors to journals would be very beneficial! Plus, once you take the pictures you could post to your classroom blog or email the pictures to parents to keep them in the loop. Wonky titles are also a fun way to add pizzazz to the chart while keeping the information clear and easy to read. Thank ladies for sharing your great ideas. Make sure to click the above links to go check out their awesome blogs.

I'd love to hear more. How do you keep your charts pretty and student friendly? Any tips for creating the "perfect" chart?  

Fiction Friday: Chapter 5

Happy Friday and welcome back to the next installment of Fiction Friday. Today's post will be quick. I'm leaving for Seattle today and I have not even pulled out my suitcase. Oops!

This week I read..

Dead City

by James Ponti

Molly Bigelow has always been a wee bit strange. She attends a school for gifted children, took Jeet Kune Do classes instead of ballet, and was a New York City Audubon Society Junior Birder. Not to mention, she enjoys hanging out at city morgue with dead people. Like I said, Molly's not your normal teenager. However, all these out of the box activities and unusual hobbies were really part of her training to become an Omega, a New York City zombie hunter, just like her late mother. It turns out Molly has just the skills she needs to set her apart, make life-long friends, and follow in her mother's footsteps to become a zombie hunter legend. 

I'll be honest, when this book arrived on my doorstop courtesy of Amazon, I openly mocked it. I thought are you kidding me?  Zombie fiction for fourth graders, yuck! Where has all the good literature gone? I was ready to hate it. I put off reading it. I judged the book by the cover. And then...I read the prologue. Five pages entitled "Your Probably Wondering Why There's a Dead Body in the Bathroom" and I was HOOKED. The story is told from Molly's perspective and I loved her! Molly is witty, sarcastic, and a character worth rooting for from the beginning. Here's a little sneak peak into the writing style and the beginning that kept me begging for more.

"I hate zombies. I know that sounds prejudiced. I'm sure some zombies are really nice to kittens and love their parents. But it's been my experience that most are not the kind of people you want sending you friend requests. Consider my current situation...I'm trapped in a locker-room toilet stall. With a dead body. (Ponti, 5)

Dead City was excellent. Great voice, very funny, and non-stop action throughout the book. It is appropriate for grades 4 and up and would be a fun read aloud. In many ways it reminds me of The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan. I couldn't put those books down because I loved Percy and his band of friends out there fighting the good fight. This is similar, expect instead of gods and goddess, they are fighting the undead. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and I am already looking at picking up the sequel. 

43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You

by Kate Klise

Ignatious B. Grumply, a once famous children's book author, moves into a Victorian mansion on 43 Old Cemetery Road to try and cure his writer's block. Hoping for some peace and quiet so he can work, Ignatious B. Grumply finds more than he expects.  He is not alone. There is an 11 year old boy living on the 3rd floor and a ghost named Olive living in the cupola. Hmmm... Can all three of them live and possibly work together or is it time for someone to go?

I pulled this book out of my classroom collection, because so many of my students had enjoyed it last year and I was curious to know what all the fuss was about. Told entirely through letters and newspaper articles, the book is so different to read I can see why so many kids gravitated towards it. I give huge credit to Kate Klise who developed such memorable, flawed, but very likable characters using only letters.

The guided reading level on this book is a U, but I think it is more readable than that. I would recommend it for grades 3-5. As I said, my fourth graders loved it, so you already know it is kid approved!  It's unique story, word play (I. B. Grumply and Anita Sale for example), pictures, and format make it a delicious read. I devoured it in one sitting and closed the book with a smile on my face. The sign of good read.

That's it for me. More books to come next week. Has anyone read these two novels?  What did you think?

Don't forget to add your own book reviews by linking up to Fiction Friday anytime. I'm off to pack.

Happy reading!!

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Anchor Charts: Multiplication & Division

I started my morning in the garage. If you remember I had heaps and heaps of school stuff in there from moving EVERYTHING out of my classroom at the end of the year. There was so much that my two car garage didn't even fit one car. I really need to get everything in order.

BUT...It's hot and humid in there. Plus, there are mosquitoes and I loath mosquitoes. Apparently, they do not feel the same way. They love me. So, with deet infused bug spray, a strong fan, and a sense of purpose, I set out this morning to organize my anchor charts.

A couple of my thoughts on anchor charts...

• They are much more powerful and meaningful when made WITH the students. I know this means they won't always be pretty, but it's important that the kids play a critical role in creating it. If they get sloppy and you just can't take it, then you can always rewrite a cleaner version after school, but as long as you make it with the kids, it has meaning to them. 
• Simple is  better.  Keep it clean, simple, and easy to read from a distance. Cute doesn't always mean effective. 
• Set up your anchor chart beforehand. Add the title and designs to the anchor chart before your lesson. Then, add the "meaty" information with the kids.
• Black marker does not make it boring. Black marker is hands down the easiest to read. I use black constantly. If it is important, it needs to be written in a color that is easy to read. I like black, dark blue, dark, green, and purple. I use the lighter fun colors for my titles and to highlight really important words.
• Every color does not need to make an appearance on every chart. This goes back to keeping it simple and easy to read. Can you tell it's a big theme of mine?
  
• Mr. Sketch markers are the only acceptable markers to use when creating anchor charts. I'm obviously being dramatic here, but they are my absolute favorite markers for anchors. Although, watch out for the light pink. It smells good and it's pretty, but it also fades.  
• Anchor charts are a valuable teaching tool. If you use them and reference them, the kids will too. However, just like most things, modeling is required. :) 

Several years ago, I saw this great idea about an anchor chart binder. The teacher put a picture of all her anchor charts in a binder for both teacher and student future reference. I thought this was a brilliant way to save wall space and keep a record of all the anchors for the year. While I have never been organized enough to do that, I have taken pictures of a few that I wanted to be sure to repeat the following year. The best part about the picture is that is forces me to recreate it with my students but gives me a goal for how I want things to look and what information I want to include. 

Here are just a few of my charts on multiplication and division from this past year.

This chart stared with only a header and then the model/strategy t-chart. You can see by my imperfect lines that I don't stress out too much about it being perfect. As a class we defined multiplication in the most simple terms and added to our chart as we went through the unit.

This is the division chart to match the multiplication. This was before we got into long division.

I love this one because it shows students the many different ways they could divide basic facts. Many of my students get turned around with the circles and sticks model, so they love seeing the table. The table really helps keep them organized.

This chart was generated after a discussion about the similarities/differences between multiplication and division. All information was student generated.

I took pictures of tons of my math, writing, and reading anchor charts from the last year and then gave the charts the toss. It's all part of my purge, purge, purge plan. 

Do you guys keep your anchor charts year to year?  Which ones do you save?  Any more helpful tips on keeping them pretty while also keeping them student generated?

More pictures to come...

Fiction Friday: Chapter 4

Another week of summer has come and gone, so that means it's time for Fiction Friday! This week I read...

The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck

by Emily Fairlie

When Laurie begins the year at Tuckernuck, she is anything but excited to be a Tuckernuck Chicken. In fact, all she wants to do is get out and go to middle school with her best friend away from all the chicken craziness. The only thing holding her interest is the 80 year old mystery of the Tuckernuck Treasure, a scavenger hunt of sorts designed by the first principal of the school, Maria Tuckernuck. When Laurie and Bud accidentally discover the first clue, they begin working together to uncover the secrets of the school, find the treasure, and learn that maybe being a Tuckernuck Chicken isn't such a bad thing.

To be honest, it did take me awhile to get hooked on the story. The first chapter jumps right into the action, but not in a way that grabbed me. It just confused me. But, as any good reader does, I gave it 50 pages and you know what... I started to enjoy the mystery behind Laurie and Bud's adventure and found myself rooting for them to discover the lost treasure. 

The book is split into parts, not chapters. Two hundred and eighty-three pages split into 8 parts, makes for some long chunks of reading. However, within each part there are natural stopping points for the reader to take a break. The mystery was very readable for a 4th or 5th student and would make a good read aloud for 3rd grade. Kids could easily follow along with the book and feel like they were solving the mystery along with Laurie and Bud. In other words, there isn't that last chapter that spells everything out because it was all a web of mystery before that. The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck is a great mystery to add to your classroom collection and is sure to be a hit for 4th and 5th graders alike. 

The Trouble with Chickens

by Doreen Cronin

Jonathan Joseph Tully, or J.J. for short, is a retired search and rescue dog with big chicken problems. When two baby chicks get kidnapped by the sinister indoor dog, Vince, J.J. knows he must rely on his traning to save the day. But, Vince has a devious plan and the chickens are more invovled than J.J. thinks. He has to find a way to save the chicks and then save himself.

The Trouble with Chickens is a great introductory chapter book for young readers. It is basically an extra long picture book, told with the same humor and fun as all Doreen Cronin books. You know the ones...Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type and Duck for President. She's fantastic! With only 119 pages, the book flys by for the adult reader, however upon closer inspection you notice how well the characters have been crafted. This is bound to be a hit with emerging chapter book readers! Great read aloud for K-2, fun read for everyone else!

Take a look at this video of Doreen Cronin introducing the book and giving you some insight into the characters and the writing style.



See? Isn't she great?  Don't you just want to go out to coffee with her and chat for awhile?  So fun!

What have you been reading this week? Link up to Fiction Friday anytime to share your thoughts, reviews, or teaching ideas using children's literature. We love to learn about more books!! 

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Personal Book Study: Notice & Note Part 1

My colleagues call me a nerd. Yes, I took my professional books to the beach. Yes, I read my professional books while sitting on the beach. I found it relaxing and informative. I have been forever deemed the ultimate nerd, but I'm pretty much okay with that. Ya'll understand, right?

Anyway...Every summer I choose a couple of professional books to add to my summer reading list. Some years I am better about plowing through them than others, and some years I get more out of them than other. This year I decided to read Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst and I LOVE it!

Why did I put this particular book on my nerdy reading list?  Because I went to a workshop with Kylene and Bob (oh yea, we are a first name basis, hehe) and they were amazing! First of all, they were real. They understood the challenges facing teachers in the classroom because they are in classrooms constantly. They didn't pretend like everything was easy or that everything went well every time. But they were WERE knowledgeable, practical, and inspiring!

I have seen other book studies on this book floating around the blogosphere, so I know I'm a little late to the party, but just in case you are also fashionably late like me, I thought I would share some  interesting tid-bits from the first part of book...the part I've read. It's a book study with myself, lol. :)

Notice & Note Part 1: The Questions We Pondered
The first part consists of 10 essential questions, Beers & Probst asked themselves as they began their research and educational journey that became Notice & Note. Here are some of the BIG ideas I took away from this chunk of reading...

• Fiction is just as important as non-fiction. With the huge push to increase the amount of expository texts in the classroom, sometimes fiction gets put on the sidelines. However, we forget about the value of a fiction text. Beers & Probst write, "...it is the imaginative literature that offers readers a chance to think about the human issues that concern us all: love, hate, hope, fear, and all the other emotions, problems, situations, and experiences of living" (17). I had never thought about fiction that way. I knew it was important, but could I articulate why I felt it was important to teach?  I don't think I would have had a very strong argument before. Now, I understand. Fiction helps us define who we are as people. We experience what the characters experience. We live in other worlds and we learn to expect and anticipate different things from different people because of the books we read.

• Fiction helps build social skills! This is clearly connected to the previous idea, but I think it is so important, it deserved it's own bullet point. Beers & Probst cite another study saying, " 'Recent research shows...that reading stories can actually improve your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings. This process of entering imagined worlds of fiction builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person's point of view' (Oatley, K. 2011)" This was huge for me because now I feel armed and ready to defend my position on the value of fiction. Not that too many were questioning me, but still...
  
  
• Rigor is NOT about making the text more difficult. Beers & Probst argue that rigor is how you approach the text and the reading you do within the text, not about the number of multi-syllabic words found in the text. Simple and to the point, but how many times have we simply looked for a "harder" text. 
• 
• Rigor is achieved when students are actively engaged with a text. When a book or text is too difficult, it is not fun to read. It's not engaging and certainly not thought provoking because all the reader's energy is being  put into decoding and understanding the basics. This brings us back to the power of fiction. The kid who loves space is engaged in the space article, but the kid who loves sharks might be bored. Non-fiction is focused and specific to the topic. It can be difficult to engage a classroom full of unique learners with one topic. However, a book about survival, courage, and overcoming fear can be engaging to everyone. Oh, the power of fiction. :)

• Dialogic talk stimulates critical thinking (hello rigor) in the classroom. Dialogic talk is a conversation between students and teacher. The teacher is an active listener in the conversation, not just a facilitator of a discussion. All participants take ownership of the conversation and questions are generated from the students, not the teacher. The opposite of this is monologic talk. We teachers love this type of talk. This is when we ask a question, already knowing the answer. We are checking for understanding and it's important that we continue to use this type of talk in our classrooms. However, dialogic talk engages students in rich conversation and encourages them to own their thinking. 

• Let students create their own text-dependent questions. If students are in charge of writing their own text-dependent questions, they are in also in charge of finding the meaning of the text as opposed to seeking and finding what the teacher has already decided is important. Beers & Probst offer some great steps for getting this started in your classroom (43). 

• Guide your students to books using more than just a reading level. Now, I've always been a bit skeptical of reading levels because it never made sense to me. How could a book with a 2.8 reading level, have a F&P guided reading level of S, and be sitting somewhere in the 800s in Lexile? Huh? How does that work?  Well, we know that each system uses quantitative and qualitative measures to determine the reading level including structure, vocabulary, complexity of ideas, etc. But the biggest factors for finding a "Just Right" book are still student interest,  background, and maturity. Over the years, I've gone back and forth with leveling my classroom books. I fought the trend for a long time because I felt it was important for students to be able to find a JR book without scanning for a letter or a number. I had visions of students running their finger along the library shelves until they hit their "AR level" and just grabbing it blindly. That was not the type of reader I wanted my students to become. Now my library is leveled, but I'm cautious. I always tell them it's a guide and NOT to choose a book based on the letter on the cover. Luckily, I am familiar enough with my own library to recommend books based on what I know about the book's readability, interest, and content. Things that simply can't always be determined by a reading level. 

Of course, there was SO MUCH more good information in the first part of this book, but I think my post is long enough as it is. Ha! I hope you learned something new or simply affirm something you already knew. Sometimes it feels good to know that we are doing the right things and that research has our back. Ya know? I'm absolutely in love with this book and looking forward to getting into Part 2. More to come. :)

Anyone else read Notice & Note?  From one nerd to another, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Fiction Friday: Chapter 3

Hello fellow book lovers! Today it's Fiction Saturday. It's not as catchy as Fiction Friday, but we shall make do. I mean, there's never a bad day to talk about books, right?

This week I read...

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstilktskin

by Liesle Shurtliff

Born in a town that believes your name is your destiny, Rump has gotten the short end of the stick. He only has half a name and possibly half a destiny. The only one who knows his true name is his mother, who died shortly after giving birth and whispered his full name into his ear. Unfortunately, all anyone heard was Rump. Rump does have one special skill though...spinning straw into gold. However, magic comes at a cost and the more Rump tries to undo his mess, the more trouble he finds himself in. He must discover his true name to control his magic and make his own destiny.

As a huge fan of Once Upon a Time (the TV show) and The Sister's Grimm (the series by Michael Buckley), I had a feeling I would enjoy this fractured fairy tale and it did not disappoint. The book was a fast paced fun read with many twists and turns of the original fairy tale cleverly woven together. I loved reading the story from Rump's perspective and seeing him as a little boy trying to find his way in a world full of magical rules that can't be broken. Most often the villain in fairy tales, Shurtliff showcases Rumpelstiltskin in a whole new light and explains the significance behind his unusual name. After all, "A Name is powerful thing."

Liesl Shurtliff's imaginative twist on this classic fairy tale is an excellent read for fans of the this genre and I'm looking forward to her next fractured tale Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk due out Spring 2015. As for Rump, I'm adding this to my stack of possible read aloud for the upcoming year.

Lulu Walks the Dogs

by Judith Viorst

When Lulu's parents tell her she is going to have to earn her own money to buy the thing she is "ALWAYS and FOREVER going to want," Lulu decides to start a dog walking business in her neighborhood. The only problem is that Lulu doesn't know much about dogs.  Luckily, the boy down the street, Fleischman does. The only problem with that is Fleishman appears to be perfect, annoyingly perfect. He is polite, intelligent, helpful, and everyone loves him...except Lulu. Lulu is stubborn, but finally realizes they are going to have to find a way to work together or kiss the dog walking business and all the money that goes with it good bye.

Lulu Walks the Dogs is written by one of my favorite childhood authors Judith Viorst. She wrote Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day among others. I've always loved her characters because they are so true to kids. They are strong-willed and stubborn and smart. I love that!

Although it is technically a chapter book, it is an extremely quick read. Some pages only have one paragraph and other pages are a mix of text and illustrations courtesy of Lane Smith.

This will be a great addition to my classroom library. As with all Judith Viorst stories, the kids will  relate to Lulu and Fleischman's troubles and will enjoy the direct and humorous story telling. As the teacher I liked the ending.  I know I've said it before and I'll say it again...We don't all have to be very best friends with everyone in class but we do need to respect each other, get along with each other, and find a way to work together. Lulu and Fleischman do just that!

Now, it's your turn to share your newest favorites or reliable classics. Link up to Fiction Friday anytime & let's celebrate children's literature. Just a friendly reminder... please link back here when you link up.

Happy Reading!!

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