Let's Get Interactive!!!
Have you ever wanted to try interactive anchor charts and interactive notebooks in your classroom? They are so much fun and so easy to implement during Reader's or Writer's Workshop. If you are teaching with a Balanced Literacy framework: I Do, We Do, and You Do, then these activities go perfectly with the "We Do" part. Here's what you will need to make your anchor charts:
1 Colored Chart Spiral 16 X 24
Markers and Crayons
Your scope and sequence
Pinterest
I make my anchor charts ahead of time in a chart spiral. I don't make the whole chart though, I only make the title and maybe a T-Chart of something of that sort. The rest is made with the students using post it notes. That's right!!! Post it notes!!! Crazy right? Well, I've been using post it notes with my students for years, and I LOVE IT and so do the students. This way you can still make your anchor charts interactive, but also make them ahead of time. I also put a table of contents at the beginning of the anchor chart so I can find the page that I need quickly. I know we've all had a lesson where you forget to put something out for the students??? Well, if you have a nifty table of contents to refer to, finding your anchor chart is easy peasy. Here are some examples of what my table of contents looks like. I have two spirals for ELA, one for math and one for science.
As you can see, they are not perfect, but as long as it serves its purpose! I'm ok with them being a little messy. LOL If you would like to see a video of all of my anchor charts, click here
It shows how I make all of my charts and how I make them interactive.
Now that you've made your anchor charts for each subject...you can decide which ones you would like to make interactive! That's the fun part! You can make any subject interactive. Here's some examples of some interactive anchor charts with post it notes:
Now for the "We Do" portion of your mini-lesson. You can stretch this out over 2-3 days if you want. I typically do it in 2 days.
On the first day, I introduce the anchor chart and we talk about the new skill with a mentor text or vocabulary card. I give my students the anchor chart that I've shrunk down 80% and the students glue it into their interactive notebook on the "teacher" side. Here is an example:
The students color it and cut it out and write "Teacher" at the top of the left hand side of the notebook. This is particularly helpful when a student forgets about a skill or you are doing recursive review in your classroom and your students need a reference...here ya go! Instant feedback for them!
For the next day of "We Do", this is the fun part!!! You can give your students a post it note while they sit on the carpet. They will need their clipboard, pencil, interactive notebook page and post it note. It may take a little while to hand all of these materials out, but I will tell you with time, your students get much faster and better at it. They all sit on the carpet facing your anchor chart. It's the same anchor chart that you went over the day before. You will ask your students to write ONE word or draw ONE picture on their post it note that reflects their knowledge of the skill you are teaching. So, if you are teaching adjectives, they are writing one adjective. If you are teaching forms of energy, they are drawing or writing a form of energy. You can call on students one at a time to come up to the anchor chart to "Post" their facts of knowledge. You can have your whole class do this, or just a few...its up to you and how much time you have. Here are some pictures of my students with their post it notes.
This is a picture of one of my students posting her noun on the anchor chart under the correct category:
This is a picture of a student posting her way of how to treat books. You can also have your students draw pictures if they cannot write the words yet.
So, your probably wondering what are all the other students doing on the carpet while some students are up at the anchor chart? The other students are still sitting on the carpet, with their clipboard and pencil and responding with the same activity that's on the anchor chart. This is their interactive notebook. This keeps all the student engaged and on task, rather than just sitting there and off task. Everyone has a job to do. You could even call on the students who are engaged and on task up to the anchor chart as a reward to post their facts. Here are some pictures of my students with their clipboards and interactive notebook page:
This is the activity that my students will glue into their interactive notebook whether it be reading, grammar, math, science of social studies. I shrink down the activity page 80% so it's small enough to fit inside the notebook. They color, outline, cut it out and glue it onto the "Me" side of their notebook. Here are some examples:
And there you have it! A perfect "We Do" lesson that's interactive!!! The best part is that you can adapt this kind of mini-lesson for any grade and any subject. I hope that this blog post helped you get some great ideas today! If you're interested in watching me teach an interactive mini-lesson, watch here.
If you're interested in my Reader's Workshop Resource for interactive anchor charts and notebooks, click here.
If you're interested in my Writer's Workshop Resource for interactive anchor charts and notebooks, click here.
Happy Teaching!
Love, Kara
Have you ever wanted to try interactive anchor charts and interactive notebooks in your classroom? They are so much fun and so easy to implement during Reader's or Writer's Workshop. If you are teaching with a Balanced Literacy framework: I Do, We Do, and You Do, then these activities go perfectly with the "We Do" part. Here's what you will need to make your anchor charts:
1 Colored Chart Spiral 16 X 24
Markers and Crayons
Your scope and sequence
I make my anchor charts ahead of time in a chart spiral. I don't make the whole chart though, I only make the title and maybe a T-Chart of something of that sort. The rest is made with the students using post it notes. That's right!!! Post it notes!!! Crazy right? Well, I've been using post it notes with my students for years, and I LOVE IT and so do the students. This way you can still make your anchor charts interactive, but also make them ahead of time. I also put a table of contents at the beginning of the anchor chart so I can find the page that I need quickly. I know we've all had a lesson where you forget to put something out for the students??? Well, if you have a nifty table of contents to refer to, finding your anchor chart is easy peasy. Here are some examples of what my table of contents looks like. I have two spirals for ELA, one for math and one for science.
As you can see, they are not perfect, but as long as it serves its purpose! I'm ok with them being a little messy. LOL If you would like to see a video of all of my anchor charts, click here
It shows how I make all of my charts and how I make them interactive.
Now that you've made your anchor charts for each subject...you can decide which ones you would like to make interactive! That's the fun part! You can make any subject interactive. Here's some examples of some interactive anchor charts with post it notes:
Now for the "We Do" portion of your mini-lesson. You can stretch this out over 2-3 days if you want. I typically do it in 2 days.
On the first day, I introduce the anchor chart and we talk about the new skill with a mentor text or vocabulary card. I give my students the anchor chart that I've shrunk down 80% and the students glue it into their interactive notebook on the "teacher" side. Here is an example:
The students color it and cut it out and write "Teacher" at the top of the left hand side of the notebook. This is particularly helpful when a student forgets about a skill or you are doing recursive review in your classroom and your students need a reference...here ya go! Instant feedback for them!
For the next day of "We Do", this is the fun part!!! You can give your students a post it note while they sit on the carpet. They will need their clipboard, pencil, interactive notebook page and post it note. It may take a little while to hand all of these materials out, but I will tell you with time, your students get much faster and better at it. They all sit on the carpet facing your anchor chart. It's the same anchor chart that you went over the day before. You will ask your students to write ONE word or draw ONE picture on their post it note that reflects their knowledge of the skill you are teaching. So, if you are teaching adjectives, they are writing one adjective. If you are teaching forms of energy, they are drawing or writing a form of energy. You can call on students one at a time to come up to the anchor chart to "Post" their facts of knowledge. You can have your whole class do this, or just a few...its up to you and how much time you have. Here are some pictures of my students with their post it notes.
This is a picture of one of my students posting her noun on the anchor chart under the correct category:
This is a picture of a student posting her way of how to treat books. You can also have your students draw pictures if they cannot write the words yet.
So, your probably wondering what are all the other students doing on the carpet while some students are up at the anchor chart? The other students are still sitting on the carpet, with their clipboard and pencil and responding with the same activity that's on the anchor chart. This is their interactive notebook. This keeps all the student engaged and on task, rather than just sitting there and off task. Everyone has a job to do. You could even call on the students who are engaged and on task up to the anchor chart as a reward to post their facts. Here are some pictures of my students with their clipboards and interactive notebook page:
This is the activity that my students will glue into their interactive notebook whether it be reading, grammar, math, science of social studies. I shrink down the activity page 80% so it's small enough to fit inside the notebook. They color, outline, cut it out and glue it onto the "Me" side of their notebook. Here are some examples:
And there you have it! A perfect "We Do" lesson that's interactive!!! The best part is that you can adapt this kind of mini-lesson for any grade and any subject. I hope that this blog post helped you get some great ideas today! If you're interested in watching me teach an interactive mini-lesson, watch here.
If you're interested in my Reader's Workshop Resource for interactive anchor charts and notebooks, click here.
If you're interested in my Writer's Workshop Resource for interactive anchor charts and notebooks, click here.
Happy Teaching!
Love, Kara
