Take Me Back Tuesday!!

Holy moly! These past two weeks have been busy with fall parent conferences! I can see the finish line...two more days! Then we get a WHOLE week off to enjoy Thanksgiving break! Wooooo-hooooo!!! :D I have tons of pictures just ready to be blogged about, but those posts will have to wat until next week. I'll have plenty of downtime then!

Today I'm linking up with Hope from Second Grade Shenanigans to share an oldie but goodie blog post from last year!

Enjoy!

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Hi all! Sorry I haven't blogged as much lately....I was on a roll during winter break! Things at school have been cuh-raaazy busy! We've had two 4 day weeks in a row and a lot to cover in that short amount of time period.

In social studies, we've been learning about our U.S. government..specifically the 3 branches of government. I started out with a pictorial input chart (a strategy adapted from Project GLAD) where I created colorful visuals of information (picture notes) to describe each of the three branches. I drew the picture as I described each of the vocabulary words and concepts. I also used colors to organize/chunk important information. It's super important to revisit the chart on multiple occasions to add additional information or images. We always keep our pictorial input charts available as resources all around the classroom. At the end of the unit, I "auction" the charts or KWL's off to students...they go b-a-n-a-n-a-s over them! It's super cute. :) Here's an example of the one we've been using during this unit.

When introducing a new unit (for social studies, math, science, or even language arts) I also use an inquiry chart (very similar to KWL) to assess and activate background knowledge, address misconceptions, teach revision and learning as a continuous process, and to model reading/writing skills. I know...sounds like it couldn't possibly hit up all of that stuff, but it really does! This strategy comes from the inquiry method approach to science to think, predict, and hypothesize. Good stuff.

Big books are also another great motivation tool when starting out a new unit. My teacher-made big books directly focus on the content standards of the unit and embed important concepts and academic vocabulary. It exposes my students to comprehensible expository text using real pictures they love. It's a great way to get students motivated about a topic and its what the common core is all about...being exposed to more expository texts!

I also used this really great unit made by Chrissy Beltran at Buzzing with Ms. B and the kids LOVED it! It was full of rich resources and activities the kids enjoyed doing. I'd definitely use it again next year when teaching about the three branches of gov't. :) Thanks, Chrissy!

(One thing I added to this activity was the pictures of each building to help my students identify where each branch of gov't works)

 

Overall, I'd say they enjoyed learning about a topic that might not always be a hit with the kids. What are some ways you use anchor charts in your classroom? I'd love to hear all about it!