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This is actually a spin-off topic from a discussion about Science Notebooks (come on in and play in there, too! We are idea shopping!).

For those of you who aren't sure what an Anchor Chart is, I will try to explain. An anchor chart is that chart you make to help students focus on what you're teaching. It's the 'rules' for writing a sentence, the explanation of punctuation marks, the step-by-step explanation of how to solve a math problem using an example. In my Pinterest surfing, I found this blog where quite a few other bloggers got together and shared their anchor charts. Most of them are ELA or Math related, though. Which is great, but doesn't help us teach electricity very much!


So, does anyone have/is willing to share/know of a place where we can find Science based anchor charts?

Hi Tiffany, I haven't heard of anchor charts before, but was able to find a couple of examples of how they're being used in science on Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/alicia_eyer/science-anchor-charts/ http://pinterest.com/MsKris/anchor-chart-science/ Hope that helps! Kendra

I agree with Ada, i would like to see students mking these anchor charts. For example, each student draws their vison of a scientist and words to describe what the scientist does. Individually they do it in their notebooks. Then they might do a share-pair. Then a group of 4 comes up with a concensus of words to describe what the scientist does. All the groups then agree. They even agree on what a scientist looks like. This might help move them away from the white male in the lab coat in a lab where something is blowing up. Kathy

Hi All! Like Kathy and Adah, I think it would also be beneficial for the students to make their own anchor charts. As an elementary teacher, I know that sometimes my students have difficultly immediately understanding how to perform a task, so I would probably begin by scaffolding this skill and gradually moving toward the point where my students could complete their own charts (either individually or in small groups). Thanks to everyone for sharing all the links to charts on the internet! Maureen

These were beautiful charts that probably were not created in the midst of a lesson but either after or before. I agree that they look commercial in nature, but they do give good ideas about things that could be on anchor charts, especially the second link. Anchor charts are those charts that you will leave up for the year or at the very least for the whole unit for students to refer to. Having the students make their own charts is a great idea. I tend to have them do a small chart in groups no larger than 4 and then we compile their ideas into a class anchor chart. Sometimes the charts stem from whole group discussion.

This got me thinking: I found a really cool Pintrest site that has a lot of anchor charts and their uses. Yes, most deal with ELA, but they are good for getting ideas for charts in science. http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/search/label/Anchor%20Charts Scroll way down. Not only can you make anchor charts for what you want the children to learn/follow. You can make anchor charts with information and steps/mnemonics that the children come up with themselves. Also, anchor charts can be used for success criteria and the protocol to follow in order to reach the learning target or goal set for the lesson or unit.