Anchor Chart Storage

In my class we use a lot of charts. This is what my literature board currently looks like. We just finished up Diary of a Worm. Now we're reading Diary of a Spider and will be doing some comparing and contrasting the two books, which is why it's so full.

You'll notice charts on vocabulary, a time line, prior knowledge and a T chart. My students are visual learners. The charts are a resource for the students. I create a Power Point with vocabulary pictures and words that accompany every read aloud. I create two versions: words + picture and just the vocabulary words. My older kids are working on reading the vocabulary while my younger kiddos are just working on basic vocabulary and retelling the stories with this vocabulary/new signs.

Last year I saved all of our anchor and vocabulary charts and hung them on the back of our white board easel. It was too cumbersome to flip through all the pages looking for just the right chart to refer back to. I like to keep them as a resource for the students. They may not remember how to spell that vocabulary word from A Bad Case of Stripes back in September, but they sure know where to locate the information.

So this year, I decided to create a binder with photos of our anchor charts. I started by taking photos of each and every chart we made and used. I put them into page page protectors into divided sections. I color coordinated the subjects for my pre-readers. I can tell them to look under a certain color.

Each section has a sheet listing the name/topic of the chart and then the page number where it can be found. 

I printed each photo (on fast draft to save on ink!) and slipped them into the numbered sleeves.

Now all of our vocabulary lists for each read aloud and all of our other anchor charts are easy to find and available all the time. It takes up little space and we can refer to them over and over again. 

It makes my students responsible for their own learning and promotes independence.

Life is not always about knowing the right answer. It's about knowing where to find the answer.