anchor chart for writing an essay

Anchor Charts to Improve Writing Skills

 WHAT ARE ANCHOR CHARTS?

Anchor charts are tools that support learning in the classroom. They can be used to support everything from classroom management strategies to the teaching of writing.

Essentially, they are visual prompts that provide students with information regarding their prior learning on a given topic. These visual prompts are used to provide a scaffold to support the students during guided practice and independent work.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ANCHOR CHARTS FOR WRITING AND READING?

Anchor charts are becoming increasingly popular in classrooms for some very good reasons. They offer a wealth of benefits for students and teachers alike.

Here are just a few of the great benefits of using anchor charts as writing tools in the classroom.

  Anchor Charts Provide Increased Student Engagement

Anchor charts are an effective way of encouraging student engagement. Not only do they increase student confidence when engaged in a writing task, but they help to keep students on task by offering support in the form of visual prompts that help unstick the stuck! These anchor chart examples below provide students with a great visual point of reference to learn from.

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Anchor Charts Deepen Comprehension

Often, students get involved in the actual production of the anchor charts themselves. When helping to produce the anchor charts, students will have opportunities to reconstruct their learning and thereby deepen their comprehension of the material in the process.

As they construct their charts, students begin to make new connections between the various aspects of their learning as they organize these aspects in a visually comprehensible manner.

 Anchor Charts Supports Independent Work

Learning to write well can be one of the most challenging things a student learns to do at school.

As students learn to navigate the demands of various writing genres , seemingly endless questions arise at word, sentence, and whole text level.

This, in turn, makes heavy demands on the teacher’s time as individual students struggle with the various challenges of a given task.

Fortunately, anchor charts can help alleviate some of that burden by providing a visual resource and reference point that help students to answer many of the more commonly asked questions for themselves. This frees up the teacher from having to repeatedly answer the same questions throughout the course of a lesson, making more time to offer support where it’s most needed.

WHAT DO ANCHOR CHARTS LOOK LIKE?

Anchor charts come in all shapes and sizes and can be commercially bought or produced collaboratively by students and teachers in class.

Commercially bought Anchor Charts are great for permanent displays within the classroom.

Usually well-presented in bold lettering using dynamic colors, professionally-produced charts work well for topics that recur throughout the course of the year and are complex enough to require ongoing reinforcement.

When anchor charts are self-produced, they are usually handwritten in large print and displayed in a prominent position in the classroom for easy reference.

Usually, a co-creation between the student and the teacher, the charts should contain only the essential information regarding the topic.

When deciding what to include on a chart, think about the concepts, strategies, and prior learning that will most help students to work independently when engaged in their work.

HOW ARE ANCHOR CHARTS CREATED IN THE CLASSROOM?

To produce an anchor chart in the classroom requires very little in the way of resources other than some chart paper and some colored markers. Other than these, and defining a clear purpose and focus for your anchor chart, there is no specific preparation required.

However, there are a number of common elements to consider when producing anchor charts for use in the classroom. Some of these include:

●      Paper: Decide whether you are using adhesive paper, lined paper, blank paper, colored paper etc

●      Font-Size: This should be large enough to see from the various working areas of the classroom

●      Collaboration: Is it teacher-produced or a collaboration? What is the level of student involvement?

Where Anchor Charts are to be co-created with students, generally, they will be produced in collaboration with the students as you teach the lesson.

The chart will include the most important content and relevant strategies. In the case of the various writing genres, a list of the main criteria that must be included works well.

The anchor charts can then be used by the students as a checklist to refer to as the writing is produced. They can also serve for a final check when the work has been completed.

Here are some general tips to help ensure you get the most out of Anchor Charts in your classroom:

●      Keep things simple

●      Be sure the writing is well organised and easy to read

●      Use headings and bullet points to help display the main points

●      Use different colors for headings, bullet points etc

●      Use simple pictures, graphs, illustrations etc to help reinforce points

●      Don’t fill with lots of distracting details or graphics

Anchor Charts as Writing Tools – Examples

Anchor charts can be used very effectively to break down many of the more complex aspects of writing.

From punctuation use to the specific criteria for various writing genres, Anchor charts are a fantastic way to visually reinforce student understanding of these diverse processes.

The content of each chart will be dependent on their focus. But, let’s look at the possible content of two examples of Anchor Charts to help serve as models for what might be contained in an anchor chart produced in your classroom.

1.  Point of View Anchor Chart

The Point of View Anchor Chart can be used both to help guide students in identifying the point of view in a text as well as to help in the creation of the student’s own texts. We have an excellent guide on point of view that can be found here.

Looking out for keywords is an effective way to determine the point of view in a piece of writing. Point-of-view keywords are generally centred around the pronouns and the level of insight and perspective we are offered.

Let’s look at some of the more common points of view used, first in a little detail and then at how they might appear on an Anchor Chart.

First Person – a character is telling the story (narrator), and we often gain insight into the characters’ thoughts. Clues that indicate a first person will be the use of pronouns such as I , my , me , mine , we , us etc.

As bullet points, this might look like this:

●      First Person

○      Character narrates the story

○      Narrator is in the story

○      Narrator’s thoughts are revealed

○      Uses pronouns: I , my , me , mine , we , us etc.

Third Person Limited –  the narrator is outside the story and telling the story. In third-person limited, the writer sticks closely to the point of view of a single character, so we are usually only privy to that one character’s thoughts and experiences. The narrator does not know everything about the events that occur in the story. Indications that the third person is being used may be the use of characters’ names and pronouns, such as he , him , his , himself , she, her , hers , herself , it , its , itself , they , them , their , theirs , and themselves .

●      Third Person Limited

○      Narrator is outside the story

○      Narrator tells the story primarily from one character’s POV

○      Only the main character’s thoughts and feelings are revealed

○      Narrator has limited knowledge of events

○      Uses pronouns: he , him , his , himself , she, her , hers , herself , it , its , itself , they , them , their , theirs , and themselves .

Third Person Omniscient – the narrator tells the story and is privy to everything. Not only all the details of every event in the story, but the interior life of each character, such as emotions, opinions, and feelings, whether expressed or not. The usual third-person pronouns are used along with the character names.

●      Third Person Omniscient

○      Narrator tells the story from ‘above.’

○      Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of every character

○      Narrator knows everything that happens

2. Instructional Writing Anchor Chart

The criteria for writing clear instructions can be very handily displayed as an anchor chart.

When writing a set of instructions, students can refer to the chart to help organize their writing. The same chart will also serve as a checklist for self-assessment at the end.

An instructional writing anchor chart may include information such as:

Instructional Writing:

●      Includes an explanatory title, e.g. ‘How to…’

●      Laid out in bullet points or numbered instructions

●      Uses time connectives to organise, e.g. ‘first’, ‘then’, ‘finally’ etc.

●      Uses imperatives to instruct the reader

●      Use straightforward, functional language

●      Supported by illustrations or diagrams

●      Diagrams and illustrations contain captions

In Conclusion

As we can see, anchor charts can serve as useful writing tools that support the development of student writing skills in the classroom.

When displayed prominently in the classroom, they can help students efficiently bridge the gap between being emergent writers lacking in self-confidence to becoming self-assured, independent writers.

It is important to remember, too, that though anchor charts are great tools that support students, ultimately, the intent is for the students to internalize the knowledge and information they contain. So don’t allow them to become a permanent crutch!

USEFUL VIDEOS TO EXPLAIN ANCHOR CHARTS

Other great articles related to anchor charts for writing.

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Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

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Teaching with Jennifer Findley

Upper Elementary Teaching Blog

Persuasive Writing Anchor Charts for Struggling Writers {Lots of Pictures}

Here are some of my favorite persuasive writing anchor charts that I have used to help my struggling writers write strong, detailed persuasive papers. These charts contain a lot of sentence stems and step by step directions for each paragraph. It may seem a bit formulaic in nature, but once the students feel comfortable, they will branch out and add their own style and unique voice.

Here is a brainstorming poster. A Yes/No chart is one way that I teach students to organize their thoughts before they begin writing. This particular prompt showed a picture of an old, abandoned house and had the students determining if the local children should be allowed to play in the house.

After the students brainstorm several reasons for each side of the argument and they choose a side, we move into writing a clear and strong position statement. Here are some of the stems I offer the students as options.

After the students have a solid position statement, we move into our introductory paragraph (nicknamed Top Bun from a hamburger model). I instruct the students to explain what the situation or problem is then to state their position. Finally, they finish their top bun by listing out their three main reasons in a sentence.

Before writing the body paragraphs (or Juicy Middle), we make a chart together with opinion words and phrases to link reasons and details together.

Next, we move into different details that the students can use to support their reasons. This is a chart that I print for the students to glue in their interactive notebooks. Click here to download this printable. At this point, I tell my students about the Power of 3: 3 reasons with 3 supporting details for each reason. Using the charts to guide them, they write their body paragraphs (using transition words and phrases and varying details).

If you want the prompt pages that go along with this download, click here to subscribe to my newsletter to have access to my freebie library. The prompt is an an older newsletter freebie that is now available in my exclusive freebie library for email subscribers only.

Finally, we discuss the concluding paragraph (Bottom Bun).  This is where I tell my students to mention the “nod to the other side” or counter argument and prove it incorrect. Then they restate their main point and end their essay. I also offer a few suggestions with ways to end the paper.

These anchor charts and scaffolds have worked wonders with my struggling writers in the past. Do you have any charts or scaffolds that help your students write persuasively?

Share the Knowledge!

Reader interactions, 13 comments.

November 22, 2015 at 10:13 pm

November 23, 2015 at 7:18 pm

You are very welcome, Collette!

February 12, 2016 at 12:41 am

Hi Jennifer I just subscribed to your blog and pages but cant find where to download the persuasive writing prompts from last year

February 13, 2016 at 9:30 am

Hi Elizabeth, you can access it by signing up for my newsletter at the link below. Once you sign up, the first email you get will have directions for accessing the freebie library where you can find the prompt. it is a Halloween Persuasive Writing prompt but can be used at any point of the year.

http://teachingtoinspire.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3277466fc24e8e08f8d489936&id=939cf54793

February 13, 2016 at 8:26 pm

Ok. Thanks. I got that but was interested in the poster type help which I first saw on Pinterest. Is that available to print.

February 15, 2016 at 11:21 am

Oh I am sorry. I was confused by what you were asking for and still am a little. Are you referring to this poster? https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8DtIUhMGc9qMG1nalRmNWhMaWs/view

February 15, 2016 at 2:29 pm

Oh dear. Going round in circles. I think you call them anchor charts. Or brainstorming charts. There are 5 I believe , relating to the hamburger bun poster. Yes/no, statement etc. they’re above on this page. Handwritten on large sheets.

February 15, 2016 at 3:54 pm

Okay, I understand now. Unfortunately, I don’t the anchor charts available in a printable form. You are free to print the pictures from the blog for reference or retype them for your own use. Glad we were able to finally get on the same page. 😀

December 7, 2016 at 9:01 am

Hello, Jennifer. I’m a Third Grade teacher and am loving your blog. Thank you for reaching out and supporting us. I am looking for better ways to teach Information Reading and Writing, specially Text Structures. Do you have any tips?

October 25, 2017 at 6:46 pm

I’ve tried 3 times now, with 2 different email addresses to sign up for you freebie newsletter and it is not working. I am not receiving an email. Is the freebie library not an option anymore? Or has it changed in some way?

Thanks, Jessica

May 12, 2020 at 9:04 am

Hi Jennifer! I just subscribed to your blog and started following your TPT account! I am loving the amazing resources I am finding here! I am currently teaching 6th grade math at a middle school, but am changing schools after this year because of changes I don’t agree with (Who knows what education will look like with the pandemic though.). Anyway, I have accepted a position at an elementary school and will teach 5th grade. Even though I have K-6 licensing, I have have always taught departmentalized in my short career. I say all that to say THANK YOU for this blog! It is already easing my fears as I look through many of your posts. I am already starting to work through how I might teach the core subjects and what items I want to purchase through TPT.

October 25, 2020 at 6:49 pm

HI, I had a question about your abandoned house writing slide. I am new to teaching fifth grade and writing and was wondering if it is asking students to write five paragraphs or just three.

September 25, 2021 at 2:07 pm

This was super awesome! I just did a quick write on persuasive writing to see where my students are at…CLEARLY, they need these anchor charts. THANK YOU!

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Welcome Friends!

I’m Jennifer Findley: a teacher, mother, and avid reader. I believe that with the right resources, mindset, and strategies, all students can achieve at high levels and learn to love learning. My goal is to provide resources and strategies to inspire you and help make this belief a reality for your students.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Incredible Anchor Charts

If you’ve spent any time on Pinterest, you’ve likely been inundated with images of stunning classroom anchor charts. If you’re like me, you’ve probably scrolled through the eye-candy wondering how anyone has time to make these charts look so pretty and still cook dinner for their kids, grade papers, write lessons, do the laundry… you get my drift.

For many new teachers, the pressure to have a Pinterest-worthy classroom can feel overwhelming with all the other things being thrown your way. If this is you, don’t stress! Many first-year teachers walk into the classroom eager to take on the new challenge, but without much understanding of how best to get the most bang for their buck out of instructional tools, like anchor charts.

Today I wanted to share a little background information on what anchor charts are and how best to use them to support learning in your classroom. Whether you’re a brand new teacher or a returning veteran, I hope you’ll find some helpful tips and new information as you read.

This post may contain affiliate links.

What is an anchor chart?

An anchor chart is a teaching tool that helps visually capture important information from the lesson. They are created, at least in part, during instruction to help emphasize and reiterate important information, procedures, processes, or skills being taught. 

For example, if you’re teaching students a problem-solving strategy to help them approach multi-step word problems, your chart might include the steps in the process so that students can refer to this as they work through problems. 

Some anchor charts are interactive, meaning that students help to fill them in as a part of the lesson by writing directly on the chart or using post-it notes. This can be a great tool for formatively assessing student understanding during instruction. 

You can use anchor charts for any subject, and they are commonly seeing in reading , writing, and math classrooms. After the lesson, the chart should remain visible for students to refer to during independent practice and across future lessons.

Why are anchor charts valuable tools in the classroom? 

Using anchor charts is a fantastic way to get students actively engaged in lessons. You can use these charts to teach vocabulary, explain concepts, illustrate examples, and make the learning process fun and visually engaging for students.

Anchor charts serve as a great scaffolded support in the classroom offering a visual reference that you and your students can look back at as you work through guided and independent practice.

While charts are great for all learners, they are especially helpful for several groups of at-risk learners. They offer students who struggle with attention a visual of the steps to guide them through a process. They can also offer English Language Learners a reference for vocabulary and key academic language .

You can also use charts to help students retain key information and make connections between prior knowledge and new information. Research shows this is a key to helping students build a stronger understanding of new material. 

How To Make An Anchor Chart With Your Students

As you’re preparing to make a chart for your class, you’ll want to have a plan for what information you want to include and how you anticipate it being laid out prior to teaching the lesson.

Since your students should be involved in the actual creation process (whether in a hands-on or verbal participation format), you don’t want to fully create the chart in advance.

However, that doesn’t mean you want to start class with a blank slate! 

You can prep certain parts of your anchor chart – like headers, graphics, or questions you plan to have students respond to – in advance. This can allow you to focus on the instructional pieces more fully during the lesson instead of trying to get everything on the page while your students watch you write. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

The great thing is that you don’t need a ton of supplies to make some really amazing anchor charts for your classroom. There are really only four things you’ll need:

• Large chart paper – I love the Post-It Easel Tablets (affiliate link) because I can peel & stick.
• Markers – I prefer the wide Crayola markers & the Mr. Sketch markers (affiliate link)
• Projector (optional) – great for pulling up images to trace vs. trying to freehand graphics

During your mini-lesson, you can either record student responses or allow students to record their ideas on sticky notes to add to the anchor chart. You can also have students record answers directly onto the chart if you’re feeling really brave. 

Okay, but how do you make an anchor chart pretty? 

When you’re new to making anchor charts, the prospect of wanting everything perfect can be a bit overwhelming. First off, no one is expecting Pinterest-level perfection like some of the examples you’ll see below. This is especially true with interactive anchor charts, which are meant to be completed by the learners.

Here are a few simple tips to help keep things neat and organized while making your charts: 

• Use your projector. Special fonts, graphics, etc can be displayed directly onto your chart paper as you prep your chart. Use a pencil to lightly trace the design to get you started. 
• Start with a pencil. For charts that will be 100% teacher-written, create a light roadmap of where all the information will go. You can then write over this with a marker during the lesson as you complete each portion with your learners. 
• Stick with simple. Trying to put too much information on a chart can create a huge mess. Focus on just the most important details and write big enough that the student furthest away from the chart can still refer to the information. 
• Use Post-It notes for student responses. While you can have students write on the chart, you can use the same chart multiple years if you have students respond with sticky notes. 

That being said, if your anchor chart doesn’t quite turn out how you hope it would during your lesson, you can always re-write it at a different time to make it pretty or more organized. However, I’d save your time and only do this if it is an anchor chart you plan to use consistently across time because your plate is already WAY too full. 

How do you hang an anchor chart in the classroom?

This can be an issue depending on the types of walls you have in your classroom. Cinder block walls tend to be especially tricky. More than once I’ve come back to my room after a long weekend to find all my posters and anchor charts have fallen while the air conditioner was turned off.

That being said there are several ways to display anchor charts that can help maximize their use. First, try to select an area that you’ll consistently use across time for each subject. That will help students develop a habit of referring to that area when they are seeking support or need to double-check for the information from the lesson.

Here are a few options for hanging your anchor charts:

Use a curtain rod. A thin curtain rod with two metal hooks can be a great way to display anchor charts. Add new charts to the ring across time for easy reference.

Try hooks. Command hooks and magnetic hooks can both be great options depending on your walls and board space. If you’re in a portable classroom, magnetic hooks can keep things really neat and easy to move when necessary.

Poster Frames can be a great choice, too. If you like things to look a little neater, cheap poster frames can be a great alternative. Just be sure to get the right size so they fit your chart paper correctly.

Use a pants hanger. You can easily clip the poster inside the pants hanger. Then hook it to the top of a whiteboard, on a cupboard, or on a nail. Most stores would be happy to give you one for free if you tell them you’re a teacher.

Use hot glue to help with cinder block walls. Hot glue clothes pins or hooks to your cinderblock walls. You can easily remove these later, but they won’t fall down like tape or the putty.

Dedicate bulletin board space by creating a focus board. Create a subject-based focus board that includes vocabulary, standards being covered, etc. Leave space to display your anchor charts after you create them. This creates a one-stop-shop for students when they need to reference something for more information.

The 4 Most Popular Types of Anchor Charts

While there are lots of different kinds of anchor charts out there, as Pinterest can plainly show us. Most anchor charts you’ll create for your classroom fall into one of four main categories. These four types are interactive charts, vocabulary charts, strategy charts, and procedures charts.

Here’s a little more information about each type.

1. Interactive Anchor Charts

Interactive anchor charts are designed to be completed as a part of the lesson process. They are a way of students showing their learning. These anchor charts are commonly designed in a way that they could be used multiple times within a unit.

For example, when teaching a skill like main idea and supporting details, the anchor chart might include the graphic organizer where students can add a main idea and supporting details using post-it notes from a reading the class did together.

Interactive anchor charts can be a great tool for formative assessment .

2. Vocabulary Anchor Charts

This type of chart focuses on content area vocabulary. It commonly includes visual examples, definitions, and details that can help the students apply the term to their learning and in academic conversation.

Here’s a great example:

3. Strategy Charts

This type of chart is common in classrooms. They provide the steps and strategies students can refer to when working through assigned tasks. Designed as a way to scaffold instruction, strategy anchor charts lay out the step-by-step process the student should go through to implement the material taught in the lesson.

This often includes worked examples done as guided practice and graphic organizers, acronyms, or other tools that students were taught to use during the mini-lesson time.

4. Classroom Procedure Charts

These charts remind students of the expectations in the classroom. This can include the routines and procedures of the classroom . It might also include how student work is expected to be structured or completed prior to being turned in.

Sometimes teachers create anchor charts to show expectations for notetaking or adding headings to assignments. The goal of these charts is to make it easier for students to organize their assignments and materials in a way that helps them successfully accomplish the classroom tasks.

The Positives & Negatives of Visual Supports

While the idea of creating a chart in front of your learners may make you shiver, anchor charts offer a number of important benefits for student learning.

Not only do they offer a visual that helps keep students engaged during the lesson, but they also provide help to facilitate self-directed learning. Instead of being reliant on the teacher to answer every question that arises, students can refer back to the anchor chart to clarify and reassure them that they are on the right track.

However, it is important to remember that there can be too much of a good thing. It is important to prioritize what information you’re putting onto a specific chart, but it is also important to prioritize how many charts are on display at any given time.

Too many visuals in the classroom can be a major disruption to learning. This means that instead of helping your struggling learners by providing visual cues on how to complete the task at hand, you might actually end up making the task more difficult because they’re being overwhelmed by too much visual stimuli.

Therefore, it’s important to find a balance. As a new teacher, you may feel pressure to make an anchor chart for everything. Take time to assess whether this is something that your students will use again and again. If not, feel free to let that pressure go!

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A Teaching Blog

Opinion Writing Anchor Charts for Upper Elementary

January 16, 2021 by Cristy

Teaching new writers how to gather evidence and plan for text-based writing can be challenging. Transitioning them over to actually writing the essay where they must weave those ideas into a well developed and organized essay is just as big of a task. Below, are some ways you can use opinion writing anchor charts to give 4th and 5th grade students tangible examples of how to make their writing focused, well-supported, and engaging.

1. Opinion Writing Hooks

Once students have a plan of action for their writing, introducing a writing “hook” is a natural place to begin when starting instruction of actually writing the essay.

Start off by explaining that a “hook” captures the reader’s interest and makes them want to continue to read. It should relate to and tightly tie into the topic that will be discussed.

Introduce the four most commonly used (and easiest to use) hooks.

• Interesting Fact

2. Introductory Paragraph

Now that students know how they will start their essay, they are ready to complete their introductory paragraph. For this quick lesson, tell students to start with their hook. Then, specify that writers need to include words from the prompt. This helps the reader know what the paper will be about and also helps the writer stay focused as they write. They can also include a preview to their answers in this paragraph.

3. Introduce the Components of Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs are the heart of the essay. This is where the writer needs to provide the reasons they agree or disagree with the prompt. They also need to support their reasons with text evidence and elaborations.   

Many teachers are familiar with the acronym R.A.C.E. as a form of responding to a question. I like to use the acronym T.R.A.C.E. because it reminds the writer to use transitions within the essay and within the paragraphs.

During this step of instruction, it is beneficial to break down the acronym for your students. Introduce what each letter stands for. Explain that this is not a specific formula, but a guide that shows what should be included throughout the paragraph.

As you explain each letter, have students create an anchor chart and color code the text . Later in the writing process, this will help them identify what they are doing well and what they may need to add more of in their paragraphs.

4. Writing the Body Paragraphs

Now that you’ve discussed the components of a body paragraph and have taught students how to color code each letter, it’s time to model the writing.

Write the first body paragraph along with your students. It is best to write it on the board where they can all see it. Have students copy the sentences as you write them. Think aloud as you write. This will help students understand why you are including and excluding certain information.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and cross words or phrases out. Have students copy a few of these errors too. This will allow them to see that they can change their mind or fix errors.

Once you have completed the paragraph, color code the text. This will allow students to visually see the components of a body paragraph.

5. Introduce Types of Elaborations

Once students have seen you model a body paragraph, focus on the elaboration within the paragraph.

Introduce the four types of elaborations most frequently used within text-based writing.

• Definition: tells the meaning of an unfamiliar word
• Anecdote: a short story inserted into the text
• Example: provides specific cases, samples, or instances
• Scenario: a description of a possible event 

Provide Students with Opportunities to Practice

Although this is not a specific step in teaching writing, it is included because it is important to give students multiple opportunities to practice.

Depending on your students, you may want to focus on certain areas of a text-based writing lesson when you offer opportunities to practice. Do not feel the need to have students complete an entire prompt each time they write, especially at the start of the school year. 

Starting off with an overview, then moving on to certain parts before moving on to a complete essay can be a great way to scaffold this process for students. Offering students the opportunity to refer back to their opinion writing anchor charts as they write is also a key component to helping them become proficient writers.

Looking for More Support with Opinion Writing Anchor Charts?

Hopefully, these tips have helped you organize your beginning opinion writing lessons. 

If you would like the opinion writing anchor charts discussed, you can click on the image to take a closer look.

Shared Teaching

Systematic Teaching for First and Second Grade

Essential Opinion Writing Anchor Charts

January 18, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Opinion writing anchor charts are a must-have in my classroom. While I don’t usually feel I have the time in my day to make a cute anchor chart, I like to project my charts during lessons. 

The opinion writing anchor charts that I'll walk you through today are posted in my room during my opinion writing unit for students to reference frequently. I just simply print them from my computer rather than hand make them.

Understanding Facts and Opinions

When introducing opinion writing, I like to go over what makes an opinion. For me, that is teaching my students to recognize a fact versus an opinion. Although it seems like a simple concept, the majority of my second graders struggle with this. 

Reviewing my opinion and fact charts each day during my lessons, helps them grasp the difference. Every time I review these opinion writing anchor charts, I provide specific kid-friendly examples. 

• I believe slime is horrible.
• I feel there should be longer recess times.
• I think second grade is the best grade.

Using these examples are always guaranteed to get my students joining in on the conversation.

Stating an Opinion

After I teach my students how to identify between facts and opinions, the next step is to teach the introduction. In my second grade class the introduction and stating their opinion is taught as the same thing. I tell them, “When you state your opinion, you are introducing it.” 

As I move through my opinion unit, we expand on the introduction to be part of a paragraph. Like most of my lessons we take small steps to get to our end goal. My opinion writing anchor charts are kept simple so students can focus on the one skill I want them to learn for the lesson (or lessons).

Proving Reasons for an Opinion

Are you noticing a pattern? My recommended opinion writing anchor charts are taken from the Common Core Standards. Each poster is based on one of the necessary skills that the standard requires students to learn and this next anchor chart is no different.

After we talk about what our opinion is and stating it, we move onto providing reasons for our opinion. This is perhaps my most simple anchor chart where students learn the answer to the question “Why?” is providing the reason. I like to put the linking words on the chart to help students get started in providing multiple reasons.

Using Linking Words

Now of course my second graders need a bit more discussion and practice with linking words than the previous opinion writing anchor chart. For second grade I am pushing my students beyond first, next, and last linking words they hopefully learned in first grade. First grade teachers, take note!

Using the linking words anchor chart during my opinion writing unit, I am wanting students to learn that different linking words are used for different parts of the writing piece. I designed this anchor chart with that in mind and labeled the linking words for reasons and conclusions. 

Writing a Conclusion

The last of the essential opinion writing anchor charts is writing a conclusion. I actually have a series of anchor charts for conclusions as they can be a difficult concept for second graders. I like to be explicit in my lessons that the introduction and conclusion are closely related sentences.

My initial anchor chart for conclusions shows students a visual of where they can find a conclusion. The second anchor chart I introduce references an introductory sentence and a concluding sentence so I can point out the different word choices between the sentences. I really want students to see this relationship between the two sentences.

Want Ready-to-Use Opinion Writing Anchor Charts with a Full Curriculum?

You can be one of the first to get my Second Grade Opinion Writing Unit when it is ready at the end of January 2023. I am pre-selling it in my store now. This unit includes over 300 teacher slides walking you step-by-step through all the mini lessons, student worksheets in print and digital formats, and printable anchor charts (including the ones in this post). 

Check it out by clicking on the picture below.

Related Post: How to Teach Opinion Writing in Primary Grades

What anchor charts do you feel are essential when teaching opinion writing? Feel free to share below!

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Writing Workshop: Everything You Need To Know To Create an Anchor Chart

1. writing workshop: anchor charts 101, 2. everything you need to know to create an anchor chart for writing workshop, 3. writing workshop: everything you need to know to create an anchor chart.

“I don’t have room for all these anchor charts in my classroom.”

Does this sound familiar?

I often found myself repeating this over and over again as a classroom teacher. And then, I’d wonder:

             What kind of anchor chart should I make?              How can I elevate the level of my anchor charts?             How long should I keep an anchor chart up?

Keep reading for the answers if you’ve ever asked yourself these questions.

Anchor charts are an essential tool used to support instruction.

As you teach, you use your anchor charts to capture strategies that students can refer back to during mini-lessons , small groups, and independent writing time . Anchor charts also help build a culture of literacy by making the thinking visible as well as supporting all different learners within your classroom (i.e., visual, auditory, ELLs).

Anchor charts are typically created in real-time with students during a mini-lesson. They can display both student and teacher thinking by including teacher and student writing samples.

Then, you can display them on the wall for students to refer back to. Make sure to update them throughout the school year. Read more below about the many different anchor charts you can create to enhance your teaching and student learning.

Types of Anchor Charts

1. Procedural Anchor Charts

Use procedural anchor charts to highlight routines and systems within your Writing Workshop block. You’ll likely introduce these charts at the beginning of the school year when launching the workshop. You can create a chart for each new routine or system you want to teach or revisit old ones that need extra practice throughout the school year. You can use the anchor chart in the image for primary grades (K-2) to establish a Writing Workshop set-up routine.

2. Writing Behaviors Charts

Writing behavior anchor charts highlight behaviors we want our writers to build into habits. As your writers become more sophisticated throughout the school year, you want to make sure that your behavior charts match the level of your writers. You can use the anchor chart below to help establish stamina. Students can visibly see their goal as well as their progress as they work on building their stamina.

EXPERT TIP: Once your students build a writing habit, you can retire the anchor chart.

3. Individual Strategy Charts

Individual strategy charts focus on a single writing strategy. They aim to break down the strategy into clear, bite-sized steps that you’ll model during the teach section of a mini-lesson. Each unit of study cycles through the writing process (generating, choosing/developing, planning, drafting, editing, revising/elaborating).

Along the way, you introduce your writers to different strategies within each part of the writing process. The right anchor chart focuses on the writing process’s generating portion. It introduces a single strategy students can use when generating ideas for a true story. While you teach using your anchor chart, it’s key that the words you use match what’s on the anchor chart. Example: Saying true stories on your chart but using the term ‘small moments’ while you demonstrate.

4. Menu of Strategies Charts

If you’re introducing several additional strategies within that same part of the writing process, you can build a menu of strategies anchor chart. Unlike a zoomed-in strategy chart, a menu of strategies chart has several methods to select from. These charts give students the power to make their own decisions as to which one they want to use in their writing. The anchor chart to the left has five different strategies that

students can choose from when generating ideas for a personal narrative.

EXPERT TIP: Once you’ve introduced a strategy to add to the menu chart, you can retire the individual strategy chart.

5. Process Charts

Process charts are an excellent way to set your students up for independence by supporting them in understanding where to go next in their writing. These types of charts highlight a certain part of the writing process within a genre and can be displayed throughout a unit of study.

EXPERT TIP: Make small samples of anchor charts for students to keep in their writing folders.

6. Characteristics of the Genre Charts

Genre charts highlight characteristics of a genre, such as topics, text features, structure, tone, and author’s purpose. You can make these charts during the immersion week when highlighting craft moves and techniques of a specific genre. The anchor chart to the right highlights the characteristics of narrative writing.

7. Exemplar Piece Charts

This chart is a key lever during immersion week. You can also create it with your writer’s input. It highlights the characteristics of a strong writing piece. The chart is a living, breathing document which students can revise as they learn more about the genre and develop their level of sophistication. The anchor chart below highlights certain characteristics of an informational writing piece, such as catchy subtitles, pictures, and captions.

EXPERT TIP: While students are editing and revising, it can be helpful to reintroduce this chart and remind them what they can approximate from other writers!

8. Checklists Charts

Editing checklist charts help students monitor their progress during the revision and editing process. Make copies so students can refer back to them in their folders. Often, students will be in different stages of the writing process, so it’s helpful to have something to reference. These charts can be revised as students learn more throughout the unit and learn more sophisticated skills.

Expert Tips for Effective Anchor Charts

There are many different ways to improve your anchor charts. Below are three ways you can elevate your anchor charts.

1. Add visuals: One way to raise the level of your charts and support your learners is to add visuals. This is essential for our primary readers and writers to be more independent when using charts. These visuals ideally match your teacher demonstration piece. For example, if you are writing about using a big feeling, such as being excited to generate small moments you can write about, include a visual of those feelings on the anchor chart. You can also include drawings, print out clipart, or add photographs of your student doing the steps or process.

2. Include examples from mentor texts: You can include examples from mentor texts that have already been introduced and read to your class. These examples can be photocopied and placed directly on the chart.

3. Include writing samples demonstrating the writing strategy: Writing samples can be either teacher or student created. These can be used on anchor charts to show a model example of the strategy.

Anchor Chart Maintenance

Anchor charts are most helpful when students see and use them! Make sure you have a designated place in your room to display your workshop charts. It’s useful when all writing charts are together in one area. When using anchor charts during Writing Workshop, make sure to display them in a clutter-free space in your gathering area.

Once you have introduced your chart during your mini-lesson, you should be referencing it consistently throughout and every time you state the teaching point. Following your mini-lesson, keep the anchor chart visible for all students to reference as they work independently. This also allows you to reference the charts while conferring, in small groups, and during partnership work. You can also refer to the chart at the end of the workshop during the teaching share.

Decide if you’ll display or retire the chart by surveying your writers. If you retire a chart and you have the space, keep it. If not, take a picture of it. If you continue to display the chart, place it in a clutter-free, prominent spot designated for workshop charts. You can create smaller versions for students to put in their folders or keep them at the writing center.

EXPERT TIP: A great way to know when to retire a chart is to survey your students and ask, “who uses this chart?” If a small number of students use the chart, you can make smaller individualized copies for those students and take down the original.

Whether you’re just getting started with creating anchor charts or have been doing them for a while, hopefully, some of these ideas might be helpful for you as you think about which type of anchor charts you can make, how to elevate your anchor charts, and how long you should keep an anchor chart up.

Keep exploring with these articles:

• Setting Up a Writing Center: 8 Basics
• The Writing Process for Primary Grades
• Supporting English Language Learners in Writing Workshop

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7 strong narrative writing anchor charts.

Narrative Writing is my personal favorite type of writing to teach. The creativity and possibilities that come with this type of writing are endless! Today, we are going to take a look at 7 strong anchor charts for teaching narrative writing. Anchor charts are always a great tool for introducing or even revisiting a skill. In this case, the anchor charts are going to help students better understand the requirements and structure of narrative writing.

Introduce the Narrative Writing Structure

First, students will need to know what Narrative Writing is! Students will be tasked with writing narrative stories throughout their education. The anchor chart above divides the topic into personal and fictional narrative writing. Initially, students will be writing stories about events that they experienced, personal narratives. However, writing those personal stories will help students develop writing skills that will enhance their fictional narratives, too!

Next, you will want to show students the narrative writing structure. This anchor chart displays the narrative writing structure as a hamburger [or veggie burger :)]. I like to think that this structure image helps students remember that you can fill your burger with yummy ingredients (events and details), but it also needs a top and bottom (an introduction and conclusion).

Teach Students to Focus on Small Moments

Now, students will need help narrowing their writing ideas down to a specific event. This concept is more difficult for students to understand than one would think. So, we like to use a watermelon as a metaphor.

The whole watermelon represents a broad topic or big idea, like “Summer.” You wouldn’t want to write about your entire summer in one story. So, you take a slice out of that watermelon. Maybe your family took a trip or did something fun together over the summer. The slice may represent a “Family Trip.” Within that slice, there are seeds or specific events/things that were memorable on the trip. For example, maybe it was your first time riding a big roller coaster, you made a friend at the playground, built a sandcastle at the beach, made cookies with your grandmother, etc.

Choosing one of those memories and zooming in on the details and feelings of the moment will make for a much better story than simply writing about summer.

Focus on Aspects of the Body of Writing

Our next Narrative Writing Anchor Chart will focus in on the Body of the piece. This will be all of those yummy ingredients within your story burger! You will want students to remember that a story has a beginning, middle, and end. They also need to know that within those parts, there needs to be detail and description that engages the reader. *This chart can also be made with a simple, 3-row chart where you could provide an example of each event with details. OR laminate it and reuse it over and over!

Feelings and actions are very important to narrative writing. I recommend having a mini-lesson where students can get involved in the making of a feelings and actions anchor chart. Discuss different feelings and emotions you may experience during a memorable event. Then, talk about the actions that you may do during the event or during those emotions.

Teaching Introductions and Conclusions Explicitly

Finally, you are going to need to talk about those buns! The introduction and conclusion parts of your story burger are just as important as the middle. Many times, it is more effective to write introductions and conclusions after the body of the piece has been written. Be sure to provide examples of different types of hooks and closings from narrative stories you may have read. This is a great opportunity to refer back to mentor texts you have already read. Revisiting just the introduction and conclusion, students will remember how those stories were as readers. It will help them, creatively, and keep them developing their skill!

These simple narrative writing anchor charts are going to be great tools to refer back to throughout the year!

Interested in Free Graphic Organizers for Your Writing Unit?

Or do you want ready-made lesson plans for narrative writing.

If you’re interested in getting your students to master writing without having to spend hours on planning and prep, I have all-inclusive units for you! These no-prep units have everything you need to teach opinion writing in your classroom!

Narrative Units come complete with anchor charts, lesson plans, graphic organizers, writing prompts, and more! Click the button for your grade-level below:

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Anchor Charts 101: Why and How To Use Them

It’s the chart you make once and use 100 times.

Anchor charts are a way to make a lesson stick around long after you’ve taught the skills. The idea is that you create them as part of a lesson or unit, then students have the chart to anchor their work with those skills. Here’s our ultimate guide to anchor charts, from how to make them to when to use them. Plus we offer examples from classrooms just like yours.

What is an anchor chart?

An anchor chart is a tool used to support instruction (i.e., “anchor” the learning for students). As you teach a lesson, you create a chart that captures the most important information, the strategies, and content that you want students to refer to later. Then, hang it in a space where students can see it and refer to it when they are practicing the skill.

Types of anchor charts

You can make an anchor chart for literally everything, but there are three main types:

• Procedure: Think routines and procedures that you want students to refer to as they work in your classroom.
• Strategy or process: These are for strategies you want students to remember and apply in their work. Things like how to create Cornell notes, how to break apart multisyllabic words, or how to solve a geometric proof.
• Vocabulary: Anchor charts can also prove helpful in reinforcing vocabulary since students need lots of practice with words for them to “stick.”

How do I create anchor charts?

Making a chart is the best way to put your teaching, creativity, and smelly markers to work.

• Start with an outline: You know what you want students to learn, so create the frame ahead of time if you need to. For example, you might create boxes for a process or draw a snowman to write about.
• Add a heading: Make sure the purpose is clear.
• Fill it out: Work with students to model the strategy or content and take their ideas for completing the chart. While you should know what needs to be included, be open to student suggestions. Filling out a chart may take one lesson or an entire unit.
• Hang the chart: Display the chart where students can see it when they need the information.
• Refer to the anchor chart: Students need to learn how to use anchor charts just like any other tool in your classroom. So, when students have a question or when giving directions for a task, refer them to the chart.

Some charts may stay up all year, while others are switched out when students have mastered that content. In that way, posting anchor charts keeps relevant and current learning accessible to students, reminds them of prior learning, and encourages them to make connections as new learning happens.

How to maximize anchor charts

Use our tips to learn how to use anchor charts like a pro!

Use color strategically

Use different colors and bullet points to help students quickly access the information you want them to see.

Keep them simple and neat

Use easy-to-read graphics and clear organization. Don’t allow distracting, irrelevant details or stray marks, such as too many arrows or overemphatic use of underlining that undercuts your message.

Use visuals

Use drawings and other visuals to show what happens in a process or procedure, like this example that explains how sound waves travel.

Don’t over use them

While anchor charts are a super-useful tool, don’t feel as if you need to create one for every single lesson. Choose carefully so the ones you create have the greatest impact.

Have students do the work

Create a living anchor chart by having students add to it with sticky notes of examples from what they read or research they do.

Get inspiration

Teachers always get their best ideas from other teachers. If your teammate has already tackled a topic, use the same format. Just make sure you create your own version from scratch so your students experience the learning as you go.

Aim for maximum engagement

When students are involved in the process of creating learning tools, they are more likely to comprehend more deeply and remember more of what they learn.

Bring lessons to life

If you are studying a topic that lends itself particularly well to a visual aid, create an anchor chart! If you are studying how animals develop, for example, draw a visual of what happens inside an egg when there is and is not a chick.

Support independent work

Anchor charts provide students with a source to reference when working on their own, like this model of how and when to round.

Use anchor charts as classroom references

To help students keep information straight, create charts for each topic. For example, if you’re teaching math concepts, create a chart for geometric shapes, the difference between perimeter and area, and how to multiply and divide fractions.

Reinforce classroom procedures

Provide students with a visual to remind them of routines, like these anchor charts about how to do independent reading and get new books. The poster doesn’t have to be huge, but it does have to be helpful.

Use anchor charts as a companion to read-alouds

While you’re reading, stop, observe, and record. At the end, you’ll have a chart to remind students about the main vocabulary, ideas, and structure of the story.

Helpful Anchor Chart Resources

Inspired? Check out these anchor chart compilations for ideas:

• Fraction Anchor Charts for Your Classroom
• Anchor Charts That Nail Reading Comprehension
• Fantastic Sustainability and Recycling Anchor Charts
• Anchor Charts To Teach Place Value
• Classroom Management Anchor Charts
• Must-Have Anchor Charts for Teaching Writing of All Kinds
• Fabulous Fluency Anchor Charts
• Close Reading Anchor Charts That Will Help Your Students Dig Deep
• Get Your Facts Straight With These Nonfiction Anchor Charts
• Perfect Anchor Charts To Teach Phonics and Blends

Share your favorite anchor chart tips in our We Are Teachers HELPLINE  group on Facebook.

Plus, check out awesome ideas for anchor chart organization and storage ..

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Using Anchor Charts in Middle and High School: Why and How

For the longest time, I thought anchor charts were for elementary classrooms. I’d see photos floating around on social media, but I never gave them a second thought in terms of application in a middle or high school classroom. I know I wasn’t alone, as it’s somewhat rare for secondary teachers to talk about using them.

More recently, I’ve come to realize that anchor charts are absolutely appropriate – and beneficial – for a secondary classroom.  Let’s explore why we should and how we could be using them.

THE BENEFITS OF ANCHOR CHARTS

Most teachers incorporate mini (or maxi) lessons on a regular basis. As students learn new information, anchor charts are a way to help them ground their learning. Because of the way we create them (more on that later), they help students to synthesize their thinking about an important topic or skill.

Generally, we use anchor charts for information students will need to come back to throughout the year. Often, anchor charts are used with essential standard concepts and related strategies.

With reading, for example, you might create anchor charts for signposts, reading strategies, or text structure. Perhaps you want students to remember sentence types, transitions, or word choice concepts with writing and grammar. You can also create anchor charts for classroom procedures and reading and writing workshop expectations, among a plethora of other options.

Creating anchor charts provides a content-rich classroom decoration piece which serves as a bridge between introductory lessons and practice opportunities. When students use them as a reference, they are reminded of prior learning and can more easily make connections with new information.

Students who appreciate scaffolding, ELL students, and anyone who is learning a brand new concept can benefit from anchor charts.

Bottom line: Anchor charts make learning visible.

TIPS FOR USING ANCHOR CHARTS

The benefits of using anchor charts are clear, but actually implementing them can be more of a gray area. When I first began exploring them, I had a lot of questions. Perhaps you do, too. I’m happy to share my learning.

WHEN TO CREATE THEM

Ideally, anchor charts should be created with students. They need to contribute to the synthesis of information. As you teach your lesson, you can pause and add important information, like definitions, questions students should ask, strategies, and images or symbols.

However, secondary classrooms are fast-paced. Our building only has 44 minute class periods. With tight schedules like these, it’s difficult to stick to idealism. It’s best to create anchor charts with students, but we have to prioritize.

If you’re crunched for time, it’s understandable to create the anchor chart…or an outline for one…in advance. However, I’d suggest still providing opportunities for students to think about what should be included. Otherwise, they’re really more of a poster.

For example, instead of pausing throughout the lesson to add to an anchor chart, which does take time, ask students to create their own version – inspired by yours – afterward. This opportunity allows them to do some critical thinking without extending the mini lesson.

However, I wouldn’t recommend that creating anchor charts in advance be the norm.

MULTIPLE CLASS DILEMMA

In our building, teachers have six sections of the same grade level class. That’s a lot of expensive paper! Plus, what will you do with six very similar anchor charts?

To problem solve, you might design the reference tool on the white board. At the end of each period, take a picture of that class’s creation. Then, combine the best, most memorable elements from each class into one reference chart at the end of the day. This approach is helpful because you can use it to review with students and discuss ideas from other class periods.

Another option is to have students create mini anchor charts that they can keep in their folders, binders, or notebooks. This activity can be spun in many ways. For instance, students can work with groups to encourage critical thinking and discussion.

REUSING THEM FROM YEAR TO YEAR

After all the effort it takes to create them, it can be difficult to fathom only using them during one school year. Anchor charts generally aren’t “reused” year to year. However, they can carry over in a couple ways.

First, you’ll begin to notice patterns. After you get comfortable with creating an anchor chart for a given topic, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. You’ll have an idea of what  must be included because it resonates with students. In other words, by creating and recreating each year, the process will go more smoothly each time.

Also, take photos! When you have anchor charts you love, take photos of them so that you can share them with students as additional references. Sure, if you have room to store them, it doesn’t hurt. But, pulling them out of a closet and using them over and over again undercuts some of the most important learning benefits for students.

MAKING THEM APPEAL TO OLDER STUDENTS

Do anchor charts appeal to older students? Honestly, involving middle and high school students in the process of creating them is an effective way to increase engagement. When they are involved in their learning, the lesson naturally appeals more to them.

Some anchor charts are clearly designed for younger students. Paying attention to color palettes, depth of skills and strategies, and illustrations can help make anchor charts appear more “secondary” style.

If you include people, make them look older! If you include objects, choose things that are relatable to teens whenever possible. And, use examples that are relevant to tweens and teens.

Consider allowing students to add specific elements to the anchor chart during the lesson to magnify ownership.

PRIORITIZING WHICH CHARTS TO CREATE

While anchor charts are beneficial teaching tools, it’s important not to overuse them. If you create an anchor chart for every lesson, where would you put them all? Here are some helpful questions to guide your decisions:

• Is this topic/skill related to an essential or power standard for my class?
• Is this topic/skill something that students tend to struggle with each year?
• Will we be coming back to this topic or skill regularly throughout the year?
• Am I going to want students to connect new learning to this topic or skill?
• Will this anchor chart help my classroom to run more smoothly?

MATERIALS FOR CREATION

When creating anchor charts, teachers have different preferences. One thing to consider is how you want to hang them. Will you attach them with binder clips to string? Will you stick them to the wall? I prefer large Post-It easel pads *, but a lot of teachers use chart paper .

Either way, my favorite markers to use are these and these . I like to have different tip sizes to work with.

BUT I’M NOT ARTSY

Whether you have Pinterest-worthy anchor charts hanging in your classroom or not is of no consequence. You don’t have to have pretty handwriting or amazing illustration skills to create meaningful reference points with your students.

Look! Here is an example of a “non-pretty” anchor chart I made with a co-worker as we were introducing writing workshop expectations.

Students can read these anchor charts. They contain valuable information the class refer back to throughout the year, and it will help the room run more smoothly.

If you happen to have handwriting that is illegible, that would be a problem. In this case, you could have a student scribe the anchor chart for you as you teach the lesson.

What thoughts do you have about creating anchor charts? They’re not just for elementary classrooms. Share any questions or tips you have to offer in the comments below.

+ The materials linked in this post are Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase from them, I will receive a small profit at no expense to you.

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In my middle school classroom, I’ll start the anchor chart with the title and then add what the students say on large Post It notes to stick on. Then, I’m able to take off those post it’s for my next classes. At the end of the day, I create the chart with all of the information from my students throughout the day.

I love that approach for synthesizing content from multiple classes. Thanks for sharing, Jackie!

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8 Easy Ways to Use Elaboration Anchor Charts For Teaching Writing

It is a common teaching practice for teachers to use elaboration anchor charts to show students where and how they should elaborate on their writing.

I have always enjoyed using these elaboration anchor charts to teach writing to my students about the different types of elaboration. 

However, I run into the problem that many of them need to remember to refer to them while writing an essay because they glance at them once and forget they exist.

So, this got me thinking, how else can I use these elaboration anchor charts after our writing lesson?

Read along to find eight easy ways to use elaboration anchor charts to teach writing besides displaying them on your classroom wall.

Table of Contents

Repurposing Your Writing Anchor Charts 

Make an interactive bulletin board by adding mentor sentences.

Pass out sticky notes and have kids write examples of sentences they have included in their paragraph that matches each elaboration poster. 

In the end, you will have a collection of mentor sentences to use with them.

Use a document camera to display the elaboration anchor charts

Before adding the elaboration strategy anchor charts on a bulletin board, you can introduce each elaboration technique by placing them under the document camera.

Then, prompt kids to read the examples and discuss each type of elaboration.

Use them as table signs for group work

Next time you have your students do group work, name each group using an elaboration strategy. Then, use the anchor charts as table signs. 

If we want them to use the vocabulary words associated with writing, we must give them opportunities to practice using them.

Make an interactive revising activity

Here is an idea of a revising activity you can implement in your next writing lesson. 

Start by adding each elaboration anchor chart to the top of a chart paper.

Then, include one paragraph underneath the elaboration anchor chart to revise. Finally, students can brainstorm ways to add that particular elaboration strategy in groups. 

If you have them rotate through each elaboration, you will ultimately have different versions of the paragraphs and a great start to a classroom discussion.

Paste the elaboration posters in their writing notebook

 If your students have a writing notebook, these elaboration posters would be a great addition to use as a reference. 

Size down each elaboration anchor chart to 80% to fit the space of a composition notebook.

Students can easily refer to them throughout the school year. Now you will have space on your wall to add the next set of writing skills.

Create an anchor chart comparing and contrasting different types of paragraphs

Another writing mini lesson to add to your writing toolbox is to compare different types of elaboration to distinguish the differences among each type of elaboration.

It is a common mistake among new essay writers to need clarification about which elaboration strategy best fits their paragraphs. 

Comparing two elaboration strategies at a time gives your students more writing practice, making them more likely to remember each elaboration strategy. 

You can also use this classroom idea to help you differentiate your writing lesson. 

Make an elaboration reference guide

Do you know you can print multiple pages on just one paper? 

With this teacher hack, you can make an elaboration reference guide quicker than taking attendance!

Follow these steps to make your elaboration reference guide.

First, open the elaboration anchor charts file and continue the printing steps. Next, select the option to print multiple pages in one sheet in your printer setting.

Before pressing the print button, preview how the paper will print. Last select print if you are happy with your settings. You can go up to 16 pages in one sheet!

Use a Binder Clip to Hold the Elaboration Anchor Charts

Print the elaboration charts smaller and laminate them to place them in a binder clip or ring holder. 

Now you can use them when working with students in a small group.

Your students can refer to these elaboration charts while brainstorming or writing essays. 

Wrapping It Up

While elaboration anchor charts help teach different types of elaboration, there are alternative ways to use them than just being displayed on a wall.

They can be effective teaching tools when used creatively and strategically in the classroom.

As we discussed, they can be effective teaching tools when used creatively and strategically in the classroom.

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2 thoughts on “8 Easy Ways to Use Elaboration Anchor Charts For Teaching Writing”

absolutely brilliant, if possible show part two with examples for these demonstrations!

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Dianna Radcliff

Teaching Upper Elementary & more

The Best Anchor Charts

February 6, 2018 by Dianna Radcliff

The Best Anchor Charts for your ELA classroom all together in one place! You will find outlines to utilize in Reading Literature, Reading Informational, Writing and Language. 

Explained in this blog post is about the purpose of utilizing anchor charts in your daily instruction. Along with tips to organize your charts.

Below is a collection of anchor charts that have been used during instruction in my classroom. The goal of putting this blog post together is to help fellow educators.

The Purpose of Anchor Charts:

To being, anchor charts are a non-negotiable addition for my instruction. These visuals are looked at as a learning tool for my students and myself, ultimately becoming an instructional and learning strategy. Also, charts are a tool that not only supports the instructional goals of a lesson, but support students’ ongoing learning of the lesson.

These outlines are created to capture the content delivered in instruction. Along with building upon strategies and previous standards taught.

Finally, visuals created in lessons need to be accessible to students throughout the school year. They also help to create a visual imprint for students to refer back to when needed.

Anchor Chart Organization Tips:

• Labels – In the top of each anchor chart, label them by standards, category, skill, strategy, etc… This allows students an additional reference point.

• Always make ACADEMIC LANGUAGE stand out to help immerse students in the formal language. For example, use bold letters, capital letters, red markers, underline… Doing so allows you to slip in ACADEMIC LANGUAGE  instruction which benefits students on future assessments. 
• Anchor charts are meant to anchor a lesson, therefore to save time you can always create the outline, but leave open spaces to complete with students during lesson.

• Create images and sections in your anchor chart to organize information. 

Anchor Chart Examples:

Here are the anchor charts I have created in my 5th Grade ELA Classroom:

(Side Note: I use my own ideas, my students ideas and online ideas for these charts. Credit to all the fabulous teachers who have posted images of classroom visuals online, there are so many fabulous teacher-authors to give credit to, along with the shared ideas within my school buildings. Thank you for helping me instructionally and my students.)

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Effective Ways to Use Anchor Papers in the Classroom

Anchor papers. Example essays. Guide papers. Exemplars. Sample essays. Whatever you call them, they are designed to make slightly more objective a subjective process—the evaluation of student writing.

Whom Sample Essays Are For

Anchor sets are designed for the paid readers who are scoring the essays; they are not designed specifically for teachers or their students. The sets are, however, invaluable as classroom tools. They can provide insight into each score point in a way the rubric cannot.

How Anchor Papers Are Chosen

A set of anchor papers can be created in a number of ways, but the methods I’ve experienced pull them from field tests or the actual responses to the prompt given under high-stakes conditions.

I’ve been on several committees that choose these anchor papers, and this is how it typically works: Ahead of time, a coordinator pulls essays that appear to fit a specific score point. A larger group of teachers then debates each choice. We have asked questions like this:

Is this response typical for this score point?

Will the use of this essay create clarity or confusion readers/scorers? (In other words, Is it an outlier?)

What are the specific elements of the essay that make it fit?

Can we articulate to readers why this essay fits?

In other circumstances, a group of teachers will do some preliminary scoring, and a coordinator or question leader will choose from that stack samples that had consensus in scores. (If the readers were all over the place on any given essay, that one won’t make the guide set.)

Advisory committees will come to blows over certain issues, and the issue that I’ve seen the most is conventions. Rubrics need to be crystal clear with guidance on usage and mechanics; if they aren’t, a sentence-diagramming stickler is going to be at the table with a teacher who believes that usage requirements are racist and classist, and the process is going to get ugly. The conventions element on a rubric can be as simple as “Usage and mechanics contribute rather than distract” or as detailed as line items about comma splices and homophones.

When I was a secondary ELA curriculum specialist, I served on the North Carolina Writing Advisory Committee for our Grade 7 assessment. There were twenty or so teachers and specialists seated in a large square with the testing company suits at one of the tables. A representative of the company would pass out a paper copy of an actual student response to the prompt. We would read it and debate the characteristics of that essay and where we thought it fit.

If we could not come to agreement, that response did not make it into the anchor set.

How Anchor Sets are Used in Scoring

Student samples are for initial training and refresh calibration. When readers are learning how to apply the rubric, they get a lot of practice with scoring. By the end of initial training, a reader can usually grade accurately and quickly (and by quickly I mean more quickly than pre-calibration).

I’ve scored online for the SAT and live for the AP Language exam, and the training processes were drastically different. For the old SAT writing section, we were shown examples at each score point and then given fresh responses and asked to apply the rubric, what at the time was a fairly straightforward six-point tool. Once we were scoring accurately with consistency, then we were set free to score. If, during the scoring, a reader’s evaluations began to stray, that person would be kicked off the live reading and sent into a re-calibration process. Being “off” meant that the reader was more than one score point away from another reader on the same essay, and the scoring supervisor sided with the other reader.

In a two-reader scoring system, there is a built-in checks and balances mechanism. If I give a response a 4 and another reader gives it a 2, that response would get flagged and re-scored by someone higher up the food chain. This unfortunate circumstance happened to me once during remote a remote SAT reading because I scored just two responses and then answered a phone call without logging out. One of my two scores was off, and I was sent into a tedious calibration process that was intended to get me lined back up to the rubric.

With a one-reader system, calibration is even more important. The AP Language and Literature exam questions get one reader per response.

I’ve done one live AP Lang reading with a rhetorical analysis prompt and the old nine-point rubric. We looked at example after example after example, hashed them out together, and created for ourselves a stack of examples at each score point. During the reading, I had nine paper clipped stacks of student samples at my station. If I ever got stuck on a score, I would go back and read essays at a couple of different score points and decide where the new one best fit. We were trained back then to decide first if an essay would land on the upper section or the lower section of the rubric and then to drill down from there.

Right after being trained, I was pretty good at the initial assignment of upper or lower. I was, however, a little too generous at the top and a little too harsh at the bottom. My table leader—an incredibly patient teacher who was scoring behind me because I was new—came to me and pointed out that I was a little off and asked me to go back and read student samples at specific score points. She needed to get me lined up better with the rubric.

Here’s what I appreciated about our alignment with the rubrics at that reading: Every single time we came back from a break, we scored an essay or two as a whole group of 200 readers. This exercise served to calibrate us so that we were in agreement.

How to Calibrate Scoring

Calibration is the process of keeping a scorer or reader consistent with the requirements of the rubric.

In a former life, I was the writing curriculum specialist for a large school district, and I trained teachers in both writing instruction and scoring on the rubric used for the state assessment. This is how I calibrated my teachers, often in very large groups:

• Give each teacher a copy of the rubric and one student essay. Each teacher scores the essay without any discussion and sets that paper to the side. I do not give the score.
• I have every single teacher give me a score, and I write them all down on chart paper and set that chart to the side. We get a laugh out of how far apart the scores are.

Why are they so far apart? Teachers are coming to the rubric from different writing backgrounds, different expectations for their students, etc. They are often applying their own standards, not those of the rubric.

• We spend time looking at the tool itself, making sure we’re all clear about the language being used and the skills required by students. (One of the terminology issues that almost drove me to drink was the wide variety of ways teachers referred to commentary. Not only were teachers using analysis, evaluation, explanation, extension, and elaboration at the reading, they weren’t even using the same terminology at their grade levels or schools. I do a whole lesson on language consistency in my course The Confident Student Writer .)
• We spend hours looking at student samples, debating their characteristics at tables, deciding on scores in small groups, and then checking in with the large group. By the end of that training piece, teachers at each table are usually within a point of one another and are accurately applying the rubric.
• Now I pull out that original chart paper and have the teachers look at the first essay with fresh (but trained) eyes. We then repeat the original exercise and put all the scores on the paper for all to see. This moment is my favorite piece of the whole workshop. A whole room full of teachers goes from scattered to aligned, and it’s so fun to watch their reactions as they hear the same number called out over and over and over.
• I then talk briefly about being comfortable with any score that is one above or one below, announce the score, and enjoy the cheering.

Fighting the Standardized Rubric

I came up as a classroom teacher during the introduction to writing rubrics. For years and years and years, I would read an essay and say aloud something like, “Eh, feels like a B.” I wasn’t the only one; that’s how we all graded essays in the early nineties. An essay that would earn a B from me might earn a D from another teacher. What a mess. (It makes you look sideways at the awarding of valedictorian honors when students are being judged by different standards, doesn’t it?)

We learned how to use and create matrix rubrics, straight point rubrics, and no-point rubrics on which we only marked the skills we were looking for in that particular assignment. Even then we were doing crazy things like not showing the students the rubric until they had completed the work, as if the veiled mystery of grading would be revealed and ruined if we told students ahead of time exactly what we wanted.

So now we know better. Students get the rubric ahead of the production of the piece so that they know what skills the teacher wants to see. Now we’re getting to a pedagogically appropriate use of the tool.

How Standardized Prompt Rubrics Are Created

So how do rubrics work with a standardized test like the ACT or one of the AP English exams? A group of people get together and, using the language of the curriculum being taught, develop criteria to help readers recognize what those skills would look like if being executed.

For example, what exactly does it mean to show evidence? A rubric can reward a student whose evidence is both relevant and of high quality. There also has to be enough of it! A rubric might reward these elements separately, and a group of people—typically people well versed in (and with experience teaching) said curriculum—set the rubric. So we start with a small group of hand-selected people who decided how to reward the demonstration of a set of skills and processes.

Then it’s over. Once a rubric has been codified, evaluated, run through focus groups, strained through a field test, and baptized, it is not to be questioned, at least not at a reading.

SO DON’T FIGHT THE RUBRIC.

When training teachers to score on a rubric, I often hear evaluation of the instrument itself. It runs something like

It puts too much focus on conventions.

This flies in the face of current research.

Do they really expect students to be this sophisticated in their thinking? I know mine aren’t.

By the time a rubric for a standardized writing assessment makes its way to a classroom teacher, it is what it is. It is the standard. When we fight the tool, we just slow ourselves down or mis-score because we know better than the people who created the rubric.

Don’t do it. Waste of time.

Do you teach rhetorical analysis? Could you use a little help with commentary? Grab this anchor chart.

Using Guide Papers in the Classroom

There are so many fun ways to use guide papers with students. Here are some highly effective strategies you could implement tomorrow:

• After students have responded to a prompt, do a full-fledged calibration exercise with the whole class as described above. The activity works quite well virtually if that’s your situation, and you can simply open up Jamboard and write the scores there.
• Later in the year, host a light-hearted Calibration Competition after each timed practice. Put students in pairs, give each team a set of five responses at different score points, and read each essay one at a time. Each team writes down a score and two to three sentences defending that score. They must use language from the rubric! Have each team give a score and write them on the board. Announce the correct score, discuss using any notes provided by the Chief Reader or Question Leader for that question, and award one point to any team within one score point of that number. At the end, the award is something little like a few points on a low-stakes assignment, a homework pass, or some small office supply novelty like a three-prong highlighter. (My students would kill for these!)
• Use the student samples as models for specific skills; for example, students identify the thesis from a strong response and discuss what makes it work.
• Have students back map a response. If you give students a graphic organizer to help with planning, have them fill in that organizer in reverse with a response from the sample set. You might do this to show a balance of evidence and commentary or highlight gaps.
• Get students to compose a letter to the writer explaining what that person would need to do in order to move up one or two score points.
• If using a three-row rubric like that now used for the AP English exams, have students use three different colors to highlight what made a specific response earn a specific score on each row. (I have created student-friendly versions of the AP Lang free response rubrics. Y ou can get those for free here .)

Want to stretch your brain (and your patience with fellow humans)? I need to create an anchor set for a synthesis prompt. Want your students to do the writing? I’ll send you the prompt for free. Just email me at [email protected] . You can read more about my approach to the AP Language Question 1 prompt here:

AP Language Synthesis Review Tips

How to Guide Students Toward Better Image Analysis

I’m a recovering high school English teacher and curriculum specialist with a passion for helping teachers leave school at school. I create engaging, rigorous curriculum resources for secondary ELA professionals, and I facilitate workshops to help those teachers implement the materials effectively.

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Opinion Writing Anchor Chart - Letter Writing

Updated:  15 May 2023

Demonstrate writing a persuasive letter with an opinion writing anchor chart.

Non-Editable:  PDF

Pages:  1 Page

• Curriculum Curriculum:  CCSS, TEKS

Grades:  2 - 5

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Teach Persuasive Techniques to Young Writers

Teaching new writers how to gather evidence and plan for opinion or persuasive writing can be challenging. Moving them over from a list of reasons into a well-developed and organized letter is just as big of a task.  We’ve put together an amazing writing tool that is perfect for your young writers to use as an opinion writing anchor chart.

Students can use our anchor chart s to review tangible examples of how to make their writing focused, organized, and persuasive in nature. This persuasive writing anchor chart printable  highlights the different parts of an opinion letter and gives students a visual reference when planning and writing letters.

Our opinion-writing examples highlight the following required opinion-writing components

Heading – Your name and address.

Date – The date you wrote your letter on.

Greeting – Your hello.

Opinion – Clearly state why you are writing.

Reasons – Back up your opinion with reasons and facts.

Solution – Offer a solution.

Closing – Use a strong statement to end your letter.

Signature – Sign your name.

A Variety of Grade Level Uses

Opinion writing – 2nd grade –.

This resource makes an excellent introductory model for second-grade students to use to identify the different parts of an opinion essay. You can project the anchor chart on your board and teach from there, or print half-size copies and have students annotate and paste them into their writing notebooks to reference daily.

Opinion Writing – 3rd Grade

Use this opinion writing anchor chart as an early-in-the-year review of the components of opinion writing. Have students begin with an opinion letter, as shown in the opinion writing example, then transition into opinion essay writing.

Make sure to check the catalog for more anchor charts for writing.

[resource:13810] [resource:812] [resource:7230][resource:10381]

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Home » Anchor Charts » 9+ Inspiring Narrative Writing Anchor Chart

9+ Inspiring Narrative Writing Anchor Chart

‘I want to tell you a story…’ or ‘Once upon a time…’ These familiar phrases have opened many a story – and will continue to do so. What happens after the opening line is what creates the narrative.

In this post, I’ll discuss what goes into a good narrative writing anchor chart. I’ve also listed some useful resources and given you some ideas on how to use narrative anchor charts in your classroom.

Table of Contents

What should go into a good narrative writing anchor chart, teaching narrative writing in different ways, thoughts to take away.

Narrative writing is telling a story. And this is often the most difficult thing to write, partly because there are so many options. It’s also easy to write a story that just ‘goes’. Writing a good, solid narrative depends on a structure that carries the story, which is not always easy to achieve.

This is where a good narrative anchor chart comes in. If you present your students with anchor charts that give them the guidance about topic, structure and writing techniques, you will be giving them the key to telling stories that have impact.

A good narrative anchor chart should include:

• An outline of the overall structure of beginning, middle and end that makes a good story.
• An explanation of the internal structure of a good story: hook, problem, action, climax, solution.
• A clear statement of the elements one needs in a narrative: characters, problem/s, setting, solution.

Some narrative anchor charts can give ideas for topics, or guidance about finding a topic.

To be effective, a good narrative anchor chart must set the information out logically. This is so the students can see the elements they need to be working on clearly. The chart must also use colors, fonts and pictures to attract and hold the students’ attention.

Narrative writing as a broad concept is quite specific. However, when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, there are a whole lot of ways of going about writing a good narrative. Everything does come down to the basic elements of structure and technique.

Take just the idea of the beginning, middle and end structure. You can use anchor charts to teach this in different ways.

Divide the chart into three sections, with the headings ‘Beginning’, ‘Middle’ and ‘End’. Take a very simple story and write the relevant parts in each block. This will demonstrate the idea of structure clearly with a specific example.

You can also find a story the students know. Write it on an anchor chart, but leave out the ending. Ask the students what is missing and what they think of the story. Then you can get them to add their own endings. You can repeat the process, by leaving out the beginning and even the middle. From these exercises, you can create your own anchor chart about the basic structure of a narrative.

Useful resources from Teach Simple

9+ narrative anchor chart for inspiration.

• Narrative Writing Prompt Sheets By Teach Me This

This resource is a set of narrative writing prompt sheets . I’ve included them as a resource because they are a good, solid introduction to writing narratives. You can easily adapt them to become anchor charts. I suggest working through a few with the class so the students understand the principle. You can then extend this to get them to work on their own with worksheets based on the anchor chart.

• Anchor Charts For Writing By Socially Skilled Kids

This is a set of Anchor charts for writing . The charts are poster-sized, so they will make great resources for displaying in your classroom. The content of the charts presents the rules of writing and gives the students ideas for approaching writing. There are also writing prompts for different tasks.

• What Do Narratives Need From Puzzle Online

This anchor chart considers What do narratives need? This is a really nice, simple beginning anchor chart for teaching how to tackle a piece of narrative writing. I suggest using it as a basis to look at and discuss examples of narratives. This will help the students to understand what they are aiming for. The image of the ‘hook’  is something students do need to take on board and be able to apply in any writing they do.

• The Purpose Is To Tell A Story By A First For Everything

This anchor chart supposes that narrative writing is to tell a story. This is an idea the students will understand and gives them a focus to come back to. You can also use it to develop their narrative writing step-by-step. Begin with small stories, then develop into writing longer ones. When you work on your own anchor chart, I suggest leaving more space in the lower half, so that the information is not quite so squashed. You can also add some more guiding words and phrases.

• Personal Narrative From The Creative Colorful Classroom

This chart focuses on writing a Personal Narrative. There is a simple technique used to give students guidance when beginning to write a personal narrative: using their hand to remember the points. You could extend the ideas from this chart to relate to the overall piece of writing, and to approaching individual paragraphs.

• Narrative Writing Structure By Elementary Nest

This chart presents the Writing Structure for Narratives. It’s based on the premise that any writer needs to understand what ‘narrative writing’ is before embarking on a writing project. The image of the hamburger to represent the writing is something the students can relate to. If you are creating your own resource, I suggest working with the students to build the ‘hamburger’ layer by layer.

• Personal Narrative Checklist From BlogLovin

This anchor chart gives students a Personal Narrative Checklist. It is presented as a list of how to check you have done everything in the text. It can also act as a blueprint for a piece of writing. I suggest using the sections of the chart as a template. Build up the content with the students, based on a story you create. Give the students worksheets based on the chart and they can develop their own stories on them.

• Topics For Narrative Writing By True Life I’m A Teacher

The chart is based on the premise that writers need Personal Narrative Topics. Deciding on a topic is the first step in successful writing. It’s also often the most difficult. This anchor chart is a great way to help students find the inspiration for their writing. The beauty of using the post-it notes is that you can elicit ideas from the students and build, change and adapt your own anchor charts with them.

• Narrative Lead Ideas By The Teacher Studio

This anchor chart presents starting points for writing, with narrative lead ideas. Using this chart will help your students understand that writing is not only about a basic premise, or characters, it is about using the narrative to catch and keep the reader’s attention. The layout of the chart in blocks makes the information clear for the students. I suggest using this chart in sections – begin with a block at a time. Perhaps you could do this in isolation, then work to build the anchor chart. You can display the final chart in your classroom.

A narrative anchor chart can be the first moment in writing a narrative. It helps the students to learn about the structure and elements they need. You should find or create anchor charts that will help your students craft their narratives. That way, they will have the most impact.

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Jane B has been in education for 37 years, teaching at all levels of school and at university, with extensive experience in developing educational resources.

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17 Engaging Personal Narrative Anchor Chart

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Last Updated on September 6, 2023 by Teach Simple

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June 23, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Types of Writing Anchor Chart

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This handy anchor chart reminds students of the purposes of the four types of writing: narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive.

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February 6, 2016

9 must make anchor charts for writing.

My first few years of teaching I was “given” writing for my team planning assignment.  After digging my heels in with writing for a few years and in different grade levels, it ignited a love for teaching writing.  I wanted to share with you some of my favorite writing anchor charts that will be WONDERFUL for your students to refer to throughout their time as the blossom into little authors.

My bulletin board below has three anchor charts on it.

• On the left is a printable version of Cara’s anchor chart above.
• In the middle is an absolute favorite writing anchor chart that I would create every year as I taught Kindergarten.  It was so good for them to see the stages of writing and know that we, as a classroom, would be celebrating ALL writing!
• On the right is an anchor chart that we created early on in writer’s workshop.

Finally, this writing anchor chart by The Brown Bag Teacher is fabulous! She models for her students the progression of writing and her expectations! The students are able to look at their writing and compare it to the chart she has provided. This is almost like a first grade version of the writing anchor chart I created above to know that we are all writers!

I hope you are leaving inspired to create more writing anchor charts during your writing lessons for and with your students! If you are looking for anchor charts for math , reading , science , or social studies be sure to check out my posts about those!

Happy Teaching,

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Hi, I'm Amanda

I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students  love  and that are  easy to implement  for teachers.  Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!

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7 Responses

Thanks for the great resources

• Pingback: 6 divertidas ideas para que los niños escriban sin parar - Elige Educar

Love this!! Do you have a link to print off the pencil anchor chart that says “what do writers write?” 🙂

Hi Lizzie! I do not. You can search on Cara Carroll’s blog–The First Grade Parade. 🙂 She made it many years ago, I believe!

Fantastic ideas! Thanks for sharing!!!! Cintia

On medical leave right now. Lots of pages to print. School does not provide paper and copies must be approved.

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