Do you make phonics anchor charts in your classroom? Do you create them before the lesson, during the lesson, or a little of both? Let’s chat about some ideas for phonics anchor charts and how they can be an easy, but effective use in your classroom.
We’ve talked about teaching phonics explicitly during reading instruction…it’s important!
First, let’s talk about the basics of anchor charts, then we will get to the 12 phonics anchor charts for your classroom!
What is an Anchor Chart?
An anchor chart is simply a chart that is used to introduce or review a concept. The chart will usually have a heading and the details are added to help students understand the concept that is being taught.
Anchor charts provide a visual prompt used to provide a scaffold to support the students during learning and independent work.
How Can You Use Anchor Charts in the Classroom?
Anchor charts for teachers can be used in a variety of ways, but my favorite is to introduce and review phonics concepts.
I begin by preparing the chart before the students are in the classroom…maybe the night before or before school starts. At the beginning of a lesson, I will introduce the new concept and the students will brainstorm words that are part of this phonics concept.
Above all, the charts I make are NOT fancy! I try to make them visually appealing for the students to be excited about learning, but I do not spend a whole lot of time preparing the charts.
Here is a video of the process…
Benefits of Anchor Charts
Anchor charts have many benefits for classroom use and student learning. Literacy Ideas state many reasons why anchor charts should have a part in every classroom. Therefore, making anchor charts a perfect part of every classroom.
“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.
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!
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.
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.”
In other words, anchor charts will provide a wonderful learning opportunity in your classroom. The above reasons are exactly why anchor charts are part of my classroom! For more anchor chart tips and ideas, please visit Literacy Ideas!
To Keep or Not to Keep Your Old Charts?
Do you display your old phonics anchor charts after you use them, save them from year to year, or do you throw them in the trash?
Here is a simple tip to manage your anchor charts:
- Create the charts with your students.
- Keep the chart in front of room or the main focus for the week or weeks you are working on that skill.
- Display the chart somewhere in your classroom for a good part of the school year for students to reference during independent learning.
- After that, mid year or at the end of the school year, give the charts away to the students! Above all, the students love having a “piece” of their classroom. (I give my anchor charts away as prizes!)
In addition, I have seen some teachers store their charts on a PVC stand or with hooks. Next, they can flip to the chart they are referring to during a lesson. That works too if you are limited in classroom wall space.
How will manage your anchor charts? Above all, don’t trash your anchor charts…and find a way to repurpose them!
Using Interactive Writing with Anchor Charts
When creating the phonics anchor charts, interactive writing is a key component and using it as a time to build writing and phonics skills. The students feel like they are part of the learning process and take ownership of their learning. Often, when creating the phonics anchor charts, I will write the words and choose a few students to underline the focus skill. Check out this photo…
Discover 12 Phonics Anchor Charts!
Over the years, I have made many anchor charts. Below are my favorite 12 phonics anchor charts I have created in my first grade classroom. Certainly, I hope they inspire you and show you anchor charts do not have to be super fancy to display…the students will love being part of the process! BONUS!! Click on most of the phonics anchor charts below to be directed to a resource to build on this phonics concept!
Which phonics anchor chart is your favorite?
Anchor Chart for Vowel Teams with Long E
Anchor Charts & The Science Reading?
First, the science of reading is key when you are teaching. Based on much research, teaching phonics explicitly will benefit all children. According to Secret Stories, “Decoding is essential to reading. It allows kids to figure out most words they’ve heard but have never seen in print, as well as sound out words they’re not familiar with. The ability to decode is the foundation upon which all other reading instruction—fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc… are built.”
The Orton Gillingham approach uses multi-sensory learning techniques to teach decoding, encoding, and blending sounds to build successful readers. Based on the Orton-Gillingham Academy, “The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to individuals, such as those with dyslexia. It is most properly understood and practiced as an approach, not a method, program, or system. In the hands of a well-trained and experienced instructor, it is a powerful tool of exceptional breadth, depth, and flexibility.”
I have been using the Orton Gillingham approach in my classroom for 3 years now. By using this multi-sensory learning approach, the students are more likely to grasp and retain what they learn. Read more about why I love Orton Gillingham here!
Orton Gillingham phonics program has made such a difference in my classroom. It is a multi-sensory phonics curriculum. In the first grade curriculum, it builds on the correct letter formation in handwriting and the sounds the letters make.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is multi-sensory and structured to teach reading, writing, and spelling.
Finally, it is commonly used for students with dyslexia, but can be used to help all students feel more confident when they read and write!
Resources to Help With Phonics Instruction
I have created the “We Love Phonics” program to make it easier for teachers to introduce and teach phonics skills. I have created a resource that will guide you for an entire school year, with lesson slideshows and worksheets that correspond to each skill.
In addition, there are resources for the suffix -ed, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs. Also, the Open/Closed Syllable resource will explain how to break words into syllables, and the explanation of closed syllables with the short vowel sound.
Would you like a FREE Science of Reading Guide? This simple guide will take you step-by-step on the SoR journey!
