My students and I love to create anchor charts.  They support our instruction by providing students a visual reminder as to what was previously taught in our classroom.  They can also provide students with the tools to self-monitor classroom expectations.  I believe students should be apart of the process of creating anchor charts to provide meaning to these useful tools.  I have created lots of anchor charts over the years, and I have come up with some tips and tricks to help you create your own in your classroom, along with my favorite tools to use in the process. 1.  Make space for your anchor charts.   When I was designing my classroom space, I was very intentional about where I wanted to hang completed anchor charts.  The classroom library needed space for them so that students could be independent in that area and reminded of expectations set forth earlier in the year.  The same goes for other spaces in the classroom.  I used extra large chalkboard clothespins that I foun...
Fairy Tales of Three Week may be one of my favorite weeks ever in teaching!  Our week was full of excitement from digging into some great literature, to challenging STEM activities and fun crafts.  We chose to use two versions of each of the fairy tales The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.   We focused on retell of events, as well as story structure when it came to tying fairy tales to our standards.  We also did lots of comparing and contrasting; I feel like we covered it all! ;)  On day one, we introduced fairy tales read the original version of Three Billy Goats Gruff.  We made a cute little troll craft which is on down in the post, too. We even made theses fun retell bracelets from Dr. Jean .  These were amazing!  You HAVE to check these out and try them.  So easy and effective! This printable is great if you want your students to record the order of events from the story in addition to the bracelet. ...