Chapter 5 Book Study

I am linking up with Michelle at Fabulous in First Grade for Chapter 5 in the book Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia L. Tate.

This chapter focuses on Graphic Organizers, Semantic Maps and Word Webs. If you read my blog, you know that  I use Thinking Maps in my classroom.  I was lucky to have worked in a school system that offered training on using Thinking Maps.

These are the different Thinking Maps above. 

 Although I love Thinking Maps,  I also use other kinds of mapping as well. It is important for students to learn different ways to organize their thinking. In the next few years, students in MA will be taking the PARCC exam, and they are expected to use various types of mapping/organizers on this assessment.

This post will share some Thinking Maps and other graphic organizers I use in my classroom.



What the expert say
Having students create a mind or concept map is a meaningful strategy for helping them make sense of and learn vast amounts of new concepts. (Budd, 2004)

MAKING PREDICTIONS

I love the Circle Map for brainstorming. I use this map in all subject areas.  I like that student's know immediately that when I draw this Circle Map we are going to brainstorm.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

{comparing two people}

This map is called the Double Bubble. 

A Venn Diagram is just like a Double Bubble Map. I think it is important for students to know that these maps look different, but they gather the same information.

FLOW MAPS

When graphic organizers are used to change words into images, both left-and right-brain learners can use those images to see the big picture. (Gregory& Parry, 2006)

This Flow map is an example of retelling  a story. This chapter gave excellent examples of story retelling maps you can use in the classroom. 

TECHNOLOGY

Popplet is a great app that makes maps for you! 

GETTING KIDS TO MAKE MAPS

This chapter reminded me that I needed to have kids show their thinking independently. I am going to try to give my students more open-ended response sheets. You can download the one I made below.

response sheets for thinking

Happy Thinking! 

Follow Joyful Learning in KC's board Thinking Maps and Venn Diagrams on Pinterest.

Double Trouble and Brace Maps

It is Thinking Maps Thursday and this post will be sharing a few different lessons that have to do with doubles! 

DOUBLE TROUBLE GAME 

I have kids play with a partner. You could use the cards below or make a die that they roll and double. The kids LOVE playing this game!

click here for Double Trouble game 

DRAWING DOUBLES 


Draw a picture on the left side and double it on the right! This is a lesson is from Think Math.

click here for drawing doubles 

BRACE MAPS DOUBLES

My goal for these Brace Maps is for the student to have the same amount on the top and bottom. For students (which was a few) who needed more support, they could use the Rekenrek or counters.

These Brace Maps can be challenging for some students!

{4, 6, 8,10,12,14,16,18,20}

click here for doubles Brace Maps 

MAKE A DOUBLES ANCHOR CHART

Dr. Seuss Word Families Thinking Maps

I am keeping to my Dr. Seuss theme this week and next week. Today for Thinking Map Thursday I am going to share a book I made with my classroom focusing on word families from the Dr. Seuss book Hop On Pop.

{ay, ill, at, ing, ent, ight, ong, ed}

Click here for Word Family book 

You can check out my classroom made book here.

I had students work with a partner. 

4 Thinking Maps to do with the Snow

This blog post will share snow related Thinking Maps. 

Are you ready for more snow in New England? YIKES!!!

Bubble Maps

Describe snow in this Bubble map.

Describe a snowman. 

Brace Map Snowman 

click here for Bubble and Brace Map

Flow Map How To Make A Snowman 

How To Make A Snowman Book

 no lines or lines 

click here for How To Download

How To Build A Snowman U Tube
{lOVE this}

How To Writing With Thinking Maps

This week I began procedural writing with my students. I decided to kick off this unit by using thinking maps.

Prior to this lesson, the students were told that they were going to be learning about How To Writing.

How to stories teach someone how to do something. Right away students came up with some ideas.

One boy said, "I can write a How to Play Basketball."
Another, "I can teach how to play football."

Step #1
We began by filling in a Circle Map Getting Ready for School. Each child worked on their Thinking map.

Starting with the Circle Map allowed the students to think about what they do in the morning without having to worry about sequencing or writing the words.

The students came back to the rug and shared the different things they do in the morning to get ready for school.

Click here for Thinking Maps 

Step#2
We made a class Flow map on How to Get Ready for School.
During this part of the lesson, we shared what was on our Circle Maps and what order the day goes for most of us. We agreed on most of the steps. Students were told that they would have the opportunity to write their own How To Get Ready for School book and they would include more details in their stories.

Step#3
We labeled our Flow map with action words. We read a book called Verbs by Kate Biggs.

Step #4
We shared different ideas for How To stories. Students filled in a How To sheet.
Click here to see their ideas. My favorite is How to go bird watching.

The following day the students each wrote a How To Get To School book. Tony Stead always has you start the unit by everyone writing the same topic together. I think using Thinking Maps prior to the writing was beneficial for helping students organize their thoughts.

click here for How To book

Thinking Maps Thursday

What are the details in a setting?
 I think the word setting can be tricky for kindergarten students.
We talk a lot about the setting in the stories that we are reading in class.

This lesson used a Brace Map to help students become aware of all of the details in the setting.


Brace Maps are used to identify the relationships between whole physical objects and their parts. Creating them helps the students develop spatial reasoning skills.

           (You could scan a picture from a setting in a story)

These pictures are included in the download they come from a free clip art site.

( I enlarged the Thinking map to an 11x18)

Brace Map for Favorite Characters

click here for download

Thinking Maps Thursday

If you use Thinking Maps in your classroom this week, I have a Brace Map to share. The map below begins whole {body} to parts.

I saw this on Pinterest (the source was not known).

 {My boys}

click here for download 

If you teach kindergarten, you know that drawing people is something students work on all the time. 

Thinking Maps Thursday

Getting To Know Our Students

Click Here for Download 

Thinking Maps Thursday!

We read the book

 Under One Rock by Anthony D. Fredericks. 

Before reading: What do you think the child will find under the rock?

 Later in the day, students illustrated some of our predictions.

I love this book MOVE by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page. 

Before Reading: What words do you think we will learn about the way animals move?

 We wrote our predictions in green. After reading the story, we added the words we had not thought of in blue.