Below you will see
what other teachers are doing with their pocket
charts. Many
of the ideas were posted on the Teaching is a
Work of Heart Mailring & Chatboard. Also,
many were posted on the TNet rings and boards.
Some ideas were sent to me. I just organized all
the ideas and put them in one place for teachers
to use!
Primary
Chatboard - TNET
Rings
- TNET
Teaching
is a Work of Heart - Chatboard
Teaching
is a Work of Heart - Mailring
| I
use one of my pocket charts for graphing
activities. I usually use 4 different
attributes (i.e. jack-o-lantern, ghost,
witch and bat for October). I run these
pics off on 4 diff. colored construction
paper so I have 18 of ea. pic (about 4
inches square). I laminate them. Then I
put them in a box with a flap on the top.
This is called the no peek graph box. The
kids come up as they finish using the
restroom and choose a picture and place
it in the correct row. I start off the
graph with one pic on every other row.
Leave a blank row inbetween. When the
graph is complete the kids tell me facts
about the graph. By the end of the yr.
they are able to talk about very
complicated mathematical facts. We do
this at least 3 times a week. The kids
love this. Every month I have a diff. set
of pics. I even have sets of pics for
some of my favorite themes - farm, dinos,
ocean and zoo animals. After we have
discussed the graph the first time I will
remove one attribute and ask the kids to
discuss the graph again. This saves time
by not having the children make a second
graph from scratch. You should always
have your pictures the same size so the
kids will know that the number that will
fit in the row. This way if the first row
is filled and the second row has 2 the
kids will remember the first row has 9
and the second row has 2 (9+2=11). If
this isn't clear, let me know. Maybe I
can give more detailed instructions. -
Posted by Cloe70 on 6/22/02
|
Posted by Kaylene
on 6/23/02
I put a question at
the top (yes or no) and then students put their
name under the appropriate heading. I use it as a
way to check attendance, students do this first
thing as they come in. I have them try to figure
it out. Usually with a little help, someone reads
it and helps the others. During our opening we
talk about the question and count the YES and NO
responses and compare More and LESS. My questions
usually have something to do with our theme or
the season. Sometimes I use picture clues in my
questions.
A favorite center
activity in my class is matching words with
laminated die cuts. For example, I have a die cut
fish and the student will find the word
"fish" and pair them together in the
pocket chart. They do this alone or with a
partner.
| Laminated
die cut shapes are great to use to make
different patterns in each row of the
pocket chart. I would
also love more pocket chart ideas!
alphabet
flashcards- left in order to point and
read or have the students take them out
and put back in order.
Rhyming or
beg sound matching with pictures.
Short poems
and nursery rhymes. Point and read or
have a 2nd set of word cards for students
to place ontop of each word.
Sentence
strip version of student take home book
or other 4-8 page story.
Match
numbers to sets of pictures or number
words
You could
even have center rotation displayed,
conduct, and attendance used with pocket
charts. Scholastic has several pocket
chart books/kits you can get. Check out
Amazon.com to see what they look like.
Posted by Terri F. on 6/25/02
|
Somehow I have four
pocket charts (gee, how did that happen? LOL) and
now I have that great big one that was $9.99 at
Walmart. I just read on the K chatboard how you
can take the great big one and cut it to make 3
small pocket charts. So, now I have six pocket
charts. One is very small and I use it at my
writing center with letters from the alphabet.
The children like to find the letters in their
names, etc. I have an apple chart that I have
used at circle time for various activities. I am
going to use one of my cut up charts and sew them
so there is an individual pocket for each child.
I got this idea from Dr. Jean's Transition Tips
and Tricks, where you place a photo of each child
in a slot and then when they arrive they match
their laminted name card to their picture. What
other things have
you done with pocket charts? I like to make
things as interactive as possible! Rachel/PK
| I
recently purchased the pocket chart that
looks like a school house. I bought some
of those small multicultural people
cutouts (boys & girls). I will take
each child's picture and mount it in the
face area of the cutout, laminate, and
when they arrive at school each day they
will place it in the schoolhouse for
attendance. During circle we refer to it
and the leader counts how many boys vs.
girls using a magic pointer (pencil with
funky eraser) etc. it's a good visual,
interactive math tool. I used to do this
by placing the little people on the felt
board and attaching velcro to them, but
didn't have the wall space this year, so
I bought the chart instead, it's very
cute.I have another pocket chart that has
a sentence strip at the top, the sentence
says "_____ is the leader
today." Each day when the children
arrive they find their laminated sentence
strip name card on the table (I set them
out before)and place it in the chart. The
class leader for the day puts his/her
name in the blank spot on the sentence
strip. I think I will also place their
pictures next to their names on their
sentence strips this year like you
mentioned. Thanks for sharing!vanna/pk/tx
|
Pocket Chart Ideas
For Science
Posted by Eloise Smith on 7/22/02
I have been
teaching 25 years and believe me basic science
has not changed (solids, liquids, gases, the
water cycle) even though we use more computer
technology to observe and report weather!!!
About 12 years ago
I started making my own word cards to help teach
concepts in science. I worked out the phases of
the moon; eclipses of the sun and moon; the
seasons; the water cycle; solids, liquids, and
gases; forms of energy; simple machines; animal
life cycles; endangered species; natural
resources; movements in the earth's crust; types
of rocks; and types of pollution (air, water,
land). For the most part I have been able to
reuse these cards with little modification even
though we have adopted a new science book.
I use these cards
and sentence strips in pocket charts. I remove
them daily and use them tocomplete a "verbal
cloze" summary of the previousday's lesson
before presenting th next lesson.
Sometimes the
students use the words as prompts to write a
summary in their journal. The chart resemblesa
word web representing ideas MORE than a ABC
listing of words on a wall.
I got the science
words from the chapter we were studying. I took
one day at a time and made the cards after I had
preread the assignment to prepare for
thefollowing day. Sometimes I made extra cards
from thegeneral knowledge I had about the subject
or afterdoing some additional research. So I post
the cardsas we discuss a part of a chapter that
we have just finished reading together. When I
remove the cardsfrom the chart, I put a rubber
band around them and placed them in a plastic
shoebox. I never really mounted them on the wall
since I use a pocket chart to hold the cards. I
sometimes selected cards to make a "word
box" that student could use to answer
questions that I asked orally or to complete a
guided or independently written paragraph.
One example would
be the three states of water: (Each word is
printed on a different card. Sometimes I use a
different color for the headers.)WATER
SOLID LIQUID GAS
ice dew vapor
hail rain steam
snow river fog
sleet cloud
iceberg
glacier
Oral
questions:(Sometimes we play jeoprady with the
cards when the students see the answer and ask
the questions.)
Name the three states of water.
What collects on the grass overnight when there
has been no rain?
What kind of water rises from a boiling kettle?
What was dangerous to the Titanic?
What is a frozen river called?
CLOZE (While
holding the cards in my hands, I usually do this
orally with the class who gives a choral response
before I place the cards in the chart in a
cumulative way. Sometimes I write a paragraph on
the board or a half sheet of paper for them to
complete while referring back to the chart. Other
times the students use the chart to write an
independent journal response.)
We have been
studying _________. There are ______
forms of water. These states are _______,
_______,
and _______. _______ water forms when the weather
is
________. "Stiff water" can be _______,
_______,
_____, ______, _______, and _______.
"Rolling water"
can be ______, _______, and _______.
"Invisible
water" can be ______, ________, ______, and
________.
Jouranl Entry: Draw
a snowman on a warm February day. Show and label
all three states of water in your drawing. Use
arrows to show precipitation, condensation, and
evaporation of water.
I have even used
these word cards to give a oral quiz over what we
have been studying. I place 3-4 words in the
pocket chart at a time to provide the answer
choices in a multiple choice style. Then I ask
the class to number their papers 1-10. Next, I
start asking questions: ( solid, liquid, gas,
cycle)
1. Rolling water is a _________.
2. Invisible water is a ________.
3. Stiff water is a _______.
4. When water evaporates into the sky and
condenses to fall back to earth, we call it the
water ______.( evporates, boils, freezes, melts)
5. When ice changes into a liquid, it ______.
6. When water changes onto a solid, it _____.
7. When heated water bubbles into the air, it
___.
8. When you bath towel dries, the water _____
into the air.
( precipitation, condensation, evaporation)
9. When water falls back to earth, we call it
______.
10 When water goes into the air, we call it
______.
I often wish that I
had had the time to do cards for social studies
and health but I just ran out of time. I did make
several word card set for the parts of speech,
math facts, and geometry.
I use
pocket charts for just about
everything-such as their work detail for
the week---I put their names on
labels and then stick a card with their
job for the week behind their name----ex.
gardner---this personwaters the plants.I
use pocket charts for word games such as
prefixes and suffixes. I write root or
base words on sentence strips and then
use a different color sentence strip and
write the prefix or suffix. Divide the
class into two teams and explain that the
are adding prefixes and suffixes to words
and the words have to make sense. The get
1 point for every word they correctly add
a suffix or prefix to and 5 points for
every word they successfully add a suffix
and a prefix to. At the end of the game
(time limit of 5 minutes or when one team
runs out of prefix or suffix cards). The
winner is the team with the highest
amount of points.
Janna Tipton - 3rd Louisiana
|
one idea I've
recently come across to use with pocket charts
are "Word Whackers" - they are
essentially fly swatters where you cut a
rectangle out of the middle - then the students
and/or the teacher can use the
"Whacker" to point to different words
and utilize the hole in the middle to frame the
words for the students - teacher supply stores in
Texas are selling them for $1.00 but I got mine
at K-Mart for 2/$1.00 in all sorts of neat colors
- I'm the Literacy Specialist for grades 1 and 2
so I picked them up for my teachers in pink,
purple, turquoise, and blue - Beth
Posted
by Pam on
8/12/02
I know
awhile back someone listed some Yes, No
questions that the kids answer when they
come in before school starts--kind of a
instant graph. Does anyone have some good
questions that are fun to ask?Thank You,
Pam
Here are
some that I have used:
Do you like
popcorn? (change to other foods)
Do you like to jump? (change to other
movements/activities)
Do you have a dog? (change to other
animals or objects)
Do you have a big (little) brother
(sister)?
Do you have blue eyes?
Do you pick up your toys?
Do you like to write in your journal?
Do you like to play games?
Do you like to plant flowers?
Do you like mud?
Do you like to smell flowers?
Do you like black jelly beans?
Do you like dill pickles?
Do you like rainy days? (change weather)
Do you like to listen to stories?
Do you like puzzles?
Did you bring your library book today?
Did you bring a smile? (school picture
day)
Did you hatch from an egg?
Did you like our field trip?
Did you have fun yesterday?
Did you wear a hat today? (change article
of clothing)
Did you ride the bus to school?
Is today your birthday?
Is your journal full?
Is your hair brown?
Is the letter (name a letter) in your
first (last) name?
Is your backpack (change object) red?
(change color word)
Have you ever kissed a pig?
Have you ever seen a leprechaun?
Have you ever lost a tooth?
Can you hop?
Can you count to 100?
Can you say the Pledge?
Can you say your address?
Can you say your phone number?
Can you do this? (include a picture of a
motion, silly
expression, or a series of cards that
make a pattern - I
use the Snap/clap cards from Math Their
Way -- they
really like this one!)
These are
multiple choice (more interesting to
graph)
How old are
you? (choices 4, 5, 6, 7)
How did you get to school? (choices bus,
car, walk, other)
What color is your hair?
What color are your eyes?
What is your favorite color? (put color
words on cards down
the left side of the pocket chart -
answers go across to
make a horizontal graph)
How many letters are in your first (last)
name? (put numbers
down the left side - answers go across)
How many people are in your family?
(numbers down the left -
answers go across)
When is your birthday? (put months down
left side - answers
go across)
What is your bus number? (numbers down
the left - answers go
across)
Do you read
the kids the question or are there
pictures for them?
At the
beginning of the year I start with the
easiest questions and we work together to
figure them out. I try to ask a question
that fits the day (Did you bring a smile?
on school picture day) As the year goes
on the questions get harder and they work
together to figure them out with less and
less or no help from me. They use first
name cards to mark their answer 1st
semester and last name cards 2nd
semester. I spread the name cards out on
a table before they arrive. The only
picture cards I use are the movement
cards from Math Their Way that I use for
patterns.
I am
usually busy with attendance, reading
notes from home, etc. while they do the
question of the day. When I am done we go
over the question, discuss the answers,
decide which answer has "more"
or "Less" or if they are
"equal". Sometimes we use the
question as an idea for a journal entry.
Thank you!
These are great questions to add to my
collection. The kinders do enjoy the
Question of the Day and it is fun, on
occasion, to switch around the yes and no
cards especially when you have a "Do
you like cookies?" type question.
Business cards fit in the yes /no section
of my pocket chart, so I sometimes ask
things like "How many legs does a
spider have?" and write 6 / 8 on
cards to go in the top. I also ask
"Do you prefer fried or mashed
potatoes?" with fried / mashed on
cards... well, you get the idea.Last
year, at my partner's suggestion, I
included a short question period after we
discussed the graph. "Susan, why
don't you like snakes?'" accepting
only complete sentences and not accepting
"I don't know!" Then,
"Katie, why do you like
snakes?" It made them think and was
a constant source of quiet amusement for
me! Have fun! Chrissie
|
We use a the Chart
everyday as a calendar and it is a very important
part of the routine. We have cards reading
"Today is", "Yesterday was",
"Tomorrow will be", and "Today's
weather is", along with the cards for every
day of the week, every month of the year, numbers
1-31, and the year number. We straighten the
calendar in the obvious way every morning, and
then I add a description of the day's planned
theme or any special events or countdowns (like
to Christmas) in the bottom pocket, and then read
it. The kids love this so much that the Chart
changes before I even get down to the classroom
in the morning! - Jen/Distance Ed. Teacher
|
I
love
using pocket charts and sometimes wonder if I
could teach without them. Hmmm??? Many teachers
write asking me for pocket chart ideas. As a
result, I decided to create this page - All About
Pocket Charts (How Teachers Use Them to Organize
Their Classroom and to Make Learning Fun). Here
you will find ideas from teachers, links, great
resource books, and cool pocket charts. I am
always adding new ideas as I find them... A
special thanks to the teachers out in Internet
World that are willing to share their ideas here!
Reconstruct poems,
songs and chants
