Morgan Frye, M.Ed.

Master of Science in Education


Literacy Visualizations



Table of Contents



Introduction
Literacy Visualizations During Whole Group Instruction
Literacy Visualizations During Guided Reading Centers
Creating Literacy Visualizations with Students
Conclusion




Introduction





Literacy Visualizations



Literacy visualizations are important tools in any classroom, but especially in lower-elementary and early childhood classrooms. These visual charts give students anchors that remind them of the skills that they should be focusing on or a strategy that they should be utilizing during a certain time. I use literacy visualizations in a variety of ways, and have found that when students are able to help create the visualization, that the skill or anchor standard sticks more. Students become invested in the visualization because they helped co-create it, and can use it to help reference information when they need a reminder. Below are the different literacy visualizations that I use in the classroom and how I use them as an instructional strategy for my students.



Above is my small group for Guided Reading working with our crosschecking anchor chart before our Guided Reading lesson. We review the different skills before reading to ensure that students remember the skills they can use to be successful in reading.



Above a student interacts with the pattern anchor chart. This anchor chart helps students remember that when they read, they will read with a pattern and to look at the picture to help figure out the final word in the sentence.




Literacy Visualizations During Whole Group Instruction





Why are these visual anchors an important instructional strategy?



Kindergarten students are still young enough to need constant support and reminders in order to succeed in completing a task. However, with the implementation of centers and small groups in my classroom, I am unable to work individually with each student all the time. Some literacy visualizations are used to remind students of skills that we are covering in the classroom, including recognizing the setting or characters in a story. Some literacy visualizations are reminders of what to do during independent literacy work. All visualizations are useful to students in that they provide information that is concrete and anchors the standards that are being addressed in the work they are completing.



Above is our one-to-one reading anchor chart that helps to remind students to put one finger under each word as they read. We discuss this strategy in whole group and students enjoy coming up to the board to interact with the large anchor chart.



Above is our class interacting whole group with the pattern anchor chart. When reviewing these anchor charts in whole group, Guided Reading groups that may not be called to work with the teacher that day are still being reminded of the skills they need to know to practice their reading.



Above is our setting anchor chart that helps students identify the setting in a text. Students can look back at this anchor chart and reminder what the setting in a story is and how to identify it.



Above is our characters anchor chart that helps students remember how to identify the characters in a text. Students are reminded of the character by looking at the different pictures beside the words.



Above is our writing anchor chart that helps students remember how to write a complete sentence during our writing time in literacy.



Above is our authors anchor chart that reminds students who an author is and to remember that the pictures and words in a text should match and make sense.




Literacy Visualizations During Guided Reading Centers





Why use visualizations during Guided Reading Centers?



Literacy visualizations during Guided Reading Centers are important for the simple fact that there are not enough teachers in the classroom to run centers and students need extra support to remember to stay on task and remember what it looks like to be successful in their center. These literacy visual charts so helpful for students who need a visual reminder when an auditory reminder is not always available to them. Students who are in a Guided Reading Center with a teacher can see the lower two visual reminders behind the teacher. These reminders allow for students who are reading to themselves in the center while the teacher is listening to another student read remember what they need to do if they get stuck, or another strategy to help them continue with reading with minimal teacher intervention.



Above is our Guided Reading expectations anchor chart that allows students to see how they should be reading at the Guided Reading table. Students can look at the pictures beside the text and be reminded of the Guided Reading expectations.



Above is our online content anchor chart that students can use to remind how to sit and what to do during online content in literacy centers. Students enjoy seeing themselves on the anchor charts in the classroom and become more invested in the message of the anchor chart.



Above is our crosschecking anchor chart that shows students to remember to crosscheck the picture with the first letter of the tricky word to see if it matches the picture.



Above is our Guided Reading anchor chart that reminds students that one finger goes under one word when reading a text.




Creating Literacy Visualizations with Students





Why is it important to create visualizations with students?



Creating literacy visuals with students is an important part of this instructional strategy. Students are more likely to refer to the chart or be more interested in it when they helped create it, and that can be seen when watching students refer to the literacy visuals. Even if students do not actively participate in the drawing of the visual (like the picture below to the left) they are able to refer back to the chart and remember that they helped create it. Students also enjoy making the literacy visuals (like the picture below to the left) when they are able to physically help create them, and use these visuals to refer back to for the literacy activity that they are working on for that day or week.



Above is our independent reading anchor chart that was created with the students to ensure that they understand how independent reading block is supposed to sound and look.



Above is our animal chart that was created with students to ensure that students understood the different animals that we were reading about and going to see at the farm.




Conclusion





Moving forward with literacy visualizations



Literacy Visuals are an important instructional strategy used in my classroom to ensure that students are referring to information that was taught that day or over the course of the year. These literacy visuals are information anchors for students to use throughout the school to help reinforce important skills in the classroom. Involving students in the building of anchors charts or utilizing student pictures in anchor charts helps foster student investment in the content.