Anchor Charts for a New School Year

One of the things I'm doing this summer to get ready for the new school year is pinning. I visit Pinterest every day looking for new and innovative ideas to implement into my 4th grade ELA & Social Studies classroom. Here are a few of the many anchor charts that I have pinned which I plan to implement into my class this upcoming school year. To see more of my pins and to follow me click here.


I like this Close Reading anchor chart because it is easy for students to read, and the expectations are clear. Close Reading is still new to me. This past year I tried out Close Reading with my students really focusing on the 2nd Reading and 3rd. By the end of the year my students learned how to annotate the text and look for evidence within the text to use in their constructed response. However, this year I want students to do the 1st Reading and discuss. This way I will be able to walk around the room to listen to their thinking and scaffold if needed.

My students are so use to using the term "because" in their answer. They know "because" is my favorite word for them to use because what follows is their evidence. So, finding this anchor chart made me happy because look at all the different ways students can answer a question citing text. Love this!

This is a great anchor chart to use the first week of school. I sent it to my partner teacher who teaches Math. She used it this summer during extended year and said the students loved this activity and even created one of their own.

I really like this anchor chart because it defines students letter grades. They not only see their grade on their paper as a letter, but now understand what their grade means. I hope by using this anchor chart that when my students see a "C" on their paper they don't just think they did ok, but now know they need to work harder by asking more questions or putting forth more effort.

We do a lot of Opinion/Argumentative Writing in my 4th grade classroom. So, I loved this anchor chart when I came across it. I really like the counter claim and the rebuttal. 

Here's another CCSS that I teach in my classroom. This anchor chart is very clear and specific.  I also love the strategies that are suggested to determine the POV.

This is a great anchor chart to help students with varying their sentences. I always have a few students who have writer's block, so hopefully this anchor chart will help in freeing their words.