Graphic organizers are a great tool to use in the classroom. They provide excellent scaffolding in your lessons so students can easily organize their ideas, then put their ideas into writing or speech in a cohesive, logical, elaborate way. Graphic organizers also allow for brainstorming individually, in small groups, or as an entire class. See some of my favorite graphic organizers below!
5 senses – I love this because it gets students thinking creatively during brainstorming. They must use all 5 senses and truly be in the moment. When studying art, I put up a piece of artwork, and students have to place themselves in that artwork. You could use this for an environmental unit (mountains, beach, desert), or places around town (bakery, library, school). They can come up with some really creative ideas! A bonus is that this graphic organizer looks really cool and allows for creativity in filling it out.
Question mark – This organizer really helps students compose elaborate, detailed sentences and paragraphs. Each box of the question mark asks a different question: ¿Quién? ¿Cuándo? ¿Dónde? Etc. Students can fill in the box with brainstorming info, then they are ready to write sentences with detail. One way to practice this is to show them a picture. I start with Buddy the Elf eating all the candy and spaghetti. Students must tell me who, what, where, when, why, and how. Then, I model different ways to compose an elaborate sentence with this information.
Character analysis – After reading (or even during) a short story or novel, students can keep track of information about each character. In the center of the organizer, you will put the character’s name and even a drawing. The outer parts of the graphic organizer are used to describe the character in more detail: adjectives for personality, important actions, friendships and relationships, physical characteristics, and more.
Story Board – This is another graphic organizer perfect for after reading text. Summarize parts of a story with a picture and a complete sentence to describe the picture. This helps students practice retelling and paraphrasing into their own words.
Cause/Effect – I used Cause/Effect graphic organizers in a unit about the environment. For example, we talked about major environmental problems and what is causing them (deforestation – overpopulation, needing more houses and buildings, cutting down trees for construction). You could use this for reading comprehension, personal reflection on their life and actions, how to be a good student (I didn’t study for the test – I will get a bad grade), and many more ideas.
Vocabulary Book/Chart – This graphic organizer contains three categories: one for the vocabulary word, one for an image that represents, and another for a definition. This can be done on a worksheet or I’ve formatted it so there are 4 squares on a sheet of paper and students can cut them out and create a vocabulary book.
Venn Diagram – The typical Venn Diagram is still one of my favorites. Students can easily compare and contrast anything – artists, animals, people, locations, countries, etc!
You can download the set of 7 graphic organizers here. Also, there are free downloads for basic graphic organizers at this website:
What graphic organizers work best for your students?
