Science Vocabulary Ideas: Collaborative anchor chart for structural adaptations and functions

I was thinking about how many of our anchor charts are teacher-made.  Sure, we get student input, but what if we had a way to really include students in our anchor chart-making process?  

Collaborative anchor charts are made by groups of students after completing a task.

To make a collaborative anchor chart for science vocabulary, 4-8 students work both together and individually under the teacher’s guidance to complete a task, talk about it, and write about it. 

In this post, I’ll share an example of how students made a collaborative anchor chart about the structural adaptations animals have and their functions.

Prep

• I hung up information cards with photos and text about different types of animals around the room.
• I set up the skeleton for the anchor chart since we needed to move quickly through the activity. Students can do this instead if you prefer.
• Print pictures of some different organisms and gather some index cards or large sticky notes.

Activity

Review Vocabulary:

We reviewed our focus vocabulary: adapt, adaptations, structure, and function.

Partners Read About Organisms:

Partners walked around the room and selected 5 of the cards to read.  On individual charts, they identified the organism, an important structure and its function.

Choose an Organism:

Students chose an animal from the activity (this could also work in pairs). They wrote what one of the most important structures was nice and big on one index card and the function on another index card. Groups set up their anchor charts and then presented the information!

This strategy helped students get some good practice with related vocabulary and they had multiple opportunities to speak, listen, and explain their thinking both verbally and in writing.