Book Study: Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites {Chapter 5}

We're excited to link up with Michelle this week for our our awesome Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites book study! We've loved this book so far and have already found many wonderful ways to enhance our teaching and help all students be more excited about learning. This week we're talking about Chapter 5. 

Chapter 5 is all about Graphic Organizers, Semantic Maps, and Word Webs!  I LOVE using these in my classroom and we use them daily (especially in guided reading).  In the first paragraph of this chapter it explains that graphic organizers address both the right and left hemispheres of the brain and is a great way to help students with comprehension, meaning, and retention. All excellent reasons to use graphic organizers in the classroom!

Here's a peek at how we use graphic organizers in our classrooms. 

We use this word web to fill out what we learned from informational books.

I use these Story Maps when we are are recalling events from a story and we can use a dry-erase marker (it also saved on paper and I never have to copy more) because I stick them in page protectors.

Grab yours for free HERE!

Word Ladders are also a variation of word webs.  We write the rime at the top and my students add an onset on each step of the ladder (ex: ight - light - fight- might)

 My students love when I pull out my posters and KWL charts are simple, but effective.  I've really just taken my graphic organizers and just enhanced the size on the copy machine (11x17 paper) and laminated them.

You can see how I organize these materials {here}!

In my 5th grade classroom, I {Natalie} used graphic organizers all the time and tried to incorporate them in all subjects. My favorite way to use them was during social studies. Just a little background information about me… I've always loved history, but it often confused me as a kid. I figured out it was because the information would go in my head, but I had no way to organize the information in my mind. Graphic organizers work as a sort of filing cabinet for the brain. Seeing the information in a visual and organized way helps the information make sense. 

A few years ago I spent hundreds of hours making a complete set of American History Graphic Organizers. (This resource has 36 pages of graphic organizers and covers each main event in American History starting with early explorers.) I spiral bound them at the beginning of the year and we used it as a learning resource for the entire school year. My students loved them, I loved having them to use as a curriculum guide, and best of all - my students LOVED learning about social studies. It made sense to them and they understood how historical events connected to each other better. At the end of the year, we had a beautiful masterpiece that held all our learning for the year. Overall, using these graphic organizers enhanced our learning and helped my students understand and love history better! 

 This set of American History Graphic Organizers is available to purchase in my TPT store.

Math is another great place to incorporate graphic organizers! I just whipped up this fun and interactive graphic organizer about fractions for you. You can glue this in your math journal or hang them up on a bulletin board.

Download it for FREE {here}

We hope you enjoyed this chapter of the Book Study and hope you'll join us as we continue to read and learn from this wonderful book, Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites.

Please leave us a comment and join the conversation!

How  do you use graphic organizers in your classroom?

Which of our resources did you find helpful?

Any suggestions for future graphic organizers you'd like?

What have you liked about this book study so far?