Graphic organizers are such an important, versatile support for growing readers and writers. They break down reading and writing skills in a visual way to make each skill clear, and therefore easier to understand and apply.
In distance learning, more than ever, students need supports that can work for them in completing reading and writing tasks independently.
With digital graphic organizers on Google Slides, you can assign students an entire pack of organizers at once to refer to throughout the year, or you can assign students one graphic organizer at a time.
In the elementary reading classroom, or ELA classroom, I describe below how they can be used for Writing (Prewriting, Revising & Editing) and Reading (Nonfiction, Fiction, Reading Strategies, and Genres).
DIGITAL WRITING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:
Just getting started with a piece of writing, and organizing ideas, can be overwhelming for growing writers. Graphic organizers that break down exactly what students need to do helps students get off to a successful start.
Students can benefit from graphic organizers not only in prewriting, but also in editing and revising their writing.
Writing strategies like creating a strong hook, using strong word choice, exploding a moment are so important in revising writing to be the best that it can be. Graphic organizers make these difficult strategies more accessible to students when writing independently.
They are also helpful in a teacher conference, or peer editing. The teacher or partner can fill in forms to make it clear to the writer exactly what they need to work on.
DIGITAL READING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:
Independent reading response in distance learning can be made so much easier for students with digital graphic organizers. They are so helpful in supporting students of multiple reading levels with practicing the same reading skills.
Graphic organizers are so versatile in that they work for addressing tons of reading skills, whether you are working on fiction specific skills, nonfiction skills, elements of genres, or reading comprehension strategies with any text.
Personally, I like breaking down reading graphic organizers into 4 categories – Reading Comprehension Strategies, Fiction Skills, Nonfiction Skills, and Genres.
1. Reading Comprehension Strategies:
These are graphic organizers that can be used with ANY book, nonfiction or fiction. They focus on strategies good readers use to monitor their comprehension and understand the text. Some strategies include making predictions, visualizing, using background knowledge, asking questions, determining importance, etc.
2. Fiction Skills:
These digital fiction graphic organizers target skills specific to reading literature. Some fiction skills include identifying story elements, analyzing character, retelling, character point of view, types of conflict, etc.
3. Nonfiction Skills:
Breaking down nonfiction skills with graphic organizers is such a great way to support students in navigating and comprehending nonfiction. They are so helpful for independent reading or distance learning, since they break down each skill with visuals.
4. Genres:
Understanding genre is so important in helping students to make connections, and ultimately comprehend, a new book of the same genre. It helps students learn who they are as readers, and put a label to the types of books they tend to enjoy.
Digital genre graphic organizers are so helpful in breaking down elements of different genres for students. Read more about ways to teach genres in this blog post.
Check out the Digital Reading Organizers packs in my TpT Shop! All graphic organizers are available as digital only, paper only, or a bundle of both paper and digital organizers.
