Graphic Organizer Resources from TeachersFirst
Whether you call them concept maps, mind maps, KWLs, or graphic organizers, these visual diagrams show relationships between concepts and provide a powerful tool for learning and connecting new ideas. Creating graphic organizers also helps today's visual learners build reading comprehension. This collection of reviewed resources includes tools for creating graphic organizers and many suggestions for ways to use them in teaching almost any subject or grade. Be sure to read the "In the Classroom" suggestions for examples of ways to use graphic organizers as part of a lesson or unit.
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Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram - ReadWriteThink
Grades
2 to 6tag(s): graphic organizers (50), summarizing (22), venn diagrams (15)
In the Classroom
Use this handy tool to guide your students through the process of organizing information in Venn diagram form. View the demonstration video together on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Complete a Venn Diagram as a class activity. Then have students work on individual computers to create their own Venn Diagrams to correlate with a language arts, social studies, or interdisciplinary lesson. Have students print out their Venn Diagrams and share them with the class. Once they have mastered this skill and underlying concepts, allow them to create even more colorful Venn diagrams using colorful Autoshapes circles, clip art, and text boxes on PowerPoint slides or using Inspiration software. Show them how to use color as a way to communicate meaning by color-coding, as well.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Timeless Ideas for Teaching - Concord Monitor Publishing
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): local history (14), news (227), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
Whether you use hard-copy papers or electronic editions, many of these ideas will work even better using technology: word processing, wikis, blogs (for editorials), graphic organizer tools, digital cameras, etc. Use today's tools to study this powerful medium as it goes through transition into an electronic world. Consider asking students to compare electronic vs. hard-copy newspapers and their pros/cons, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tiny URL - Gilby Productions
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you make a map in Google Maps, an online graphic organizer, a set of online flash cards, to anything else that allows you to share my emailing or copying a URL, this tools will save you from endless errors or emails full of ten-line URLs. Be sure to show your middle and high school students how to use it, as well. This will solve the problem of URLs that get split and no longer work when the text wraps around to another line.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tools and Templates - Education World
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (63), calendars (37), classroom management (122), graphic organizers (50), printables (37)
In the Classroom
Check out the icebreakers for the first day of school, and back-to-school sections for many ideas and ready to use templates. Remember that if you want to SAVE a file from a download, you should RIGHT-click the link and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods - Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): design (80), graphic organizers (50), mind map (28), periodic table (46)
In the Classroom
Viewing this with the entire class will be more effective with the interactive whiteboard or projector. Teachers in any subject will find this site invaluable in teaching how to make strong visuals for oral or written presentations. What powerful evidence for multiple intelligences! Your visual/spatial students will LOVE this one, and others will learn to build that intelligence. Try these same strategies in YOUR PowerPoint presentations to communicate ideas visually, without being "powerpointless" at back to school night!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Writing Tips for Kids - Corey Green
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): writing (318)
In the Classroom
Use this site and its organized approach to teaching story writing to your upper elementary and middle school students. Include the link on your teacher web page for them to use as a reference outside of class, as well. Consider having students use a graphic organizer of a story map to plan their stories (make one for them or have them use one of the many tools you can find on TeachersFirst by searching graphic organizer on our keyword search.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mindomo - Expert Software Application
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): graphic organizers (50), mind map (28)
In the Classroom
Have students create graphic organizers in cooperative groups as a study guide for unit content, to collect information for a group research project, or show examples of an important concept. Share and compare the organizers on an interactive whiteboard or projector in class and allow classmates to suggest changes. Skills needed: join the site, practice with the tools (don't miss the notes feature!). Save up to 7 "private" maps and an unlimited number of "shared" maps.Make a map available online by saving and clicking "yes" for sharing, then clicking the Save by URL icon. This will copy the URL onto your computer's clipboard so you can paste it into a word doc or even your teacher web page. Imagine sharing several student made "study guides" in the days before the unit test.
Note that maps that are shared can be seen by the public, but not altered. You specify members who may collaborate and make alterations. For students to collaborate using this tool they must have individual memberships, requiring an email account. These memberships must be activated from their email. So, if students do not have email that is accessible from school, classroom use BY STUDENTS will be severely limited. Editor's note: we asked the Mindomo folks about spell check and student safety issues. They are still developing this tool, so they MIGHT address these issues at a later date.
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Visuwords - Paul R. Dunn
Grades
6 to 12The color-coded word "entries" display like a mind-map or graphic organizer, showing parts of speech in different colors and showing related words and phrases, as well. Be sure to look at the color key at the bottom to understand all the information presented. This site requires FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
tag(s): dictionaries (47), thesaurus (21), vocabulary (237)
In the Classroom
Introduce new vocabulary before reading or starting a new unit, using this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector. The distinctions, examples, and relationships the site features for new words will help students build better connections and understanding as they read and study the words in classroom context. English teachers will love this as a learning tool for teaching distinctions between similar words. Just remember to use it in a monitored situation (see above).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Language Arts Presentations - Free Club Web
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): air (104), grammar (133), narrative (14), reading comprehension (142), reading strategies (99), shakespeare (92)
In the Classroom
Try these ready-to-go PowerPoint presentations on an interactive whiteboard or projector in your classroom. Some may also be well-suited for individual students to run on a single classroom computer for remediation or review. There are games, resources and a lot of information. The site includes a disclaimer asking to be notified if users find any copyrighted material. TeachersFirst recommends that you NOT download copies but instead use them online, just in case. Share this site with other teachers on your campus as there are some PowerPoints suitable for professional developmnet.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Graphic Organizer Maker - Recipes4Success/Tech4Learning
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Use these printed organizers as study support for any content area topic. Many are excellent options for reinforcing reading skills in the content areas, even for senior high students. Include this on your teacher web page so students can create their own organizers to study for tests or prepare presentations.To make a new organizer, simply click "new," write title and directions, and print the small "print" icon. It may be easiest to take their default directions and change them for your purposes. Note that you LOSE your work when you close the page, so make sure you have printed first!
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Inspiration Quickstart Tutorial - Inspiration
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This site can also be used to help students develop study skills or determine what helps them learn best.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Be A Historian - Industrialization - Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area
Grades
5 to 10tag(s): industrialization (11)
In the Classroom
Use the interactive graphic organizers for students to complete individual or guided learning experiences. These would also work well on an interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Calendars through the Ages - Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): calendars (37)
In the Classroom
Lots of great stuff for "did you know?" discussions or as an extension of a study of timelines and other graphic organizers of information. A few interesting visuals, but the strength of this site is in its information. Might be a good source for monthly bulletin boards or an enrichment area for gifted students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Inside the Brain: A Tour of How the Brain Works - Alzheimer's Association
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): brain (55)
In the Classroom
Create a basic Web hunt or graphic organizer to guide students through this site and encourage them to focus on the vocabulary and descriptions. The visual component of this resource helps students understand the logistical as well as functional aspects of each major region of the brain.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption - The Field Museum
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): volcanoes (56)
In the Classroom
Use the interactive time-line on this site as a learning center or station during a lesson on ancient Pompeii. Because there is a lot of content on this site, we recommend creating a guide to help students grasp the basic concepts. For help with graphic organizers, we recommend using Graphic Organizer Maker, (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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John Roberts Nominated as Chief Justice - NPR
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): senate (10), supreme court (27)
In the Classroom
Though there have been judges nominated and appointed more recently than Roberts, this site provides some excellent information that makes it a great resource for a lesson on judicial nominations. Use this site as a hands-on activity after a class discussion or lecture on the topic. Have cooperative learning groups explore the site with the intentions of showing how Roberts moved through the processes to become a judge. Have students create graphic organizers or concept maps demonstrating the process. Use a tool such as bubbl.us (reviewed here) to create and share the concept maps.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Finding the Message: Grasping Themes in Literature - Scholastic
Grades
4 to 7In the Classroom
Select and choose material from this lesson to introduce your students to themes in literature. Some are better used with the entire class, others in small groups, pairs, or at stations. Have students create a digital bulletin board to post what they are learning and questions they have using a tool like Padlet, reviewed here. With Padlet you can create columns for categorizing information. Challenge students to create a word cloud about themes using Word Clouds for Kids, reviewed here. After using the Scholastic lesson, continue student learning about themes by using CommonLit, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Stories of the Wrights' Flight - Smithsonian
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): flight (31), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan that's offered on this site! There is even a pre-prepared graphic organizer that is available to help students catalog the information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age - Smithsonian
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Use the images on this site to create a visual discovery activity in your classroom to introduce the topic of the Wright brothers. Select 3-5 of the more powerful images, placing them on separate slides in a Powerpoint, to be displayed over the projector. Have students write down what they observe, predict and infer about each image jotting them down on a graphic organizer. (For help making graphic organizers, try: Graphic Organizer Maker, (reviewed here).) Once the class has gone through all of the images, have a class discussion based on the notes that students took during the process. This activity can be used to introduce or review, in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Chaucer Metapage - University of North Carollina
Grades
10 to 12tag(s): chaucer (5)
In the Classroom
Use the audio portions of this site as a learning center or station during a lesson or unit on Chaucer. Have students listen to the audio portions and respond or decipher their meaning on a graphic organizer. For help making easy graphic organizers, we recommend using Graphic Organizer Maker, reviewed here. Be sure to include headphones at the station to avoid students disrupting others!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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