ANCHOR ACTIVITIES KATIE JACKLETT EDU 380 17 NOVEMBER 2010

1. ANCHOR ACTIVITIES KATIE JACKLETT EDU 380 17 NOVEMBER 2010

2. What is an Anchor Activity? • also known as “Sponge Activities” • designed for students to work on either immediately at the beginning of class time or after their class work has been completed • purpose is to maximize instructional time • intended to review or extend learning of the subject matter, not to be busy-work • designed for students to complete independently or in small groups • tasks should be relevant to the concepts being developed in class

3. Benefits of an Anchor Activity • can be used to differentiate activities on the basis of student readiness, interest or learning profile • allow students time to work on independent research, to work more in depth with a concept, enrich their skill development • can be used as a management strategy when working with small groups of students • can be a vehicle for making the classroom more student centered

4. Vocabulary - all grades - Students select words from the novel they are currently reading.  The novel could be an Accelerated Reader book, a literature circle novel, or a novel the whole class is studying. HOW CAN I DESCRIBE THIS WORD? It’s kind of like a _______________________________________________. 
It looks like a __________________________________________________. 
It’s when you __________________________________________________. 
It’s where you go to ____________________________________________. 
It smells like __________________________________________________. 
You use it when you ____________________________________________. Evaluation: I would check spelling, compare words with their novels. I would check creativity and base it on their level of understanding.

5. Math - 1st thru 5th grade- “Don't Be Greedy!” Students stand beside their seats, and the teacher rolls a die. Each time a die is rolled, students add the number to the previous total, keeping a running score. Students can sit down at any time during the game, accepting the total at that point as their final score. The game continues until someone rolls a 2. The students still standing lose ALL their points -- because they've been greedy! The seated student(s) with the highest score wins. Evaluation: I would check accuracy in answers. I would make note of those who sat early on in the game to se who might need more work with addition.

6. Science • 4th & 5th grade – • Using your own words, write 10 facts you learned from reading the metric comic. • Evaluation: I would compare facts with the comic. I would see what they learned by telling the class the information not just turning it in.

7. Social Studies - 5th grade - List the populations of 8-10 countries in order from greatest to smallest. Explain why you think the populations are the way they are. Evaluation: I would check the depth of their explanations and see how well they understand why populations vary in countries. If not, I will know that we need to discuss some real countries and their facts.

8. Reading - 1st thru 5th grade - Rewrite the ending of a book you've read and make it end a different way Evaluation: I would look at spelling but be more interested in enjoying their creativity.

9. Resources http://www.nhcs.net/technology/resources/differentiation/documents/Anchor%20Activities/anchoractivities.htm https://sites.google.com/site/mrsnydersscienceclass/anchor activities http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson168.shtml http://www.webster.k12.mo.us/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=YW5jaG9yYWN0aXZpdHlkZWYucGRmOjo6L3d3dy9zY2hvb2xzL3NjL3JlbW90ZS9pbWFnZXMvZG9jbWdyLzE5MjJmaWxlMTA2MzYucGRm