Thinking Maps

This year our school implemented thinking maps.  At first, I thought this was just a new version of graphic organizers, but after using them since October I see how valuable they are in the classroom.  With first graders, we did many of the maps whole group multiple times.  But, by this point in the school year, they are able to complete a thinking map independently or in a group.  I love how these thinking maps work for any subject. We've used them in reading, writing, social studies, science, health, and even math! What a great tool for the classroom.

Below are some examples that we did together as a class.

A tree map we completed after studying the desert, arctic, and rainforest habitat in Science.

A double bubble map comparing and contrasting the desert and arctic habit.

A tree map made during reading that shows which words fit under the different sounds that the inflection /ed/ makes.

A double bubble map comparing and contrasting the story Oliver Button is a Sissy and Amazing Grace.  This is originally a schema lesson from the book Reading with Meaning that uses a venn diagram to show the text-to-text connection.  Instead of the venn diagram we used a double bubble map.

A flow map to show the sequence of events in our Harcourt story, On the Way to the Pond.

A tree map to show the different food groups and food that fit into each group during our food group unit in health.

A circle map for words with the /ar/ sound.

A circle map that shows everything we learned about when we studied Ancient Egypt in Social Studies.