Predictable Charts

I love  making predictable charts with kids, but they often get pushed to the back burner, because they take so much time!

In the past, I’ve done it this way:

I just made a table in word, and typed what the children said.  I projected it on my IWB so the children could follow along.  I can obviously type faster than I can write, so I was able to get a whole bunch done each day we did it.

Later in the week, we would come back, ad put the sentences together.  The children would have to cut apart their sentence and then re-assemble and illustrate their sentence.

 

I would them assemble them into books and place them in our classroom library for the children to read. 

I like this method, but I also thought, there must be another way.

So, I came up with this:

This is a PDF that you can project onto a screen using a projector and just type right on it.  It is programmable, so that you can add the text as the children say it. I always use my mouse to point to the words as we read, stop, and then add the text that they give me.  At the end of the week (or sooner, if I can get all of the children done), I will print out the pages and the children will illustrate them.

Now, here is something VERY important to keep in mind.  You CAN NOT SAVE a programmable PDF.  So, DO NOT close the program if you are not finished typing everyone’s work.  OR, you can simply print as you go.  But, just remember my warning! It doesn’t save

Do you want to try this in your classroom?  I would love your feedback.  If you find it successful, I may make a pack of these little predictable books. 

You can try it for FREE by clicking {here!}

Predictable Charts

I have always loved the idea of doing predictable charts with children.  However, I have never been able to do get in the habit of doing it because they take SOO long!  It is not effective unless you write each word in front of the children -- because you have to write each word, the children only really have the patience to watch you write 3 or 4 lines.

Well....I have an interactive white board in my room, but you could do this if you just have a projector since you are not really utilizing the "interactive" part of the IWB.  I created a simple table for the number of words that I knew we were going to write.  As I asked the children the question, I simply typed on my computer! It was brilliant! The children still could see, say, and spell each word as I typed it.  I could get through all the kids in about 5 minutes!

I later when back and played with the table a little bit so it was big enough for the kids to cut out and reassemble.  I cut out each strip for them. I knew that there were going to be some sneaky ones who would just glue the whole line down or cut and glue the words in order.  So before they could have the page that they were gluing the words down, they had to completely cut it out.

 (We'll have to work on spacing with this one!)

I'll assemble the pages in a class book for the kiddos to read.  I think they turned out great!

Here is another example from a friend.  She called the kids over individually and then cut the words up for them to assemble.  For some, she cut all the words apart, for others she only cut a few words apart.