Updated on
October 31, 2026
Anchor charts: examples, template and strategies
Anchor chart examples by subject, a six-field planning template, a worked main-idea chart and honest guidance on placement, removal and evidence.
What is an anchor chart?
An anchor chart is a large classroom reference, ideally built with the class, that keeps one part of the current task in view: a procedure, a concept, examples or shared language. Plan it with six fields, place it where learners look while working, point to it instead of re-explaining, and remove it when learners no longer need it.
An anchor chart is a large, visible classroom reference that records the thinking a class is using now, such as a strategy's steps, a concept's features or the words for a task, so learners can check it while they work. The classroom display guide places charts inside the wider wall question, and working wall examples show a space that changes as a unit develops. A chart is different: a fixed reference for one part of the task.
Anchor charts at a glance
- What it is: a shared reference for one part of the current task, ideally built live with the class rather than posted pre-filled.
- What it can hold: a procedure, a concept, examples or the class's current language.
- What the evidence supports: design choices, such as labels beside what they describe and support reducing as skill grows.
- What the evidence does not show: any attainment gain from charts. The closest direct study is a small laboratory kindergarten caution about busy walls.
What is an anchor chart?
An anchor chart is a shared reference that keeps one part of the current learning in view while learners work. Its purpose is to answer a question learners would otherwise ask the teacher, such as what to do next or what a word means. It supports explanation and practice. It does not replace either.
Teachers use charts at three points: introducing a strategy, consolidating one the class has practised, and keeping shared language visible during writing or talk. This guide favours building them with the class, as authored guidance rather than a tested advantage over teacher-made charts.
Takeaway: a chart earns its wall space only when learners consult it during the lesson it was made for.
What goes on an anchor chart?
A chart holds whatever the class must check repeatedly during the current task: the steps of a procedure, the features of a concept, the words and sentence starters for a language task, or a short worked example. Charts are not limited to procedures. Choose the job first, then the layout, and keep one job per chart.
| Chart job | What it holds | The learner's question |
|---|---|---|
| Procedure | Ordered steps for a strategy | What do I do next? |
| Concept | Defining features, examples and non-examples | Is this one of these? |
| Language | Key words and sentence starters in current use | How do I say this precisely? |
Our knowledge organisers guide covers the unit-wide reference. For language charts, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary helps decide which words earn a place.
Anchor chart examples for maths, writing, reading, science and vocabulary
| Subject | Chart | What goes on it |
|---|---|---|
| Maths | Place value | A grid with one number, each digit labelled with its value, plus a non-example where a zero was dropped. |
| English | Theme | Topic (one word) against theme (a sentence about life), with an agreed example from a class text. |
| English | Text structure | Sequence, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and solution, each with its signal words. |
| Writing | Opinion writing | Claim, reasons, evidence and closing, labelled on a paragraph the class wrote together. |
| Science | Fair test | What we change, measure and keep the same, filled in for this week's investigation. |
| Language | Adjectives or transition words | Words the class has collected, grouped by job, each shown in a sentence from their writing. |
What does one finished chart look like?
A finished anchor chart is a working surface, not a poster: a title written as a question, the steps or categories in the class's own words, the check learners apply, and usually one weak attempt left beside the corrected version. The example below carries a main-idea chart from blank paper to finished reference.
Authored illustration, not a record of a real class. A Year 4 class (upper elementary in the US) has read a short information text, written for this example, about how a reservoir supplies a town. The goal is the reading skill itself: claim what a section is mainly about, choose supporting details, then test the claim against the whole section. If the class needs help with meaning first, start with reading comprehension strategies. The same check transfers to subject-specific reading.
Chart title: What is this section mainly telling us?
- Ask the question of the whole section, not the first line. A main idea covers every paragraph.
- Name the claim in one sentence. For example: “This section explains how water gets from the reservoir to the taps.”
- Choose two or three details that support the claim, and say why each one supports it rather than just being interesting.
- Run the check: does the claim still fit the whole section, including the last paragraph? If not, revise the claim.
A “watch out” box beside the steps names two slips: copying out the section's first sentence, and choosing the detail with the biggest number. These are illustrations, not a measured frequency.
| Stage | Hypothetical learner line | Why it fails or works |
|---|---|---|
| Weak first claim (hypothetical) | “The main idea is that the reservoir is very big.” | It is a detail from paragraph one and does not cover the rest of the section. |
| Repaired claim (hypothetical) | “The main idea is that water travels from the reservoir through treatment and pipes to reach the taps.” | It covers every paragraph and survives the last-paragraph check. |
During practice, learners apply the four steps to a new section. If one is stuck, the teacher points to step 4 and asks which paragraph the claim does not cover yet.
How do you build one with your class?
Plan the chart before the lesson, then build it live: start with a blank surface and a title question, write the class's own words, record a weak attempt beside a stronger one, and finish with the check at the bottom.
Anchor chart template: six fields to fill first
| Field | What you decide | Main-idea example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Task | The one task the chart serves | Find the main idea of a section |
| 2. Reference question | The question learners will bring to it | What is this section mainly telling us? |
| 3. What the learner looks at | The part they check while working | The step 4 check question |
| 4. Steps or categories | The chart's internal structure | Four steps |
| 5. The check | How learners test their own work | Does the claim fit the last paragraph? |
| 6. Removal point | The evidence that it has done its job | Learners run the check on a new section unaided |
Building it live
- Display a blank surface with only the title question.
- Ask the class to improve the wording, and write their words, using questioning prompts by purpose to draw it out.
- Record two candidate attempts, including one weak one, then test both against the check and leave the weak one visible.
- Write the check at the bottom as a question.
- Use checking for understanding during practice to see who can run it unaided.
Building live responds to what the class actually says (our planning suggestion: when a learner asks for help, ask “Which step are you on?” and point before speaking), matching the contingent support in “Scaffolding in Teacher-Student Interaction: A Decade of Research” (van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen, 2010). Choose the shape from the job: a sequence for a procedure, a hierarchy for a concept, as our guide on how to structure a diagram explains. The Map It Flow chart and Tree diagram organisers give a ready structure for each of those. Keep each label on the thing it names, following “Cognitive principles of multimedia learning: The role of modality and contiguity” (Moreno and Mayer, 1999), and phrase the check as a next action, following “Focus on Formative Feedback” (Shute, 2008). Our formative assessment strategies help with that wording, and Thinking Framework card wording keeps one essential explanation per step.
Kindergarten and Reception: use a picture and one or two words per step, and read the chart aloud together.
How to make an anchor chart with your class
A chart surface starts with only the question 'What is this section mainly telling us?'. Stage 2 adds the class's own ideas. Stage 3 crosses out the hypothetical weak claim 'The reservoir is very big' and writes the repair: water travels from the reservoir through treatment and pipes to the taps. Stage 4 adds the check 'Does it still fit the whole section?'. Stage 5 adds a 'Refer back' tag. This is an authored illustration, not an observed lesson.
Stage 5: the chart becomes the reference point for new work.
1 Start with the task question
The chart begins nearly blank, with only the question the class must answer: what is this section mainly telling us? The main idea anchor chart is about reasoning, not a list of procedures.
2 Collect the class's words
After reading the reservoir text (Year 4 or equivalent), the teacher writes learners' own wording. Hypothetical learner ideas: water gets to the taps; the big reservoir.
3 Test a weak claim
The class tests a hypothetical weak claim, "The reservoir is very big", against the last paragraph and crosses it out. The repaired claim: water travels from the reservoir through treatment and pipes to the taps.
4 Write the check
The teacher writes the check as a question at the bottom of the chart: does this claim still fit the whole section? Learners use it on a different section.
5 Make it a reference point
The finished chart is marked as the place to refer back to during independent work, and the teacher later decides whether it is still needed.
An authored main idea anchor chart example, built with the class across five stages of one lesson.
Authored guidance and illustration, informed by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) and van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen (2010) on contingent support. Neither study tested anchor charts, and the stages are not a validated lesson model.
Where should it go, and when should it come down?
Put the chart where learners look during the task it supports, readable from their seats and near the work it describes. Take it down when learners can run its check without looking up. There is no universal number of weeks. The decision rests on what learners show you.
- Sightline. Readable from the furthest seat that will use it, at eye level rather than high above the board.
- Proximity. Beside the board where you model, or as a small copy on tables. Do not split one chart across two surfaces, which makes learners hold one part in mind while searching. One way to reduce avoidable task load.
- Competition. Clear old charts from around an active one. In a small laboratory kindergarten sample, visually busy walls were linked to less time on task (Fisher, Godwin and Seltman, 2014). That is a caution about clutter, not proof that a bare room is better.
When to take down an anchor chart: a three-point check
- Can most learners run the chart's check on a new example without looking up?
- Do their explanations use the chart's language unprompted?
- Have the errors the chart addresses become rare in independent work?
Three yeses suggest the chart has done its job. “The Expertise Reversal Effect” (Kalyuga, Ayres, Chandler and Sweller, 2003) explains why removal matters: guidance that helps a novice can add load for a learner who already has the skill. Withdrawal still needs planning: in “Assistance that fades in improves learning better than assistance that fades out” (Jennings and Muldner, 2020), assistance that increased then reduced outperformed assistance withdrawn from the start, in that study's context. A practical route is to cover one step first, then the whole chart. If practice has become too easy with the chart up, our guide to desirable difficulties explains why. Once a chart is down, photograph it or label it by unit so it can return later.
Do anchor charts work?
No study we reviewed tests anchor charts directly against teaching without them, so no attainment gain can be promised. The closest direct study is a caution about visually busy walls. Stronger research explains why some design choices help: labels beside what they describe, one surface rather than two, and support that reduces as skill grows.
| Evidence | What it supports | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|
| Fisher, Godwin and Seltman (2014) | A caution that busy walls pull attention from the lesson | Any anchor chart effect, or that bare walls are better |
| Moore and Readence (1984), graphic organiser research review | Visual organisers as a family are reasonable to try | An effect size for wall charts |
| Moreno and Mayer (1999); Kalyuga and colleagues (2003) | Labels close to what they describe; support reducing as skill grows | A validated chart layout or a removal schedule |
| van de Pol and colleagues (2010); Jennings and Muldner (2020); Shute (2008) | Responsive support, planned withdrawal, guidance on next steps | That a chart is a feedback intervention, or how long it should stay up |
Two limits matter in practice. Reading a chart is not the same as recalling without one, so plan retrieval practice where learners rebuild the steps from memory, and spaced practice to bring them back later. When a learner's account is wrong, these metacognitive reading repairs offer a route back.
Planning tomorrow's anchor chart
In one line: pick the job, fill the six fields, build it live, point to it during practice, and run the removal check.
For a repeatable structure for talk around the chart, see our thinking routines. The planner below takes your task type and lesson stage and returns a chart plan with one next move.
Anchor chart template: plan one chart for your lesson
A planner with two choices, chart job (procedure, concept or language) and lesson turn (introduce or consolidate). Each of the six combinations returns the chart's job, what the learner looks at, a check for the teacher to listen for or look at, and one concrete next teaching move. The six routes are listed in full above the planner.
Choose the chart's job and where you are in the teaching, then select Check chart plan.
Choose a chart job and lesson turn, then select Check chart plan to see one planning prompt and next teaching move.
Procedure, introduce
Build a partly blank chart with the class while you model one example, writing their wording into each step as it is named.
Procedure, consolidate
Keep the class steps beside an annotated example and a check question, then cover the steps so only the check remains.
Concept, introduce
Sort examples and non-examples into two columns with defining features labelled, and test the idea with a borderline case.
Concept, consolidate
Place the class definition next to annotated examples and ask learners to cite the chart line that decides a new case.
Language, introduce
Start a word bank with two terms, a short meaning and a class sentence, adding starters as learners try terms aloud.
Language, consolidate
Group key terms and sentence starters by purpose, then cover one starter so learners write from memory first.
An anchor chart template in six routes: choose a chart job and lesson turn to get one planning prompt and next move.
Authored planning aid by Structural Learning, not validated research evidence or a measure of attainment. Design reasoning draws on scaffolding (Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976), spatial contiguity (Moreno and Mayer, 1999) and expertise reversal (Kalyuga and colleagues, 2003).
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an anchor chart and a knowledge organiser?
A knowledge organiser consolidates a whole unit's essential content on a page learners keep. An anchor chart keeps one part of the current task in view on the wall during the lesson. One serves a unit, the other a moment of work.
Should an anchor chart be on paper or a digital surface?
Either can work. The routine matters more than the surface: learners must see the chart while they work, without losing it when a slide moves. A chart that disappears during practice fails that test. A wall chart plus a photograph is one option.
Do anchor charts work in secondary schools?
They can, if the chart does a job older learners need, such as the structure of an extended answer or the vocabulary for evaluating a source. A secondary chart can be smaller and sit beside the board where modelling happens. The same planning fields apply.
How many anchor charts should be up at once?
There is no research-based number. A useful test is whether each chart answers a question learners are asking this week. Charts from finished units compete for attention without doing work, and the distraction caution from Fisher, Godwin and Seltman (2014) is a reason to retire them.
Should learners copy the anchor chart into their books?
Copying a whole chart takes time from practice and can become a handwriting exercise. Better: learners write the check question at the top of their work, or reconstruct the steps from memory later and compare. That turns reading into recall.
Can I use a ready-made anchor chart instead of building one?
Yes, if it fits your task and your class's language. No research we reviewed shows that co-created charts outperform teacher-made ones. Building live lets you record the class's own wording and a genuine weak attempt. With a ready-made chart, still introduce it step by step.
Next in this pillar
References
- Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E. and Seltman, H. (2014). Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad. Psychological Science, 25(7). doi.org/10.1177/0956797614533801
- Jennings, J. and Muldner, K. (2020). Assistance that fades in improves learning better than assistance that fades out. Instructional Science, 48. doi.org/10.1007/s11251-020-09520-7
- Kalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P. and Sweller, J. (2003). The Expertise Reversal Effect. Educational Psychologist, 38(1). doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3801_4
- Moore, D. W. and Readence, J. E. (1984). A Quantitative and Qualitative Review of Graphic Organizer Research. The Journal of Educational Research, 78(1), 11-17. doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1984.10885564
- Moreno, R. and Mayer, R. E. (1999). Cognitive principles of multimedia learning: The role of modality and contiguity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2). doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.91.2.358
- Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on Formative Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1). doi.org/10.3102/0034654307313795
- van de Pol, J., Volman, M. and Beishuizen, J. (2010). Scaffolding in Teacher-Student Interaction: A Decade of Research. Educational Psychology Review, 22(3). doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9127-6
