Monday Made It and Anchors Away PQA FREEBIE

Today's blog post is a two-fer! I made something this week that is an "anchor" chart so I am linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It (my first one in eons) and also with my sweet, bloggy friend Deb from Crafting Connections for Anchors Away.

I finally, finally had the time and the gumption to make something this week. I had piddled around with a few TpT products since summer break began, but I hadn't really made something, like a REAL something, something concrete, something you can hold in your hand. So, what did I finally end up making?

A few weeks ago I blogged about not having the storage space to keep all the anchor charts that my students and I generate throughout a school year. I end up throwing them all out when I really should be using them with my kiddos. That's what an anchor chart is intended for. I also blogged about some possible solutions for the upcoming school year. You can read the detailed post HERE, and then as part of the solution I discussed some cute Tolsby photo frames from IKEA HERE. This all came together as part of my PQA lesson.

PQA is the first lesson that I cover with my incoming fifth grade Language Arts students and review with my returning sixth and seventh grade students. PQA or Put the Question in the Answer is an acronym to help my students remember how to phrase answers to questions. I am very particular with student responses at this level. It is no longer sufficient to just give an answer that is only a few words. I expect them to be able to elaborate, cite text evidence, and write in standard English for nearly every answer. PQA is the first step in helping them achieve this expectation.

Here is the permanent PQA anchor chart. I say permanent because I will actually develop this concept step-by-step on a chart paper with my students, giving them plenty of examples along the way. This decorative, smaller chart will replace that large sheet of paper. This smaller chart marks the unveiling of my new color/pattern scheme; I'm toning it down a bit, but still keeping it colorful.

Because this is such an important skill that I want my students to internalize I am placing a mini-anchor chart on each table. I miniaturized the above chart to fit in the Tolsby frame (4" x 6"). In the front of the frame is the anchor chart while in the back is the table number. The frame is golden because these are golden nuggets of knowledge... items my students MUST know. Only THE MOST IMPORTANT information will be displayed in these golden frames on the student tables. I've other frames that will be spray painted in accent colors (another Monday Made It for the future) and used for additional miniature anchor charts along the window ledges.

These charts are just a part of my PQA lesson. I spend several days developing and practicing the skill together with the students before I expect them to produce it independently. This year we will be continuing with Interactive Notebooks for Language Arts so I also made a foldable to accompany the lesson. This will serve as  yet another resource for my students.

This is what the student INB page looks like.

I will more than likely print them on colored paper.

The two flaps are meant to be layered.

Under both flaps will be written and highlighted an example to illustrate the concept, creating a great reference for PQA.

If you'd like a copy of the foldable and anchor chart, you can download it HERE.

Be sure to stop by Tara's blog for more great Monday Made It ideas and Deb's blog for additional anchor chart ideas. Also, don't forget that Throwback Thursday is only three days away. Get your PURR-fect Previous Posts ready to link-up here at The Teacher's Desk 6.