Lesson Plan Source Explains the Importance of Graphic Organizer Worksheets

Well-known and highly respected online teaching resources website Lesson Plan Source wants all teachers, both traditional school and home-schooling, to know and understand the importance of graphic organizer worksheets. As a means to this end the company has developed and published an aid which can be found at https://lessonplansource.com/graphic-organizers/.

Graphic organizers are a way of organizing information pictorially. It is often easier for students to arrange their ideas visually as the task being undertaken moves from initial to more advanced planning.

The idea is for the worksheets to be used by a teacher as a means to help students to classify ideas and to communicate more effectively. Graphic organizers are particularly useful for teaching students how to problem solve effectively, classify ideas, make decisions, structure projects, and more.

They are particularly useful tools for students at any grade level and with differing abilities. The graphic organizer worksheets are available in a variety of styles and are mostly given names that reflect the information they present. For example, Story Maps, Concept Wheels, Venn diagrams, and so on.

Jane Sandringham, a third-grade teacher in an inner-city school, said, “I particularly like the Concept Wheel which I use to ask the who, what, why, when, where, and how of a topic. It is extremely flexible and can be used for many different subjects and it helps my students to learn planning and organizing."

Another very popular worksheet is the Story Map, which is also sometimes called a Story Web, and as the names may suggest the map or web is a graphic organizer that can help students with their organization and description of the necessary elements of a story prior to beginning writing. It helps them to sort out their ideas for characters and events into the sequence that makes the most sense so that the plot of the story they write is logical and flows well.

Ms. Sandringham went on to say, “I also use Story Map organizers a lot as well. Most children like listening to stories and most are interested in writing one too. The problem is that at such a young age they have no idea about structuring the plot. The graphic organizers can be used to help them do just that, but it can also be used to develop characters as well as events and so on. The children really like how much easier it is to use rather than me just saying ‘Write a story about a frog, or whatever!’”

It is not just graphic organizers such as Story Maps and Concept Wheels that Lesson Plan Source has created for use by teachers. In addition, there are the following worksheets: Fact and Opinion, which helps students sort information to determine whether something is fact or opinion. The 5 W’s Chart organizer helps in determining and organizing the key points of a story. The KWL Chart which is sometimes known as the "Know, Want to Know, and Learned" Chart helps teach students critical thinking by asking pertinent questions relevant to a topic. Venn Diagram worksheets are also available and young students and those needing visual representation benefit greatly from their use and simplicity.

Although graphic organizer worksheets can be used at any grade, Lesson Plan Source specializes in Pre-k, Grades 1, 2, and 3. Many teachers are aware of some of the benefits that graphic organizers represent but not all understand just how important these worksheets can be in teaching young children concepts that may otherwise pass them by.

Lesson Plan Source was founded by Deanna in 2004 in her first year of teaching. Deanna has taught in mainstream, private, and home school settings. She is a certified educator who possesses a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences, a Post-Baccalaureate in Elementary Education, and a Master's degree in Special Education (Pre-K to 8). As a mother of three herself, she is passionate about children and teaching them no matter where the learning is to take place.

Anyone who teaches children, whether in a traditional or a home school setting, is encouraged to find out more about graphic organizers available through Lesson Plan Source by visiting its website online. There, information on graphic organizers can be found in more detail along with all the other resources that the company specializes in.