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Reading K-3

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Reading K-3 > Strategies > Graphic Organizer

Graphic Organizer

Overview

Graphic organizers outsource the memory demands of a task by mimicking the brain’s mental schema, supporting students’ cognitive development and, in turn, their reading and vocabulary skills.

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Example: Use This Strategy In in the Classroom

  • For learners with low Working Memory, graphic organizers hold onto the information for them. Readers can also recall this information more easily because they have repeatedly worked with it, recording it in the graphic organizer and reviewing it. This helps develop Verbal Reasoning skills, as readers can more easily connect information across a reading and with their own Background Knowledge.

    • Design It into Your Product

  • Graphic organizers that can be manipulated—layout, shapes, colors, fonts—provide even more support for developing readers. These manipulatives activate more cognitive skills, from Attention to Visual Processing. The ability to personalize also drives Motivation and positive Emotions, both critical to wanting to learn.

    • Use It in the Classroom

    Watch how a teacher uses word maps to help her students better understand and remember new words. By supporting cognitive skills, such as Working Memory and Attention, word maps develop Vocabulary and Sight Recognition.

    Additional Resources

    Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

    Factors Supported by this Strategy

    Student Background Information
    Social Emotional Learning
    Cognition
    Language and Literacy

    More Visual Learnings Tools Strategies

    Advance Graphic Organizer

    Advance graphic organizers link prior knowledge to upcoming learning to help students anticipate and understand the structure of new information.

    Pictures and Visuals

    Visuals help students recognize relationships within words and sentences to develop reading skills.

    Videos

    Providing visuals to introduce, support, or review instruction activates more cognitive processes to support learning.

    Videos: SEL Topics

    Videos developed with discussion guides can teach students about SEL skills.

    Word Games and Puzzles

    Puzzles and games help students visualize how to connect one fact to another.

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