Take Graphs and Anchor Charts to the Next Level With OneNote

When you create graphs and anchor charts in OneNote, not only do students have the ability to use digital inking, they can record their voice too!

The OneNote pages in this post were created/used in OneNote for Win10, there are differences between OneNote 2016 and OneNote for Win10...but they can be used interchangeably. For more info: What's The Difference Between OneNote and OneNote 2016

First Day Jitters is one of my favorite back to school books. There are so many great activities to use with it...and adding OneNote can take those great activities to the next level!

In Kindergarten I would complete these  First Day Jitters activities in a whole/small group setting with guided discussions. 

First Day Jitters Character Discussion:

Prepare your page by adding a Title/Sentence Starter and Question if desired. I drew a picture of the character, however other options would be to have a student/students draw the character, or add a photo of the character to OneNote.

Since this activity would be part of our "First Days of School" activities most of my students would not be ready to write in complete sentences; however the majority have the ability to express their thought by speaking in complete sentences. As students generate ideas they can be added to the character discussion chart and their voice can be recorded. 

The option to record audio can be found under the Insert Tab. Place your curser in the are you would like the recording to show, and then click audio to begin recording. The recording can be moved when finished if needed. For more info: Record Audio or Video Notes

Recording student voices certainly adds an element of fun to the activity, but it also helps students make a connection between spoken and written words. 

First Day Jitters Graph and Discussion:

Prepare the graph by adding a table with the desired number of cells to your OneNote page. The option to insert a table can be found under the Insert Tab. Change the width of the cells by dragging the edges outward, change the height of the cells by highlighting the cells and enlarging font size. For more info: Insert a Table in OneNote For Win10 or Insert Table (OneNote 2016)

Students can select their favorite color of highlighter to mark their response on the graph (the highlighter works well because of it's width, it fills the space in nicely.) If you have students add their responses in a small group setting or have them come for one on one time, you might want them to record their reason for marking yes or no on the graph.  The opportunity to verbalize and discuss feelings helps students feel valued and can lead to a positive classroom environment.

Another idea...that just occurred to me. Share your graph results with students from another school..communicate using Skype or Flipgrid and allow students to share the reasons for their responses.

I will have a OneNote Notebook ready to share very soon, to provide more interactive examples with OneNote.