My New Favorite Tech Tool: Graphic Organizers

After much research trying to find a low cost graphic organizer that I think my students would be able to use at their young age, I have decided on Webspiration. As I tried several other mind mapping and organization tools, including Creately, Smart Art, and Mindmeister I kept putting myself in the shoes of a 6-8 year old. The tools were all pretty intimidating. Since I have many kids who are non writers at the beginning of the year, I was looking for something that would have pictures as well as words to help children relate their information. I found that Webspiration best met my needs. It has  graphics that correlate with many concepts we teach in SS and science, as well as a lot of pictures that are good for illustrating story ideas and themes. Not only can you create your own organizational templates from scratch, but there is also a file of already formed templates that kids can just pull up  and modify as needed before typing in information. I went through all the pre-made templates and narrowed down those that I think my kids would be able to try, these include: a cause and effect chart,  a concept map, a KWL map, a vocabulary word map, and vocabulary concept map. My favorite find was a Venn diagram. I took a concept that we study in our insect unit and made an example of a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting a moth and a  butterfly. I can see myself using this tech tool in many curricular areas!