Bubble Maps

Sioux Trail parents have noticed information on Thinking Maps coming home in Friday Folders.  Thinking Maps are tools for a common visual language for learning within and cross all disciplines. class room Teachers have been making extraordinary use of these tools with their students and I had the opportunity to use Thinking Maps with classrooms when we discussed several different topics. 

The first set of photos shows a Circle Map.  These are from a Second Grade classroom and we used the Circle Maps to identify things that should and should not come to Sioux Trail.  Sioux Trail families should watch for a letter that will be coming home with more information on these items.

The second set of photos (both from Fourth Grade) are from conversations we had around how bullies make us feel and steps for solving a problem.  We used a Bubble Map to identify the ways a bully can make us feel and we talked about the fact that most of these feelings aren't ways we want to feel at Sioux Trail.  The problem solving map used a Sequencing or Flow map to chart out step by step problem solving.

These are "low tech" examples, but Thinking Maps can be done with SMART Boards and other technology tools.  I chose chart paper because I wanted to leave the maps behind in each classroom so that our thinking was visible.