Adding Excitement to Anchor Charts

We started using the Reading Workshop model 2 years ago in our district. I love Reading Workshop! It makes it so much easier to modify work to fit each student's needs. This year we are starting Writing Workshop too. My least favorite part of the Workshop model is the anchor charts. Not because I don't think they are useful, but because mine were sooo boring! Just words on a piece of paper, I didn't even want to hang them up in my own classroom. Let me add that I have no artistic ability whatsoever. I tried jazzing them up with different colored markers but to no avail. Still very very boring. I started to think that maybe anchor charts were just meant to be boring.

Then I came across Mrs. Carroll over at The First Grade Parade. Wow! She is an amazing artist. She inspired me to create more exciting anchor charts. But wait...I still have no artistic ability.

Enter technology. Last year I purchased PrintShop for my computer, but it was starting to collect dust. I decided to give it another go. I finally figured out how to make a poster that was larger than 8 1/2 x 11 in size (turns out it wasn't that hard). And wa-la! Here is my first anchor chart:

I'm so excited to hang it in my room and to make many more throughout the school year!