Using KWL Charts in the Classroom

This set of three KWL templates has been created to help your students track what they already know about a topic and what they want to learn about a topic, and also encourages students to review and critique their research. KWL charts are a great way to begin a unit of work and gather any information about prior knowledge of a particular topic. The benefits of using a KWL in the classroom include activating prior knowledge, encouraging curiosity about a topic, guiding instruction for the teacher and enhancing engagement as students take an active role in their learning process.

How to Use a KWL Chart

Firstly, you’ll want to decide whether this will be an individual or a whole class activity. If it is a whole class, you can project the Google Slide version of one of the templates onto the board and type in your student’s responses in a brainstorming-style lesson. Alternatively, if you want individual responses, you can print these out and hand them to each student to complete.

Of course, most of the time – the L or the ‘What have I learned’ section will be completed after the unit of work is complete. Once students have done the first two columns, you can perhaps write down all of the ‘What I Wonder’ columns so that you can make sure most of that is covered in the unit of work as well.

Download and Complete Today!

Use the dropdown menu to choose between the editable Google Slide or easy-to-print PDF versions.

Lisamarie Del Valle, a Teach Starter collaborator, contributed to this resource.

More Graphic Organizer Templates

Looking for more graphic organizer templates to include in your learning? We have you covered…

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