Knowledge Organisers

What is a ‘Knowledge Organiser’?

Knowledge organisers are designed to do exactly what they say: organise knowledge. At St Mary’s we are using knowledge organisers to support teachers, children and parents in having a shared understanding of the most important information we want our students to learn within the unit of work they are studying. This means that this information will go into their long term memory.

The purpose of a knowledge organiser is to outline the following:

• Key dates
• Key people
• Key events
• Key vocabulary and definitions
• Key concepts – in ‘child-friendly’ language

Our knowledge organisers are on one side of A4 in order to condense the information being taught in a unit so that only the most important information that needs to be mastered is outlined. This document is crucial in encouraging our teachers to think about what we are going to teach and the key information we believe are the non-negotiables needed to succeed in a topic. Knowledge builds on knowledge; and for this reason knowledge organisers will also help us to ensure there is progression in topics as the children move up the year groups.

 “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Benjamin Franklin

How do they help children?

• They contain essential knowledge that children need to cover in the unit and are shared at the beginning so children know what they are going to be learning
• They help children to remember key dates, key people, key events, vocabulary and definitions, key concepts
• They can be used as a fun assessment tool to help remember units of study
• They improves their ability to remember facts and information
• They help children to develop other skills- e.g. when writing a non-fiction report, if they already have the knowledge they can focus on the writing skills

How do they help parents?

• Parents will have a better understanding of what the children need to know in each unit they are studying
• They allow parents to build on children’s knowledge at home
• Provide an easy tool for parents to quiz children at home (and for children to quiz parents!)