KWL Chart Templates

Free printable KWL chart templates as PDFs. Three columns for know, want to know and learned. No sign-up and no email required.

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A KWL chart is filled in twice, and that is the whole idea. Before a topic starts, students write what they already know and what they want to find out; afterwards they come back and write what they learned. The gap between the second and third columns is where the learning becomes visible — questions that got answered, questions that did not, and things nobody thought to ask. Printed on one sheet, it also gives a student something to hand in that shows their thinking rather than just their conclusions.

Blank KWL charts with three equal columns headed K, W and L, each spelled out in full so students do not have to remember what the letters stand for. Ruled lines run across all three columns. Some versions add a fourth column for how I will find out, useful when the chart drives a research task. Black and white, US Letter.

Graphic Organizers Kwl Chart Blank Graphic Organizers Kwl Chart BlankDownload PDF ↓ Graphic Organizers Kwl Chart Prompted Graphic Organizers Kwl Chart PromptedDownload PDF ↓

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Frequently asked questions

What do K, W and L stand for?
What I Know, what I Want to know, and what I Learned. The first two columns are completed before the topic begins and the third afterwards, which is why the chart is usually kept and returned to rather than filled in one sitting.
What if a student's K column contains something wrong?
Leave it and revisit it. A misconception written down at the start and crossed out in the L column is one of the most useful things a KWL chart produces, and correcting it up front removes exactly the evidence that makes the chart worth doing.
What is the KWHL variant?
It adds an H column for How I will find out, sitting between the W and the L. It suits research projects where the method of finding out is part of what is being taught, and some of these templates include that fourth column.
Does the L column have to answer the W questions?
Not necessarily, and pointing that out is worthwhile. Some questions go unanswered and some learning was never asked for. A good discussion at the end asks which W questions remain open, which is often where the next lesson comes from.