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Agenda
Word Walls
Overview
Benefits
Tips for use
Daily activities and strategies
Portable Word Walls
PWIM
How it works
Advantages
Steps
Getting started
Examples
What are Word Walls?
an organized collection of words
prominently displayed in a classroom
an interactive tool for teaching
reading and spelling to children
come in many different types,
including high frequency words, word
families, names, alphabet, themes
(seasonal, content area)
Benefits
Word Walls teach children to:
recognize and spell high frequency
words
see patterns and relationship in
words
build phonemic awareness skills
apply phonics rules
recognize content area words
Benefits
Word walls can be used:
to support the teaching of important
general principals about words and
how they work.
to foster reading and writing.
to take away the “permission to
forget
build vocabulary
Benefits
Word walls can be used:
to promote independence on the part
of young students as they work with
words in writing and reading
as a visual tool for older students,
giving them access to content area
words
Benefits
Word walls can be used:
to provide a visual map to help
children remember connections
between words and the
characteristics that will help them
form categories.
Benefits
Word walls can be used:
to develop a growing core of words
that become part of a reading and
writing vocabulary.
to provide reference for children
during their reading and writing.
Tips for Use
Make words accessible by putting them
where every student can see them
They should be written in large black
letters using a variety of background
colours to distinguish easily confused
words
For young students, having the shape
of the word provides another visual
connection
Tips for Use
Teachers should be selective about the
words that go on the word wall. Try to
include words that children use most
commonly in their writing
Words should be added gradually - a
guideline is five words per week
Tips for Use
Use the word wall daily to practice
words - chanting, snapping, cheering,
clapping, tracing, word guessing
games, as well as writing them
Provide enough practice so that words
are read and spelled automatically and
make sure that word walls are always
spelled correctly in the children's daily
writing
Cross-
curricular
Interactive
Colorful
Subject
Specific/
Thematic
Seasonal
Portable
Creative
use clothespins to pin index cards on
word wall
students can take card off and look on
back for definition.
Your Turn
Do you have any other creative ways
you have used a Word Wall in your
classroom?
Daily Activities for
Word Walls
Clap, Chant, and Write
Students number a scratch paper
from one to five.
Call out five word wall words and put
each in a sentence.
When all five words have been
written, point to the words, and have
the students clap and chant the
spelling of the words as they correct
their own papers.
Review Rhymes
Have students number their paper from one
to five, and write the word that rhymes with
the word you give.
Give them both a first letter and a rhyming
clue:
o Number 1 begins with t and rhymes with walk
o Number 2 begins with b and rhymes with my
To check their papers, you say the rhyming
word and let students say the word they
wrote (and chant) its spelling:
o "Number 1 rhymes with walk, what
did you write?" Students respond,
"talk, t-a-l-k"
Review Endings
Call out the usual five daily words, but
add endings on to some of them.
Begin with just one ending at first,
probably "s". Then do another ending,
such as "ing", or "ed".
Only do words with spelling changes
after you have taught the rule.
Students spell (and chant) the words.
Make Sentences
As the year goes on and more words
are on the word wall, you can dictate
entire sentences that are made up of
word wall words.
You also can use this opportunity to
practice punctuation.
Be a Mind Reader
The teacher thinks of a word wall word
and gives five clues to that word.
Students number their papers from 1
to 5 and try to "read the teacher's
mind“.
By the time you give the fifth clue,
everyone in the class should guess
your word and have written it down on
their papers.
Be a Mind Reader
Procedure:
First clue is always the same one: "It's one of the
words on the wall." Students write a guess by
number 1.
Next clue: "It has four letters." Students write
another guess by number two.
Third clue: "It begins with "th". Students again write
their guesses by number three.
Fourth clue: "Its vowel is an "e". Write guess by
number four
Fifth clue: "It finishes the sentence, "I gave my
books to _____." Write guess by number five.
Check (and chant) the correct word,
and ask for a show of hands as to
who had the word by 1, 2, 3, etc.
Ruler Tap
The teacher says a word wall word
and then taps out several letters in
that word without saying those letters.
When the tapping stops, the teacher
calls on a child to finish spelling the
word out loud.
If the child correctly finishes spelling
the word, that child gets to call out a
word and tap some of the letters.
WORDO
This is a version of BINGO, only it is
played with word wall words.
Students need a sheet of paper that
has 9, 16 or 25 blank blocks on it, and
some small pieces of paper or objects
to cover words as they fill in blocks.
W O R D 0
WORDO
Call on students to pick words from
the word wall they want included in the
game.
As each picks a word, everyone writes
it in a blank of their choice.
Teacher writes it on an index card.
W O R D 0
WORDO
Shuffle your index cards and call out
each word.
Students are to cover the words
wherever they have written them.
The first student to have a complete
row covered/blackout wins.
You might let the winner
become the word caller for the
next game.
Variation: teacher gives the
definition of the words
Reading Bingo
Students fill in a bingo card with new
words for a unit.
As students complete the unit’s
reading, they fill in the page numbers
where the unit’s words appear.
Acknowledge the first person who gets
a straight line completed, then assign
completion of the entire grid for
everyone in the class.
Variation: Students skim text to
find words listed on their card.
Word Sorts
Students write 10-15 word wall words
on small slips of paper
Sort the words into different piles
depending on the features certain
words share.
Students may sort for:
o # of letters
o begin/end with certain letter
o have a certain vowel(s)
o have a certain letter anywhere in them
o semantic features (names, actions)
o teacher gives groups, students tell
sorting criteria OR vice-versa
Guess the Covered Word
Purpose: practice cross-checking
meaning with letter-sound information.
The teacher writes 4-5 sentences on
board, sentence strips, overhead,
SMART Board.
Cover a word in each sentence with
two sticky notes--one covering the
onset, the other covering the rime.
Guess the Covered Word
Call on a student to read the first
sentence.
Students make several guesses for
the covered word. Teacher records.
Take off the first sticky note (onset).
Guesses that don’t begin with that
onset are erased and any new
guesses can be added.
Reveal word when all the
guesses which fit both the
meaning/onset are written.
Build/Mix/Fix
Teacher calls 5 words from the word
wall one at a time.
Students write on paper as teacher
writes on board.
Teacher directs class to Build the first
word with letter tiles/cards at
desk.
Build/Mix/Fix
After all students have the word built,
teacher directs class to Mix up the
letters of the word.
Students are directed to Fix the word
by arranging the letters to spell the
word.
Continue with remaining words.
Word Search
Give each student a Word Search
worksheet.
Choose 5 words from the word wall.
Call out word and students write at
bottom of worksheet.
Students place each word in the word
search puzzle and add additional
letters to fill in the boxes.
Students trade Word Search puzzles
and complete.
Making Words
An activity that will have students
interact with letters and words.
Assists in developing spelling and
word decoding skills.
Engaging - like a puzzle.
Procedure:
o Choose letters that are found in word wall
words.
o Students print the letters at the bottom of the
“Making Words” graphic organizer.
o Cut letters out.
o Arrange letters to form words.
o Print words on chart.
Word Fun Center
An activity to have one of your guided
reading groups do while you are busy
Choose 5 words from the word wall
and write them on the board
Provide different materials to spell the
words:
*letter tiles *pasta letters
*stencils *Wikki Sticks
*play-dough *alphabet stamps
*magnetic letters *painted lima beans
Word Ad
Divide the class into groups
Each group chooses a word, and brainstorms
all the possible uses of the word.
They create a radio or television ad to ‘sell’
the word and present it to the class.
Variation: students think of a product for
which they create a radio advertisement,
using as many words as possible from the
word wall.
o The group avoids making direct reference
to the product and asks the class to guess
what it is that the ad is trying to sell.
Categories
Students create categories and group the
words from the word wall to fit those
categories.
Set the number of words that are allowed in a
“miscellaneous” category and create a
maximum and minimum number of categories
that can be used.
Could be done individually first; then students
share/compare their categories with a partner.
Share their groups of words with the class
who guess the principle behind the sorting.
Contextualization
Students write about a situation in which a
word wall word would be commonly used.
The student reads the situation to the
class, who then guess the relevant word.
Variation: students portray multiple
contextual situations – for words with
multiple meanings
E.g. “brackets” - something that could be
spoken about in both writing and
construction contexts.
Your Turn
What ways have you used the Word
Wall in your classroom?
Get them
interacting
with the
Word
Wall!
Get them
interacting
with the
Word __
Wall! _.
______
_.
Attach key words with
Velcro strips or sticky tack
Get them Put pockets under your
Wall at the children's eye
interacting level. Place copies of key
with the words in the pockets
These techniques allow
Word students to go to the
Wall, remove a word, use
Wall! it at their desks, and
return it
Have students record the
number of times they use
Get them the word wall words in
their writing
interacting o Sticky notes on the
with the words
o Stickers on the words
Word Text talk
Hang Man
Wall! “Wheel of Fortune”
“Hink Pinks” – riddles with
rhyming pairs
Your Turn
Wall space in classrooms is always
limited!
What creative ways have you handled
this?
No Wall Space – No Problem!
use three-panel display boards or
foam display boards
These freestanding materials don't
require any wall space, and can be
moved around the room and placed on
tables for easy visibility
You can fold one Word Wall down and
put up another when a new student
group arrives OR for different
seasons/subjects
Easy storage!
No Wall Space – No Problem!
students take the ring
of cards back to their
desks
each subject's
vocabulary words are
in a different color
index card to make
the words easy to
find
can be used year
after year
Portable Word Walls
A great alternate to the traditional
word wall
Wonderful if you have limited wall
space in your classroom
Perfect for students on the move
Available commercially
(check Teacher’s Trunk)
Make your own
Portable Word Walls
Portable Word Walls
This Portable Word Wall is made up of:
Dolch Words
(PP-Gr. 1)
Fountas/Pinnell
High Frequency
Words (K-1)
first 100 Sitton
High Frequency
Words
Part of the handout package
Portable Word Walls
To make the word wall list stand out,
provide an organizational handout
that students glue to three-holed
construction paper.
The construction paper fits into a
binder, but sticks out a
little more than regular
paper, thus making the
word wall list easily
accessible
Portable Word Walls
http://literacygarden.com/personal-word-walls/
different themes available
$2-$3 on TpT
Portable Word Walls
Another idea: