Word walls are an important part of any classroom, particularly with the primary grades. However, I don't think word walls are the most useful unless they are interactive. My students rarely use materials just stapled to the walls, no matter how much that is encouraged. Many Kinder teachers create walls of sight words-this does not work for me. I want the students to take the words and use them in their writing, in their workstation activities. Having pictures accompany the words so the students can find them more easily is also important to me. I use vocabulary words-particularly focusing on adjectives they can use in their descriptive writing.
For summer school this year I am not in my own classroom, so I made a portable word wall. The words are attached to a tri-fold board by velcro. The students can practice spelling the words in their stations, sort the words by number of letters or beginning/ending sounds. Easy to make and easy to take to whatever table the students are working from. I plan to do this more in my classroom making walls based on certain themes. The rest of the examples are simply clothespins on bulletin board border. Students can remove words and use them in their writing.
Portable word wall-summer words
Beginning of the year pic from my art themed word wall.
China theme
Hollywood theme
Wizard of Oz theme
Forest theme
Alice in Wonderland theme
I usually only take pics before the school year begins, so that's why there aren't a lot of words. We add them as we go. I don't believe in posting more than 15-20 words a time-it gets overwhelming for my little ones.
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