How to use word walls

Word Walls: Interactive and Purposeful

We want kids to engage with the word wall. It shouldn’t just be decorative. Giving kids a reason to engage with word walls gives them a purpose for being in the room. Word walls aren’t just posters. They are learning tools and we have to USE them as such.

Here are 10 great ideas for using word walls in a middle school classroom.

1. Personal Word Wall

It’s great to watch students reference their personal word wall. I like to use foldable notes, like the one at the right. Folding notes make the word visible, but not the definition. Kids can then use the notes to quiz themselves. If you don’t use foldables, a worksheet with boxes is fine. Make the boxes large enough so students can add visuals if they learn better this way.

I call our word notes the “mini wo-wa.” The kids like when I make words up, and they are much more likely to use it if it has a silly name. It’s pretty common for me to hear a student suggest a classmate add a word to his “mini wo-wa.”

2. Include Definitions

Word walls work best when definitions are included. They become a huge dictionary that students can refer to when reading and writing. Many teachers think that the definitions don’t have to be included, but experts say they do.

Imagine this. You are eager to learn Greek, so you enroll in a beginner Geek class. In the classroom, Greek words are hanging on a bulletin board. Just the words. There aren’t any illustrations or familiar text to accompany them. The teacher is speaking Greek and expects you to participate, using those Greek words on the board.

The teacher asks for someone to share the name of their skýlos. You think you remember what a skylos is, but you’re not totally sure. Is it your dog? You think so, but you’re not positive. Is it your town? Street? Now you start to sweat, wondering if the teacher will call on you. Luckily, someone else shares that a  skýlos is a dog.

You would have been much more confident participating if you had been able to look over at your life-sized dictionary. And eventually, those definitions will sink in.

3. Refer to the Words

During instruction, use your best Vanna White arm-sweep and refer to the words frequently, so students begin to understand their relevance. Our friends will learn that the words aren’t chosen arbitrarily. Referring to the words also allows kids to make a visual connection between the word and its use.

4. Add Visuals

Assign kids to find or draw pictures that illustrate the word for homework and then add them to the word wall. This ensures that the kids are thinking about the words outside of class. The pictures also add an important visual quality.

5. Use a Concept Wheel

A “concept wheel” is another popular graphic organizer you can use to allow students to build meaning for themselves. Draw a circle on a piece of paper. Divide the circle into four parts. In the first part, “Biff” writes a word he would like to understand better. In the second part, Biff brainstorms a list of words he thinks of when he hears the word in the first box. In the third is the denotation, or formal definition of the word. In the fourth section, Biff paraphrases the definition. On the bottom, Biff writes a sentence in which the word is used correctly. Students learn best when they “construct” meaning of words on their own.

6. Become an Expert

Place students in groups of three or four and assign each student one or two words to become an expert on. You can Jigsaw the activity by allowing the experts to work with experts from other groups, if you’d like. Experts have to determine the best way to teach the rest of the group about the word. They can employ visuals, act it out, provide examples, or play a game. When the experts go back to their original group, they will teach their group all about the word.

7. Create Word Art

For our visual artists, encourage each student to choose a word and then create a visual representation of the meaning of the word. They might even create it using the letters of the word. For example, in the image above, the word “conflict” looks like it’s fighting, the word “impact” is crashing into a wall.

I have found this to be an excellent hands-on way to teach new words to older students. It gives them the spelling and the meaning of the word all at once and helps quicken the transition of the new words into long-term memory. The kids love doing hands-on artwork and seeing what others have created. Each word is created on a half sheet of regular copy paper and by the end of the school year, we have some cool art to add to our word wall.

8. Matchmaking (or as I call it, Wo-Wa Speed Dating)

Each student is given a word and an index card. They write everything they know about their word on the card, definitions, examples, everything. They then rotate, sharing the word card with a partner. Together, the two decided on a commonality or relationship between their words.

Impose a predetermined time limit, so students can move on, but before they do, randomly ask one group to share their findings with the class. If your friends are like mine, they are much more likely to stay on task if there is a chance they will have to be accountable for sharing their findings.

9. Write a Poem

Ask students to write a poem using as many word wall words as possible. Alternatively, task students with creating an extended metaphor poem about one of the words.

10. Word Ad

In this variation of Become an Expert, a group is assigned a word or two to teach the rest of the class. They should begin by brainstorming all possible uses of the word. Then they create a skit in which they “sell” the word to the class.

One of the best word ad skits I’ve seen took place during our study of nonfiction terminology. One group was tasked with creating a sales pitch for the word graphics. To start their presentation, the group read some instructions for assembling a swing set, and when they got to the part about requiring nails, brought out manicure supplies. The class quickly caught on the importance of including visual representations, especially when writing informational text, such as Feature Articles.

What is a Word Wall?

Word Walls are organized collections of words placed on a wall or other surface in the classroom. They are excellent tools for building word consciousness in students through increased vocabulary interaction and social learning opportunities; especially as students make connections among important concepts and big ideas. Interactive Word Walls, vocabulary notebooks, and periodic reviews are all important ways to revisit and reinforce vocabulary over time.

What does a Word Wall look like?

There are several different types of Word Walls which serve different purposes and focus on different skills. For example, it is common for primary classrooms to display high-frequency Word Walls, but it is unlikely to find such a Word Wall in a secondary classroom. 

Word Walls in classrooms take on many forms. They can be color-coded by content area on index cards that are affixed to the wall. They can be on chart paper, a display board, or a concept map. No matter the way you choose to display Word Walls, the words on the Word Wall must be large enough that they can easily be seen by all students in the room from wherever they are seated.

Regardless of the structure, all grade levels should have content area Word Walls on display. 

How are Word Walls organized? 

How many Word Walls are in a room may depend on how the content areas are organized, whether high-frequency words or retired Word Walls are utilized, or how many courses are taught by a single teacher. For example:

• Elementary classrooms may have one Word Wall for various content areas, color-coded for each subject. Additionally, there may be a high-frequency Word Wall. 
• In secondary classrooms, there may be separate Word Walls for each course, as well as specialized Word Walls, such as testing words.

How to Use a Word Wall in the Classroom? 

Word Walls can be effective learning tools, or they can be wallpaper. Even the most organized Word Walls won’t help students learn words unless they are used. The words displayed on the Word Wall should be words that you currently want your students to use and should come down and get replaced by new words when a new lesson or unit is introduced. The same is true for high-frequency Word Walls. 

Use the words on the Word Wall to create Advance Organizers (i.e. Student Learning Maps and Concept Maps) to meaningfully distinguish and highlight important vocabulary concepts (keywords), characteristics (descriptions or examples), and categories (“chunks” of learning connected to Learning Goals).

How do I retire words from the wall?

Once students are using the words appropriately, the words can come down. When words come down from the high frequency or content Word Walls, they can go to a retired Word Wall elsewhere in the room, or in an interactive vocabulary notebook. Students should use the interactive vocabulary notebooks daily for new word learning and can use them for structured review, writing, word games, and retired words. They are especially useful when learning word parts.

How do I use Word Walls during remote learning?

Virtual Word Walls apply the same characteristics as physical ones. They are most impactful when students know where to find the tool and are expected to use it for a purpose (i.e. writing, review, or as a scaffold for an assignment). Word wall ideas for remote learning are:

• Create a dedicated location in your classroom (or classroom website) to display vocabulary from the current lesson and unit. 
• The size and color of fonts and virtual backgrounds are chosen to enhance visibility, not create “visual noise” that detracts from students’ ability to locate and see displayed words. 
• Avoid busy patterns and small and light-colored fonts (i.e. yellow) to maximize displayed vocabulary. 
• Use a digital “Word Wall” explicitly during a lesson as a scaffold for the assignment and to promote wordplay during Learning Activities. 
• Provide a consistent and easily accessible “virtual” location to display current vocabulary that is used by both the teacher and students in lesson instruction.

More Word Wall Ideas for Virtual Classrooms

• Create a Concept as an editable (or fillable) PDF. 
• Try Google Jamboards, Milanote, Miro, or MindMup to virtually create and manipulate concept maps and other word clusters. 
• Dedicate a space on the main home page of your Google Classroom (or another LMS platform). Create a separate page for words as they are archived. 
• Flip your Word Wall activity to create a super-effective previewing strategy! Create an Advance Organizer for a unit (i.e. Student Learning Map) or a lesson (i.e. Concept Map) and use it to activate students’ thinking prior to the start of a lesson. 
• Use virtual games for wordplay to provide students with multiple opportunities to interact with the words, and as periodic review to improve students’ storage and retrieval of word meanings.

Interactive Word Wall Activities and Games

Primary: LINGO

• Ask students to vote for words prior to the game. Digital Adaptation: Try dotstorming for easy card voting.
• Provide students with a blank LINGO grid (may be a downloadable form or sent home as a part of a packet). 
• Students will practice writing each word anywhere they choose on the grid.
• Shuffle index cards with the words and call the words one at a time.
• Have students chant the spelling of each word and then cover it with an object. (Try Lima Beans as students may not be too tempted to eat them!). 
• The first student to have a complete row covered wins LINGO.
• Students can clear their sheets and play again.

Intermediate: Scrabble Scramble

• Digital Adaptation: Use Google Jamboards to create whiteboard spaces for your students. 
• Each whiteboard should have digital “Post-It” notes for each letter of the alphabet. Some letters may need to be duplicated.
• On the first whiteboard, show students a scrambled up word from the concept map or one of your vocabulary clusters.
• Give the definition of the word or create a story passage about the word. 
• Students take turns unscrambling the words, that is, moving the letters until they correctly form the word. 
• Check students’ thinking by viewing everyone’s Google Jamboard by viewing the expanded frame at the top. 
• Unscramble your word on the first whiteboard to show students the correct answer. 

Secondary: Possible Sentences

• Give students a word bank of words to choose from, and ask them to use some of the words to create possible sentences, predicting what will be learned that day. 
• The teacher displays and discusses the meanings of six new words critical to the lesson.
  • persecution / famine / scarcity / prosperity / migration / exodus
• The teacher adds four related words that are familiar to most students to the above list.
  • homelands / agriculture / survival / poverty
• Students work in collaborative pairs to look for words that are connected and create sentences before reading the text.
• Digital Adaptation: Try it with Padlet. The board can be organized as columns to cluster words and provide a place for the students to post their Possible Sentences.

Want more ideas on how to redesign your current vocabulary activities and strategies for your physical and virtual Word Walls? Join us for our upcoming Effective Vocabulary Instruction Training of Trainers Virtual Institute. Contact us today for a quote.

Do you dream of a learning resource that makes your classroom look more academic, inviting, and kid friendly, even as it helps students become more independent? A word wall could be just what you’re looking for!

[📷: Top image by missmskindergarten on Instagram.]

A word wall is just that—a wall dedicated to displaying high frequency words (these could be sight words or words that are used a lot in your class) that are important for your students to know and use. In early elementary classrooms, these are words that children are learning to read and write. In upper grade classrooms, these can be words related to concepts and topics that students are learning about. You could have a word wall about math that incorporates math definitions and symbols. Or, a science wall that, over the course of a unit, gets filled with biomes and animals that live in each. You’ll know you have a successful word wall when students use it daily to find just the right word when they’re reading or writing.

Why use a word wall?

Word walls are a staple of early elementary classrooms. They’re important for young readers because they:

• Provide a place to post high frequency words that have already been taught. Students can use the words as a reference during reading and writing, making them more independent while teaching them how to use a reference tool;
• Help students see patterns and differences in words. Having the words the, they, their, and there together on the wall helps students recognize the similarities and differences between each word; and
• Make words concrete for young learners as they find words on the word wall using their finger or a pointer.

Word walls can help upper elementary, middle, and high school students as well by:

• Reinforcing the spelling of important terms across a unit or of frequently misspelled words;
• Housing words that you want students to use more in their writing or discussion; and
• Expanding student vocabulary by helping students see how words connect, as in a word wall that displays lists of synonyms.

How do I make a good word wall?

Having a word wall is about more than printing Dolch words or a vocabulary list and posting it on your wall. Effective word walls are part of daily instruction and are a tool that students will use throughout the day. To make a word wall:

• Place the word wall in an area of the classroom that is visible and accessible and use a dark background to make the words stand out.
• Organize high frequency words in alphabetical order to support students’ knowledge of the alphabetic principle.
• Organize other words walls that display vocabulary words, synonyms, or other concepts in a way that helps students see how the words connect or in a way that makes the most sense for student use. For example, a list of science terms may be listed in alphabetical order, while words used during reading may be organized by prefix.
• 3×5 note cards are a good size to post (you’ll fit a lot on one wall, and they are big enough to be read from a distance). Use different colors to add another reference point for students. If they ask about a word, you can direct them to the “pink card under the L.” Writing words on different color cards also helps children distinguish similar words.
• This seems obvious, but write in large dark letters, again, so the words are easy to see from anywhere in the classroom.
• Insider tip: Keep the materials (3×5 note cards, black marker, tape) that you’ll use to create a word handy, so you can make and add words to the word wall during a lesson. Students may even suggest words that they want added to the wall as you teach.

Okay, my word wall is up. Now, how do I use it?

• First, don’t overdo it. Teach three to five new words each week.
• Teach children how to use the word wall. Model how to use the word wall to find and spell words during writing or how to “read around the room” using a pointer or their finger to read the words on the wall.
• Use the word wall each day. Incorporate words that are already on the wall into daily activities, like word sorts, word ladders, and word practice.
• In addition to high frequency words, add words that are content specific. The more relevant the words are to students’ experience, the more they’ll be used and the faster students will learn to read and write them. Even pulling words from the school song and incorporating those into the word wall is a great way to generate words for the wall.
• Spend a few minutes each day playing a word wall game, like bingo or charades.
• Each time a student asks about a word that is on the word wall (“How do you spell … ?”) create and use a hand signal (maybe use the American Sign Language signs for “word” and “wall”) that refers them to the word wall. After all, the whole point is that they’ll use it on their own.

I already have a word wall; how do I take it to the next level?

Once you’ve mastered the basic word wall techniques, you can take it further:

• Use Velcro or sticky tack to make the words removable so students can take the word they need to their desk for reference. Or, write the words on the back of envelopes. Put that note cards, with the word written on each, inside the envelope. Then, post the envelope and let students select a note card for reference when they need it.
• Add a new word to the wall for a period of time and have students hunt for this visiting word. Then, see if they can use the visiting word in their writing and discussion.
• Challenge students to write a story (or article) using as many words from the word wall as they can.

Get even more word wall ideas:

• How to set up your literacy space so that it focuses on literacy skills and content (word walls are one of them).
• Inspiration for word walls that are works of art.

Come and share your word wall ideas in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. 

Plus, check out vocabulary ideas that make words stick.

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