Images of a word wall

Looking for word wall ideas? Word walls are a popular teaching strategy to improve literacy skills across the curriculum. Basically, word walls are a collection of important words displayed in large, visible letters on any display surface in the classroom. Your word wall should be an interactive tool for students and contain an array of words that can be used during writing and reading.

A traditional word wall is organized alphabetically using all 26 letters of the alphabet. Sight words (also known as high-frequency words or no-excuse words) are placed under each letter based on the first letter of each word. An alternative option is a sound wall, which is based on the science of reading. This strategy organizes words by their speech sounds (phonemes) rather than alphabetically.

But word walls need not be limited to just sight words. You can use them for spelling words, content area words, unit vocabulary words, parts of speech, and much more. The possibilities are endless!

Here we’ve gathered 24 of our favorite word wall ideas to help you get started. And for more ideas from classroom teachers, check out Teaching Made Practical and Mrs. Beattie’s Classroom.

1. Traditional Word Wall

This kindergarten word wall follows the traditional model. Each letter of the alphabet is prominently displayed with vocabulary words written on colored cards underneath them.

Source: Cozy Classroom Crew 

2. Star Words

Early learners need to master basic, frequently used words in order to progress as readers. This word wall includes “star words” for students to refer to at any time.

Source: Rainbows Within Reach

3. Polka Dot Word Wall

Colored cards on this word wall help each individual word stand out. In addition, each card is cut to correspond to the letters’ physical shapes, which help students with word recognition.

Source: Girlfriend’s Guide to Teaching

4. Wow Words

Sheets of colored card stock provide a background grid for this “Wow Word” word wall. As the students come across interesting and important words, the teacher can add them to the wall.

Source: Live Laugh Learn in Second Grade

5. Popcorn Words

Sometimes sight words are called popcorn words because they keep “popping” up when students read and write.

Source: Rainbows Within Reach

6. Lollipop Word Wall

All you need to create this fun word wall is colorful paper plates and polka-dot ribbons. As your students learn new words, they can be added to the display.

Source: Simply the Middle

7. Interactive Word Wall

Finding herself short on wall space, this teacher took advantage of the tall cabinets in her room to display her word wall. Kids can reference words from their seat or engage in independent word work by “reading” the wall with a partner.

Source: Dragonflies in First

8. Picture Card Word Wall

This word wall, printed in large letters to be easily seen from all areas of the classroom, is a collection of common vocabulary words. Each word has a corresponding image to aid students’ understanding. Many teachers offer pre-printed picture word cards on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Source: Mrs. D’s Room

9. Foam Blocks Word Wall

This word wall, made up of large foam letter blocks with words clearly printed on handwriting strips, puts important first words on display for young readers.

Source: Rainbows Within Reach

10. Flower Pots Word Wall

What a colorful word wall idea! Flower vases made from dry-erase paper allow the teacher to easily add or delete words as needed.

Source: Coaching Chronicles

11. Personal Word Wall

Last year this teacher switched from a word wall to word wall folders. Each student kept their folder in their writing bin for quick access. Along with standard sight words, they could also personalize their lists as they came across new words.

Source: Teach Love and Iced Coffee

12. Color-Coded Word Wall

This word wall is a multipurpose learning tool for students. Each word is written in the color corresponding to the subject. Also, titles at the top of the board help students differentiate the words.

Source: Learning Focused

13. Multi-Subject Word Wall

This is another example of a mixed-purpose word wall. This one provides a legend to help students keep track.

Source: Reading Strategies

14. Picture Word Wall

This teacher involves her students in making the classroom word wall. Each important word card is written and illustrated by one of the kids. The images help students make stronger connections to the printed words.

Source: Tales of an Elementary Teacher

15. Math Word Wall

Math teachers need word wall ideas too! Understanding math relies heavily on vocabulary instruction. Here, this teacher groups together different concepts into a visual display for students to use.

Source: Diane Davenport

16. Geometry Word Wall

This word wall idea condenses the important words in a geometry unit into one display for students to review. Once the students move on to a new topic, the teacher can create a new word wall with the appropriate vocabulary words.

Source: Learning Focused

17. Words by Subject

Engaged learners examine the cards on this word wall to learn words that fall into different categories.

Source: Teachstarter

18. Reading Group Word Wall

Vocabulary is a critical part of reading instruction. This word wall focuses on important words from the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Source: Keeping Up With Miss Parks

19. Word Families Word Walls

One of the ways early readers expand their mastery is by learning to recognize words that have the same spelling pattern. This word wall groups words in the same word families together for easy reference.

Source: Coaching Chronicles

20. Multiple Word Walls

This image shows many different uses for word walls in the classroom. From introducing new language to breaking down words into categories, students have multiple points of support.

Source: Christie – Engage 2 Learn

21. Nutrition Word Wall

Word walls are a fantastic way to help children develop their phonic/spelling abilities and recognize letter patterns. In addition, they are a great way to categorize words into different groups.

Source: KidLit Bookworm

22. Spanish Vocabulary Word Wall

Looking for word wall ideas for your world language classroom? This Spanish teacher celebrates February with Valentine’s Day vocabulary words in Spanish to give students instant visual support to build vocabulary quickly.

Source: Señora Lee

23. Student-Made Word Wall

This teacher assigned each student a vocabulary word in their geography unit. Their task was to create a card with the word, an explanation of the word, and a drawing. A clever way to help students take ownership of their learning!

Source: Eureka Sheets

24. Favorite Words Word Wall

This creative word wall idea started with a question: What is your favorite word and why? Each student wrote and illustrated their own word to add to the wall. What a great community-building activity!

Source: New End Primary School

Come share your word wall ideas in our WeAreTeachers Helpline Facebook group.

Plus, check out 20 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade.

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.

“Children who learn in a classroom with a working word wall have a distinct advantage over students who don’t have such a resource in their room!” – Dr Darla Shaw

Word walls in the classroom are designed to be an interactive tool for students. They include an array of words that can be used during writing and reading.

Your word wall focus depends on the space you have in your classroom, year level and your focus areas for the year!

This blog outlines a number of displays and topic ideas for word walls in the classroom environment.

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Word Wall Display Ideas

Creating a word wall that can be interactive and easy to change is the utmost important aspect! All of our word wall templates can be customised and added to throughout the year!

In the photo below, ribbon has been used with velcro dots! Students can come and take a word to use and then put it back when they are finished.

I customerised the Rainbow Word Wall template for the below display!

In the photo below, the same thing can be done, velcro dots can be used on laminated coloured paper, so that the children can easily remove or add to the class word wall!

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Word Wall Vocabulary Ideas

Literature Study Word Walls

A literature specific word wall is a great way to encourage students to use new vocabulary in their writing, as well as understand a particular style of writing.

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Spelling / Phonics Word Walls

Displaying a spelling or phonics word wall is a fantastic tool for students to use throughout the year. Organise the word wall in alphabetical order, this will make it easier for your students to check and find words. This is a ‘work in progress wall’ that students add to throughout the year.

I came across this idea on Pinterst and thought it was a great idea! Spelling word walls can get really big throughout the year, so this takes up less space, however each flip-book gets bigger!

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Science Vocabulary Word Walls

The language used in science is very specific and often difficult for students to remember! Having a science specific word wall enables your students to become confident with the vocabulary used during a science unit!

Here is our Minibeasts word wall in action:

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Maths Vocabulary Word Walls

The understanding of vocabulary is not just important in reading and writing! Students must be able to use and understand certain mathematics vocabulary. We have a huge range of Mathematics Vocabulary Word Walls available to download and customise! Here are some of our most popular:

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Other Subject Specific Word Walls

New vocabulary is introduced in every key learning area. Here are some examples of other subject specific word walls:

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Word Wall Activities

These word wall activities cards work best when you have a spelling or phonics word wall. It is crucial that the word wall doesn’t just work as a ‘display only!’ Students must be exposed to the words on a number of different occasions and these activities are a great start! I used our word wall task cards and turned them into a flip book that can be used again and again!

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 Show us Yours!

Do you have other awesome ideas for how to use word walls in your classroom? Share your ideas in the comment section of this blog.