What is vocabulary word wall

Vocabulary wall- sounds a bit uncommon, right? What is this device and why do we need it? We will discuss that in this article, but first, let’s take a look at our current vocabulary expansion process.

What tricks do you apply to improve your vocabulary? Most of you will answer by learning new words regularly. And how do you remember them? By maintaining a notebook? Or do you depend on your memory only? Or do you actively use those words in your daily life?

Learning new words is easy but remembering all of them is hard. And there is no point in acquiring more words if you keep forgetting old ones.

What Is a Vocabulary Wall?

Now imagine a wall in your room or in your classroom, filled with the words you are learning or struggling to learn. You can always see them before your eyes and can look at them whenever you need. That is called a vocabulary wall.

In other words, a vocabulary wall is a collection of words displayed on a board or other surface. It is usually used in the classroom to teach students, but students can easily build one for them at home.

A vocabulary wall is a practical interactive way to help students remember the words by always showing the words in front of them. They can take a quick glance at them while writing or reading a passage.

Vocabulary walls can also be used to teach spelling too. Walls containing high-frequency words can be built for beginner level students. It can also contain irregularly spelt words or commonly misspelt words for advanced level students. If done correctly, it can also teach students about spelling patterns. The wall can also teach students about roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Vocabulary wall is a widely used tool for teaching and you can use it too. But first, you need proper planning.

Building A Vocabulary Wall

Appropriate Location

Finding a proper place in your classroom can be a bit tricky. You need to take care of certain factors:

• There should be enough space for including all necessary words
• The place should be well-lit
• It should not be too high or too low. The students should be able to look at it easily.

Students in lower grades cannot look at words written in a high place. The wall should be within their eye level.

Vocabulary Wall Display

The words should be prominent enough. The students must read it easily. The letters need to be large enough to see from afar.

The type of display also matters. Are you using a whiteboard and writing down the letters? Or will you write those words on paper and glue them to a board? You can also use big magnet letters. Anything that makes finding and understanding the word easy is acceptable.

Colour combination is another important part. Use vibrant colours for the words with a white background. Multicoloured background with black letters can also work. Be careful if you are using multiple colours for both words and background. The display should be pleasing to the eyes.

Want to know about common vocabulary errors? You should definitely read our blog on it.

Organizing Words

You should decide what types of words will be on the wall and what pattern will they follow.  More so, you should also take into account the level of your students. You can organize the words in alphabetical order and use a separate section for each letter. For example:

This wall contains fry sight words for kindergarteners. Building such a wall in the classroom will help them remember the words faster. You can also make such a vocabulary wall using uncommon words only. In that case, you must include the meaning.

Vocabulary expansion exercises can also include vocabulary walls. Learn more about these expansions now!

Categorizing words by their roots, suffixes and prefixes is a great idea to enrich vocabulary. The student will get an idea about the meaning without much effort. This strategy is particularly useful in learning field related words e.g., science-related words or geography-related words. The wall can also display synonyms and antonyms. Check the vocabulary wall ideas below:

Vocabulary Wall Based on Roots

Vocabulary Wall for Synonyms

Which words to include in the vocabulary wall can be a matter of hassle, but not with SpellQuiz. SpellQuiz Words Lists are divided into grades and available for adults too. There are multiple words lists for each grade including fry or sight words and separate word lists are available for the spelling bees.

Vocabulary Wall Ideas for Interactive Learning

• Student participation is needed in this kind of project. Take their opinion on the vocabulary wall display. Ask them which words they want to see on the wall and which pattern should be followed.
• The students should participate in making also. Hand them the papers, paints and other equipment and give instructions. Keep an eye on them while using glue, scissors etc.
• The wall should have enough space for adding new words. You can add them on monthly basis.
• The words displayed must be learned in the classroom beforehand.
• You can make separate sections on the wall, for example, Fry word section, irregularly spelt word section, scientific word section etc. The goal is to make the wall as efficient as possible.

Vocabulary Wall Activities

The basic function of the vocabulary wall is to give students quick access to words necessary in classroom activities. The students must know how to use the wall for their benefit.

• Instruct students to always check the words on the wall when they are forgetting one.
• Encourage them to use the words on the wall in their writing or in conversation. Use these activities to make sure they are using the vocabulary wall properly:
  • Assign certain words and ask them to write a paragraph about it.
  • Assign a topic for discussion and tell them to use as many words as possible for the wall.
• The wall can be used in other ways also. For example:
  • Some words have multiple definitions in a different contexts. Ask the students to discuss them and use the word accordingly in their activity.
  • Ask them to rearrange the words using a new pattern occasionally, especially when the number of words is increasing. Why do they think the new pattern will be more useful?

The effectiveness of the wall can be determined by evaluating the student’s vocabulary range. You can monitor the progress of your students using the SpellQuiz Vocabulary Test. The test can evaluate one’s vocabulary size within just 10 minutes. The audio clips used in the questions are recorded by professional voice artists so that the participant has no problem understanding.

Vocabulary Wall is an effective idea for improving the vocabulary of the students. For more interesting ideas, don’t forget to check SpellQuiz Blogs.

Happy Spelling!

Asked by: Walker Heller

Score: 4.7/5
(55 votes)

A word wall is a literacy tool composed of an organized collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on a wall, bulletin board, or other display surface in a classroom.

What are word wall examples?

Typically word walls take up a large space in the classroom, and the words are listed alphabetically by letter. For example, the words friend, family and finish would all be under the letter F.

What is the point of a word wall?

Word walls are used to recognize and spell high frequency words as well as to assist students in seeing patterns and relationships in words. Word Wall displays can be used as an easy reference for spelling when students write.

How do you make a word wall?

To make a word wall:

What is a word wall for vocabulary?

Word Walls are a collection of words displayed somewhere in the classroom that can be vocabulary significant to the students. “They serve as an excellent source of information for students attempting to analyze unknown words, spell unfamiliar words, or define new vocabulary» (Yates, Cuthrell, & Rose, 2011).

18 related questions found

When?

During and after reading

Why?

Word walls support a language-rich learning environment. They foster word-consciousness and provide access to essential vocabulary, concepts and skills. Word walls reinforce sight-word acquisition with younger readers and build content literacy across grades and disciplines. Word walls help students see relationships between words and ideas.

How?

Organize your word wall vocabulary based on learning objectives and on the relationships among the words. For example, group words that begin with the letter “B,” words that are relevant to women’s suffrage or words that are synonyms for tolerance.

Word walls should reflect the character and culture of the classroom. Use index cards, sentence strips or construction paper on a wall, window or door. Lettering should be large, neat and visible from every seat in the classroom. Students can also contribute to the word wall; enlist students with artistic or spatial skills.

Before adding a word to the word wall, confirm that students understand its meaning within the context of the text. You can do this in any of the following ways:

1. Ask students to use context clues, affixes, roots, word relationships or reference materials.
2. Provide definitions for words that cannot be determined from context prior to reading.
3. Explain unknown concrete and abstract words when encountered in the text. Reinforce abstract words after reading as students may take more time to understand them.

Reinforce new vocabulary by using flash cards, organizers and iterative activities that explore shades of meaning and morphology. Continued practice will enhance students’ abilities to acquire and use a range of Tier Two and Tier Three words.

Adapt and expand your word wall so that students can reference it throughout the year. Alternately, rotate word walls with each new lesson or unit. Applications, such as Worldle, WordItOut and WordSift can help create digital word walls. Bright colors and pictures engage students and illustrate a wall’s overall theme.
 

English language learners

Word walls are a dedicated space English language learners can reference for learning support. To better support English language learners, modify your word wall to include words in students’ native languages, use pictures to represent words, or create personal word walls for students. Use personal word walls in other Word Work strategies such as concept sorts. Consider having two word walls for English language learners: one for Tier One and Tier Two words and another reserved for content-specific Tier Three words.

Connection to anti-bias education

Your word wall tells students which vocabulary you consider worth learning. Including vocabulary related to diversity makes your classroom a safe place for students to talk about personal or controversial topics. Making words accessible allows all students to engage in dialogue using the new vocabulary.

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.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A word wall is a literacy tool composed of an organized (typically in alphabetical order) collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on a wall, bulletin board, or other display surface in a classroom. The word wall is designed to be an interactive tool for students or others to use, and contains an array of words that can be used during writing and/or reading.

Although typically associated with reading/writing instruction, word walls are becoming commonplace in classrooms for all subject areas due to their ability to foster phonemic awareness, display connections throughout word «families» (such as «-ick» words), serve as a support/reference for students, as well as create meaningful/understandable/memorable experiences with new vocabulary words, it can help you create work better for school, work and personal.

Due to their flexible nature and ability to «grow» alongside the students, word walls can be used in classrooms ranging from pre-school through high school.

Word walls are considered to be interactive and collaborative tools, as they are a student-created and student-centered artifact. Many variations of the word wall are currently in existence, including those featuring illustrations of the words and color-coded lists.^[1]

References[edit]

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.

A word wall is pretty much what it sounds like — a classroom wall reserved for a word display. Most teachers associate word walls with emergent readers, but word walls are no longer just the stuff of elementary schools. Word walls can be used effectively to help students at all levels to learn vocabulary.

Probably the most important rule of the word wall is that it should not be simply viewed as an enlarged vocabulary list that has been prominently posted on a wall. It’s an interactive work in progress; each word is placed on the wall as it is explicitly taught. Words placed on a word wall should be chosen carefully, limited in number (only 5-10 per week), and then incorporated into classroom lessons and into students’ reading and writing. Words can be added to the wall as they are encountered in class reading, as they come up in class discussion, or as students discover them on their own. And once these «curated» words make it to the wall, they should not reside there statically; they should be used as an interactive reference point by teachers and their students.

Now — how can the Visual Thesaurus help you spice up your lackluster word wall? Choose (or have your students choose) a few word-wall-worthy words from a class reading assignment, look the words up in the Visual Thesaurus search box, and then add the Visual Thesaurus word displays for these words onto your word wall. (To print a word display, click on the «PRINT» button on the toolbar. To see printer and page orientation options before printing, press the «Shift» key when you click the print button.)

Care to show off your classroom’s word wall? E-mail us a photograph of your word wall and we’ll not only display it on our site, we?ll send you a Visual Thesaurus goody to show our appreciation!

Georgia Scurletis is Director of Curriculum for the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com. Before coming to Thinkmap, she spent 18 years as a curriculum writer and classroom teacher. Georgia has written curriculum materials for a variety of Web sites (WGBH, The New York Times Learning Network, Edsitement) and various school districts. While teaching high school English in Brooklyn, she was a recipient of the New York State English Council’s Educators of Excellence Award, the Brooklyn High Schools’ Recognition Award, and The New York Times’ Teachers Who Make a Difference Award.

Click here to read other articles by Georgia Scurletis