Word and picture 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.

A MiddleWeb Blog

One might say that vocabulary is the currency of the classroom. And wouldn’t you agree that we want our kids to be RICH with vocabulary?

If kids don’t know lots of words, if they don’t understand the words, and if they can’t use the words, then those words are of no value to them.

Instead, they are deprived. Undernourished. The words we use with students must be accessible, valuable, and usable. Think of them as nutrients, vital to their learning muscles.

So how do we create classrooms that build and strengthen students’ vocabulary? Classrooms where student vocabulary is thriving?

One of best techniques I’ve come across in my years in education is the interactive word wall. You might recall the traditional type of word wall. You know, the teacher-created, alphabetic, random word wall. That is not what I’m referring to here.

The interactive word wall is very different. Here’s why.

Interactive word walls across the curriculum

I was first formally introduced to interactive word walls by Dr. Julie Jackson, an Associate Professor of Science Education at Texas State University, who has done research and implemented interactive word walls in many Texas schools.

Her discoveries about interactive word walls have been published in multiple journals. And she is amazing! Her work is primarily with science studies; however, her word-wall strategies can be applied in any content area.

An interactive word wall is basically a large graphic organizer displaying critical vocabulary on the wall. It is thematic or unit-based and includes pictures or graphics related to the words. The benefits of an interactive word wall are outstanding for all students, not just language learners!

Picturing words to boost retention

Since the interactive word wall is structured in the form of a graphic organizer, students are able to grasp and organize information easily. Words become related to one another and connections are built.

In a typical static word wall, the only organization is that the wall is in alphabetical order. Under each letter the teacher places random words that start with that particular letter. For example, under the letter A, words like airplane, ambulance, art, angel, always, anytime, etc. could be listed. These words have no relationship to one another. And only students who can already read the words truly have access to them.

An interactive word wall includes visuals, graphics, or realia (real objects) with each word. Students are able to connect words with their meanings very quickly. For language learners, the benefits are obvious! If the interactive word wall is about Energy and one the words on it is light bulb, a visual is the quickest way to demonstrate the meaning. Instantly a language learner identifies what that word means and sees the word daily inside the classroom environment.

Students do the work!

It has often been said that “those who do the work, do the learning.” Absolutely! That’s another reason why the interactive word wall benefits all students. Students are the ones doing the work.

The teacher creates the overall outline of the graphic organizer and the headings. Then while the teaching, learning, reading and exploring happen, students interact with the wall. They write the words that go in the categories and they add pictures for the words. If needed, the teacher is there to guide them.

Kids get so excited about seeing these walls come alive and grow as their own knowledge grows! I’ve seen kids bring words and pictures from home and put them on the wall. Essentially, they’ve given themselves homework, but it’s self-motivated!

During the process, the teacher can model how to use the word wall for listening, speaking, reading and writing. Here’s how:

T: reads the title Forms of Energy. “I can say this in a complete sentence. Listen and then repeat after me. There are many forms of energy.”

S: “There are many forms of energy.”

T: “Look at the headings. Heat, sound, and light. I can say this in a sentence too. Listen and repeat. Heat, sound and light are three forms of energy.”

S: repeat

T: “Now look under the heat column. Pick an example. Use this sentence frame to talk with your partner about heat energy. I claim that ______is a form of heat energy because….” (Sentence frame was posted on the wall for students to refer to as they spoke.)

S: Use the sentence frame to talk with their partner.

Setting the stage for writing

The interactive word wall provides students with the academic vocabulary that we want them to use when they are speaking and writing about the topic. The sentence frames provide the language structure.

When we put this vocabulary in their mouths before they write, they are more capable of developing higher quality writing. Imagine what the writing will look like if they have a chance to talk first and have the wall to refer to during writing.

When the wall is pretty much complete, we can teach students to use it to form a piece of writing. Just like we taught them to talk using complete sentence with each piece of the wall, now we model how to write that way.

Some students will need more scaffolding than others. Language learners at various levels will have different needs. Some will benefit from example writing pieces or mentor texts. Others will need paragraph frames to help with language structures and propel their writing.

Another technique to support writers is to chunk the writing. Start with modeling how to write the introduction. Then let them try. Always refer back to the interactive word wall. This is their word bank.

A method to include all students

This type of word wall is accessible to all students. That’s the beauty of it. It’s not just good for some of the kids. It’s not just valuable and readable to the kids who can already read in English or who are reading on grade level. Every student can access it because of the visuals, graphics, and realia.

Teachers ask what to do with the interactive word wall once the unit is over. I’ve come across many options, and you just have to figure out what works best for you. Some teachers layer their interactive word walls over one another. Some hang theirs on clothing hangers and on a rack, so students can access them if needed. Others take a picture of their wall and keep an album of all the interactive word walls in one spot for students to look at if needed.

As middle grade teachers we have to remember that word walls are not just for primary grades. In fact, as the vocabulary gets more difficult, word walls should become more sophisticated and used in every classroom all the way up to twelfth grade.

Adapting to messy, student-created walls

Interactive word walls are messy. But learning is messy too. They are student created. So don’t expect them to be cookie cutter and perfect. They won’t look like you spent all night preparing them. We have to get over that. Trust me, I used to be that teacher who prepared the entire word wall for the class. I did all the work. I did all the writing, cutting, and putting the words up. I learned a lot. I also learned that the kids needed to be doing the work.

Now, you may be that teacher who is saying to yourself, “But I love my traditional word wall. I’ve done it for years and I think it works for my kids.” I know. Change is difficult. I used to think the same thing about my beautiful word wall UNTIL I witnessed the power of the interactive word wall.

Realizing that my traditional word wall was not emphasizing and connecting the vocabulary from the state standards that my students really needed was a big eye opener too. My students needed higher levels of academic vocabulary in order to make adequate progress in reading and writing. The old word wall just wasn’t cutting it.

Our classroom walls are massively valuable to us. We know that what we put on them needs to be important. Being selective is key. Interactive word walls definitely give you the biggest bang for your buck!

Resources I recommend for learning more about interactive word walls:

Step by Step video on How to Create an Interactive Word Wall

The Science Toolkit

The Science Toolkit Facebook Page

Interactive Word Walls

The Best Ideas on How to Use Classroom Walls by Larry Ferlazzo

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Also see Tan Huynh’s 2020 article:
How to Teach Content Vocabulary to Our ELs

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Image credit: The photos above are from 6th Grade classrooms. Used with permission from Dr. Julie Jackson.

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