Word Walls....

Do you have a word wall in your room? Do the students know how to use the word wall?

Here are a few suggestions to help improve your instruction with the word wall...

1.) For the younger students, the word wall should be organized by initial letter. Having the letters posted in alphabetic order with space to add words, is helpful to the students. Make the words accessible by putting them at the students eye level.

2.) Add words gradually. For Kindergarten, you should aim to add two or three words per week. For First and Second Grade, you can add up to five words per week.

3.) Be selective about what words go on the wall. You want them to be high frequency words that students use often in their writing. Always start by using the students own names as the first words that go on the word wall.

4.) You do not need to buy words from the Teacher Store. Write your own words, or have the students write the words themselves.

5.) Do a variety of review activities to help reinforce the word wall words.

Here are a variety of activies and games that can help support the word wall. Remember the word wall should be an active learning tool, not just a visual in the classroom!

Wearing the Word Around Your Neck
1.) Each day the teacher will introduce a new word wall word during meeting. The word will be written on an index card and after the morning meeting the teacher will attach string to the card. The card will then be worn around the teachers neck throughout the day.
2.) When students are entering or exiting the classroom they must "read" the word before being allowed to pass.
3.) At the end of the day, one student get to place the word on the word wall.

Clap, Chant, Write

To help with in introduction of New WordsTeacher introduces 5 Word Wall words per week by having students:

1.) Have the students number a sheet of paper 1-5.

2.) Place one of the 5 new word cards in the pocket chart. Say the word,, use the word in a sentence, have students write the word on their paper. Continue with 4 additional words.

3.) When all five words have been written, point to the words and have the students clap and chant the spelling of the words.

4.) Students use a red pen, marker or crayon to trace around the word.

5. )On the following days of the week, teacher practices the new Word Wall words and reviews previous words with practice activities.

Rhyme with the Word Wall

The teacher says a sentence which contains a word that rhymes with one of the Word Wall words and is spelled with the same pattern. Children must decide which word rhymes and how to spell it.

1.) Students number their paper just as they do for Clap, Chant, Write, 1-5

2.) The teacher gives the following clues for the lessons words.

Number one begins with a t and rhymes with walk

Student writes talk on paper

Number two begins with an m and rhymes with by

Student writes my on paper

Number three begins with an f and rhymes with end

Student writes friend on paper

Number four begins with a w and rhymes with bear

Student writes wear on paper

Number five begins with a f and rhymes with car

Student writes far on paper

3.) To check the answers, teacher says therhyming word and lets students say the word they wrote and chant its spelling.

Cross-Checking

1.) Call out several words that begin with the same letter for students to write on the front, such as these: went want was what where. Tell students that they will have to decide which word from the front makes sense in the sentence.

2.) Say a sentence leaving out one of the words.

3.) Students decide which word makes sense and write it on paper.

4.) Say and spell the word.

5.) Do 4 additional sentences.
From: Cunningham, P.M. (1999). The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks. N.C.:Carson-Dellosa.

Make Sentences

1.Dictate a sentence using several of the word wall words:Josh will come to my house to play.

2.Students listen as you repeat the whole sentence.

3.Then repeat the sentence one word at a time, giving students plenty of time to find the words on the word wall and write them. Remind children to begin sentences with a capital letter. Have days when you dictate questions and exclamatory sentences. It’s fun to use students names in the sentences. Students also like to dictate sentences using lots of words from the word wall. From: Cunningham, P.M. (1995). Phonics They Use. N.Y.: Harper Collins.

Be a Mind Reader

The teacher thinks of a word on the wall and then gives five clues to that word.

1.) Have students number their paper 1-5 and tell them that you are going to see who can read your mind and figure out which of the words on the board you are thinking of.

2.) Tell them you will give them five clues. By the fifth clue, everyone should guess your word, but if they read your mind they might get it before the fifth clue.

3.) For your first clue, always give the same clue: “It’s one of the words on the word wall.”

4.) Students should write next to number one the word they think it might be.

5.) The second clue is:It has four letters. Student writes word.

6.) The third clue is:It begins with a digraph ph. Student writes word.

7.) The fourth clue is:It has a short e vowel sound. Student writes the word.

8.) The fifth clue is:It begins the sentence: ____will lunch be ready?

9.) When the student has written their final guess. Tell them the answer, "when."

10.) “I know you all have word next to number 5, what is it? But who has it next to number 4?, 3?, 2?, 1?” Do several words in the same manner. As students get familiar with this activity they like to be the person giving the clues and having their mind read.From: Cunningham, P.M. (1999). The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks. N.C.:Carson-Dellosa.

Guess the Covered Word

The purpose of this acitivy is to help children practice the important strategy of cross-checking meaning with letter-sound information.

1.) The teacher writes 4 or 5 sentences on board, sentence strips, or overhead. Cover a word in each sentence with two sticky notes--one covering the onset, the other covering the rime.

2.) Call on a student to read the first sentence.

3.) Students make several guesses for the covered word. Teacher writes the guesses on the board.

4.) The teacher takes off the first sticky note that is covering the onset.Guesses that don’t begin with that onset are erased and any new guesses can be added.

5.) When all the guesses which fit both the meaning and the onsetare written, the whole word is revealed. From: Cunningham, P.M. (1999). The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks. N.C.:Carson-Dellosa.

There are some great books by Patricia Cunningham has written that focus on word knowledge in the primary grades. Here are some examples:

The Month-by-Month Phonics books comes in Kindergarten, First and Second Grade Levels.