Boost learning with word walls

Ideas and activities guaranteed to make word-skills instruction a high point of your students' day

No wonder Word Walls are popping up in classrooms everywhere. Just look at the things that can be done with them. You can use them to help children learn to read and spell high-frequency words. You can also use them to teach contractions, plurals, word endings, affixes and homophones.

You can either purchase a Word Wall in a school supply store or you can make your own. If you decide to buy a ready-to-use, "instant" wall, a few words of warning: Make sure you select one that matches the skills you need to teach.

Do-it-yourself walls. Constructing your own Word Wall is easy to do. You'll have to remember to make all of the word cards uniform in size (so they can be used for word-- sorting activities). Also, the cards should measure at least 2"x 8" and feature words in boldface print (for high visibility when the cards are posted).

Post the words gradually and engage the entire class in activities using Word Wall words. Rereading the words aloud with your children will provide valuable practice and review.

Here are a few ideas that will enable you to add variety and pizazz to word-skills instruction with a classroom Word Wall.

High-Frequency Words and Frequently Misspelled Words

Post words alphabetically. Post a new word each day or a few words each week. Engage the children in activities (see next page) to help them learn the new words.

Word Families/Rhymes/Phonograms

Group words in word families. Introduce one word family at a time. Teach the 37 common phonograms recommended by reading research. Children can read and spell over 500 common words using these phonograms: acl, ail, ain, ake, ale, ame, an, ank,ap, ash, at ate, aw, ay, eat, eL, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, iLl, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, or ot uck, ug, ump, unk.

Contractions

Children must see both the contraction and the words it stands for. Focus on "contraction families." Start by posting contractions that use the word "not." Do whole class activities to teach and practice words before adding another contraction family to the Word Wall.

Homophones

Homophone word cards must include sentences. Posting word pairs alphabetically and gradually adding pairs of words to the Word Wall seems to work best. Make sure you schedule time to teach and practice words.

Prefixes & Suffixes

Post words in groups according to the affixes. Focus on one affix group at a time. When you add a new group of words, be sure to go back and review the words already posted on the Word Wall.

Plurals

Post pairs of words showing singular and plural forms. Group pairs of words together in three categories: words that are made plural by adding s, by adding es and by adding ies. Gradually add pairs of word cards.

Vocabulary Words for Social Studies and Science Units and Themes

Post words alphabetically. Brainstorm with your children for words that go with your unit or theme. Write the words on cards and post them alphabetically on your Word Wall. Ask the children to keep an eye out for additional unit or theme words that can be added to the Word Wall.

This Word Wall becomes a list of vocabulary words children will need for reading and writing activities.

Word Wall Activities

1 Read your Word Wall aloud with the class. Try a soft touch just for fun - use a feather duster as a pointer.

2 Assign Word Wall partners and have the partners read the Word Wall aloud.

3 Energize the class with "Stand & Sit Reading." Have the whole class stand and read the first two words aloud. Then have everyone sit and read the next two words. Continue having the entire class stand and sit as they read the Word Wall aloud from start to finish. For a variation, have half the class stand while other half sits.

4 Have students clap twice in unison and read a word aloud. They then clap twice and read the next word. Have them continue clapping and reading for each word on the Word Wall.

5 Cover the words on the Word Wall. Then give a Word Wall spelling test.

6 Jot a list of Word Wall activities on the chalkboard or on a chart. Let the children choose the activity they want to do. When you (or they) think of new activities, add them to the list.

7 Devote a section of your Word Wall to compound words. Ask students to make a note of the compound words they come across in the newspaper. In the Sports section, for example, they might find touchdown, off side, playoff and backhand, to name just a few. The children print the simple words on two cards and then put the cards together on the wall to form a compound word.

8 Bring the Word Wall into your next read-- aloud session. When children hear you say a word that's on the wall, they raise their hand, go to the wall, point to the word and pronounce it. This helps children associate printed words with their sound.

Word Walls are every teacher's dream. There's a gold mine of learning activities in every classroom Word Wall, so why wait? Get your wall going right away.

Barbara Gruber, a former teacher and a resident of Healdsburg, CA, writes teacher resource books. Her latest books are about Word Walls.

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Sep 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved