I'm looking to build a word wall in my classroom but I don't know where to start. I know there are a lot of resource books out there, but which one should I choose?
Do you/how do you use a word wall in your classroom?
I choose words that kids spell wrong frequently. Add words from our high frequency list that is attached to the reading series. I love word wall activities (ie. my favorite is upstairs, downstairs, basement to match the letter shapes).
My word wall has the Dolch list on it. I printed the words in different colors depending on their level. The pre-primer are red, the primer are orange, the 1st grade words are yellow, 2nd grade words are green, and third grade words are blue. I won't add the third grade words until a little later in the year.
I also have begun using the phonics dance in my room and have a "Hunks and Chunks" wall up that has words for each of the hunks and chunks. There is a component of the phonics dance where you play word wall games. My kids really enjoy it and it helps them to practice using the word wall too.
It could be to differentiate between the level of word, I suppose, but I remember reading that, when the words are displayed alphabetically, you can more easily help the children locate the word if they are different colors. Like this "What does it start with? "c" "Look under "C". It is a green word"
However, I changed it a bit. My word wall sections are colored (A is a purple square, B is yellow, C is green, you get the picture) and separated by a black stripe. Its already pretty colorful. I ran all my words off in black print on white paper, cut the paper carefully around the word to make tall and hanging letters show up, and glued the resulting shape on a card of the same paper as the background it would go onto (that just makes them last longer).
I put the words up on the word wall as they came up in class, usually 5 a week. The children didn't seem to have much trouble locating the particular word once they looked under the beginning sound.
I'm not sure why that site wants them printed in different colors? I did it because somewhere online (here maybe?) about two years ago someone mentioned doing Rainbow Sight Words with their kids. Each level is colored based on the colors of the rainbow (good old ROY G BIV!). I also made powerpoint presentations with all of the words using the same colored background as they are on the wall. This was to be used for extra practice for those kids who need it with the sight words. I used it during tutoring, where I kept track of the words the kids got correct but I had eventually wanted to add voice to the presentations so the kids could practice and self check. Unfortunately, I never got around to it. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do! I had such good intentions too!
I'm a dork, and when I find good ideas (especially online) I copy and paste them into a word document and save them. The following is what gave me the idea to do the powerpoint presentations:
Quote:
Using the Power Point program our district has, I typed sight words on individual slides. The students have the opportunity to practice reading them based on the allotted time the program presents each word. Teachers can set the time under the Slide Show presentation according to need under slide transitions. I have three slide presentations with the same words; but they are titled according to Slow, Medium, and Fast speed. The 'copy' and 'save as' features make this an easy thing to do. Next, copy the "OUTLINE" form of the file. This way the teacher can have the list on hand as the student reads the words. The teacher can focus on recording the known words & words to work on later while the student reads off the words. As the student increases the sight word awareness, decrease the time. Students love to beat the computer. It also insures the words are sight words, and not words still being decoded. This program can be stretched to include word phrases. (This eliminates the 'robot reader fluency' we hear from some of our struggling readers.) It helps to increase students' fluency & comprehension. It can also be stretched into the area of math. I've made several presentations for learning math facts. Parents have requested these files sent to their home computers. Students are working with their parents at home, too. What a wonderful tool Power Point/ any other slide show presentation can be for our students!
I'm all about not reinventing the wheel. If you'd like the presentations I did, let me know!
That sounds like my post, but I know it's not! I didn't share that idea, but I have a PowerPoint presentation with the first 300 Fry list words and do the exact same thing!
This is such a great idea, and would be useful during workstation (center) time. But my one question was: Do the kids do all 300 at once? At a second each, that would only be 5 minutes. At 2 seconds each, that would be 10 minutes. At 3 seconds each, that would be 15 minutes. Would that be too much? Especially for my struggling readers?
I'm also thinking about doing two lists. I have some kids that (in second grade) are probably beyond the first 300 words. I'm thinking of doing the second 300 for them.
I don't do them all at once, but I do them as a whole class exercise during transitions. I have each 100 words a slightly different color and a bell "rings" between each set.
I put words on the word wall that students frequently misspell. I also allow them to find "fantastic" words during their independent reading time. Usually these are longer words the students find or simply an interesting word they come across. I usually have three students share each day. We look up the words, talk about them, and then the next morning they will find one of them posted on the wall. This really builds up their vocabulary and I notice some of them trying to use the words in their writing.
Each day we read over the list of words together and I ask them various questions afterwards like...
Which word means....?
Which word has a prefix which means...?
Which word is a synonym of....?
01-03-2007, 04:03 PM
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