Word Wall

I have received many e-mails inquiring how to use a word wall in Pre-K.   I hope you find the information below helpful.

Is a Word Wall really appropriate for Pre-K?

YES.  When used appropriately the Word Wall can be a very fun and effective learning tool in the Pre-K classroom.  As you can see in the photos above, the term "Word Wall" is used very loosely in reference to Pre-K.  The Word Wall in Pre-K is really more of a "Name Wall" or "environmental print" wall, however,  most teachers are more familiar with the term Word Wall so it has stuck.  Pre-K students are never required  to actually "read" any words from the wall.

What is the purpose of using a Word Wall in Pre-K?

The Word Wall is used primarily as a teaching tool for children to learn the alphabet, letter sounds, the first letter in their name, names of classmates, and the sequence of the alphabet.  Since all elementary classrooms in our district are required to have a word wall the children are introduced to it first in Pre-K to expose them to the idea at an early age.

What does a word wall look like in Pre-K?

The biggest challenge of using a word wall in pre-k is finding adequate wall space.  It also helps to have your word wall in the same area that you conduct your circle time; location, location, location!  My word wall is located beneath my white board, very close to the ground.  This way it is at the eye level of the children during our large group time. 

To start making your word wall, first, find a picture alphabet that will fit vertically in the space you have.  Sometimes, cutting up an inexpensive ABC poster from the teacher store will help save on space since most commercial alphabets are too long.  Once you have put up your background paper, fabric, or felt, you can go ahead and add the alphabet along the top.  Next, take a picture of each student using a digital camera (you can use a regular camera but digital is easier to crop).  Crop each child's picture to show just the head, print, then cut out.

Next, print each child's name on a large sticky label using your computer in large point type; I recommend the Comic Sans font.  Mount the stickers and student pictures on construction paper.  If you have both an AM and a PM class you may want to mount each class on a different color to differentiate between the two.  After you have laminated the names and pictures you can cut them out leaving a border around the edges.  See word wall pictures at the top of the page for example.

Now you are ready to put the student's names and pictures up on the word wall.  Staple each child's picture/name card below the appropriate letter on the word wall.  If you have too many students who have the same first letter you may want to put half of them above the letter and the other half below.  Some teachers who have two classes choose to put the AM class names above the alphabet and the PM class names below the alphabet, it all depends on how much space you have available.

What can you do with your word wall?

There are several fun activities you can do using your word wall throughout the year.  I have listed six ideas below for utilizing the word wall in your classroom:

1. Greeting: In the beginning of the year when we gather during circle time I will say good morning to each child individually.  As we say good morning to a child he may go to the word wall and point to his name for the whole class using a fancy pointer.  We may also discuss other students who also start with the same letter and point out their pictures as well.  As the student points to his name I try to verbalize it as well; "Michael's name is after Karen's name but before Samantha's on the word wall."  In addition to teaching the sequence of the alphabet this activity also introduces the children to the concept of the word wall and helps them to become comfortable using it. 

2. Theme Pictures: As you introduce new themes it helps to print out pictures using Microsoft clip art or similar to go along with your theme.  For example, when learning All About Me you might print off some pictures of body parts like hand, nose, or mouth, then cut and laminate the pictures.  During circle time on the first day of your new theme introduce your picture cards to the children.  Hold up the picture of the hand and ask the students what it is.  After hearing the correct response repeat the name of the picture several times emphasizing the first sound.  Call on a  volunteer to place the card under the correct letter on the word wall.  If your word wall has felt as a background you can attach Velcro to the back of the pictures to hold them in place under the correct letter.  If your word wall has a paper background you might want to use sticky tack on the back of the pictures so they can be removed and used again the next day.

3. Writing Center:  This is not really my idea, my students came up with this and I went with it!  I have a mailbox located in the writing center.  Often I would find little scraps of paper with writing on them stuffed in the mailbox at the end of the day.  One day a little girl asked me why none of "HER" words were on the word wall. When I questioned her as to what she meant she said "I put them all in the mailbox, don't you read your mail? They're supposed to go on the word wall!" LOL!  Ever since then I have made a point of having a separate little "in-box" specifically for Word Wall words.  At the end of the day I will check the box and hold up the words for the class to see.  The "author" can then "read" what the word is and show us where he thinks it belongs on the word wall.  I encourage the children to add pictures to their words because it helps me be able to "read" them :)  Of course, none of these words are usually spelled right so we make this a teachable moment and spell the word together correctly as a class.  I allow the words to collect on the word wall until it gets too cluttered, then we take them down and start again.

4. Read and Write Around the Room:  I introduce this activity in January after our winter vacation.  Several clipboards, copy paper, cool pens, and pointers are placed in a dish tub for the students to use during center time.  I explain the purpose of the activity, to find as many words or letters of one type as possible and I give several examples.  I model for the entire class how to use the items in the tub daily during the first week.  Pointing out print sources all around the classroom, I write on my clipboard and refer to the word wall often.  When the students are done with a sheet of paper they may place it in a special Read and Write Around the Room "in-box".  Some of the ideas  I use when introducing this activity are:

	Show the children how to look for words that begin with the first letter of their names using a pointer, for example;  if their name is Leo then they might write the words; lights, left, and Lindsey on their paper using the environmental print around the room in addition to the Word Wall.  Show them how to put their paper in the in-box when they are finished.  This is usually a good starting point and will keep them going for several days.
	After a few days or a week of having Read and Write Around the Room as a center you may want to introduce some new ideas to keep the activity fresh and the children interested.  Sometimes you may not even have to introduce any ideas, they may come up with them on their own naturally.  Another idea my class had great fun with is this one:   Model how to draw a line vertically down the middle of the paper on the clipboard.  Next, brainstorm a yes or no question with the class such as  "Do you like Pizza?" or "Do you have a dog?".  Point out the words "yes" and "no" on the word wall and so the children can write them on the top of their surveys.  Next, the student goes around the room and asks each student a "yes/no" question and records their answers in his "poll" referring to the word wall for help spelling classmates names.   When they are finished the students place their polls in the in-box.  This activity is always a favorite in my class.
	You may be wondering what I do with all of the papers students place in the in-box in the Read and Write Around the Room center; I hang them up on the wall.  At the end of each day I take some of the papers out of the in-box and ask the authors to "read" their work to us.  We cheer "Hooray" with our pom-pom's as I place the work on the wall.  If there are too many papers in the in-box I may just choose a few papers from the top of the stack or a few from the bottom.

5. Journals:  Using the word wall is a big part of Journal time.  I encourage the children to refer to the word wall often when they are writing in their journals.  For instance; if a child asks me how to spell the word "blue" I might say, "Oh, that's a word wall word, where should you go to look for that word?  Listen to the first sound if you need help."  I  try to encourage using the word wall during journal time as often as possible.

6. Environmental Print:  I use lots of environmental print on my word wall.  To get ideas and learn more about the benefits of environmental print visit my EP page at the following link:  Environmental Print