Two words: word walls. Do you use them in your classroom? There are a variety of options to choose from when you are setting up word walls. From alphabet word walls, sight word walls or thematic word walls, the options are endless. So, where do you start?
First, when you are preparing your classroom, it is important to utilize as much space as you can. You want to expose your students to print as much as you can. Word walls are a great way to accomplish this goal. By creating thematic word walls, we can continually change the words that our learners are exposed to. This should happen throughout the school year. This allows them to build more vocabulary and expand their writing.
As you prepare your classroom for the beginning of the school year, make sure you create a space in your writing station or calendar area for a thematic word wall. What’s great is that you can change the words as you introduce themes and concepts throughout the year.
This can easily be done by setting up a small pocket chart and introducing the new words during a writing or reading mini-lesson. Extend the lesson by looking for words that contain phonics skills you have taught or are currently teaching in the classroom. Thematic units lead to big benefits. You have the ability to address a variety of standards and expectations in a short amount of time!
You can grab these back to school word wall cards from my Back to School for Little Learners pack for FREE. Just click the download button at the bottom! Find similar thematic word wall cards in my other units! Get you learners reading and finding word patterns in a simple, fun and EASY way!!
