How to use word walls (Reading Rockets, n.d, paragraph 2)
  • Make words accessible by putting them where every student can see them. 
  • Teachers and students should work together to determine which words should go on the word wall. Try to include words that children use most commonly in their writing. Words should be added gradually — a general guideline is five words per week.
  • Use the word wall daily to practice words, incorporating a variety of activities such as chanting, snapping, cheering, clapping, tracing, word guessing games as well as writing them.
  • Provide enough practice so that words are read and spelled automatically and make sure that words from the wall are always spelled correctly in the children's daily writing.
  • New information should be added on a regular basis.
  • Use content-area material from the curriculum rather than randomly selected words.
  • Word walls should be referred to often so students come to understand and see their relevance.
Differentiated Instruction for ELL students: "Word walls are a great support for ELLs, and may be organized around a number of concepts, including the alphabet and phonetic sounds, new vocabulary words, sight words, grammar rules, conversational phrases, and writing structures" (Reading Rockets, n.d, paragraph 12). When possible, teachers should pair words with a related picture. They should also create a word wall to reflect the English language learner’s developing vocabulary - teachers can do this by posting the words in a way that allows them to be removed for reference or reorganization. Organizing word banks and word walls by topic also helps students understand the relationships between words and ideas. 

Copying words from word walls may be difficult for some ELL students. Teachers can supply these students with the words written on a separate sheet of paper - Tape the word wall paper to their desk or writing folder for easy reference (See example to the right).
What is a Word Wall? 
A word wall is a collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on a wall, bulletin board, or other display surface in the classroom. Word walls can be a great learning tool for children because they provide a rich resource of vocabulary for students of all ages (Wright, 2010). The main purpose of a word wall is to use it as a scaffold to help students develop their sight word and word identification knowledge.

​"Word walls support student’s ongoing study of how words work and should be interactive, not simply a display of words. Word walls encourage students to actively learn about words and therefore should be referenced and used often during reading and writing" (Interactive Word Walls, 2010, paragraph 3). As words are added, students and teachers should discuss their meaning. Students should also be encouraged to share what they notice about the features of the word including how the word looks, sounds, what it means, and how it is connected to other words. 
Why use word walls?
  • They provide a model for high frequency words
  • They help students remember connections between words and concepts 
  • They provide reference support for children during reading and writing activities.

Types of Word Walls:  
  • High frequency sight words
  • Spelling word wall 
  • Content-area word wall 
  • Unit/Chapter word wall 
  • Parts of Speech word wall 
  • Frequently misspelled words
  • Words with specific spelling patterns (prefixes, suffixes, vowel digraphs)
Pictured above (left), is an example of a content-area word wall. The purpose of a mathematics word wall is to identify words and phrases that students need to understand and use to make progress in mathematics. Mathematical language is crucial to children's development of thinking. If students do not have the vocabulary to talk about math concepts and skills, they cannot make progress in understanding these areas of mathematical knowledge. Students also need to be familiar with mathematical vocabulary and mathematical terms to understand written and spoken instructions. 

As you can see, a word wall is an ongoing, organized display of key words that provides visual reference for students throughout a unit of study. In this video, the teacher is conducting a vocabulary lesson on a Greek prefix using a word wall. This helps students see the relationships between words and ideas, which enhances academic achievement.
In this video, the teacher encourages students to stop and think about words in order to support vocabulary development. These words are also used continually by teachers and students during a variety of activities in order to help students make connections to different concepts - such as spelling and writing. 
​Number Sense, Concepts, and Operations Word Wall
"The purpose of the mathematics word wall is to identify words and phrases that students need to understand and use so as to make good progress in mathematics. Mathematical language is crucial to children's development of thinking. If students do not have the vocabulary to talk about math concepts and skills, they cannot make progress in understanding these areas of mathematical knowledge. They need to be familiar with mathematical vocabulary and mathematical terms to understand written and spoken instructions" (Reading Rockets, n.d, paragraph 8). ​



​Using interactive word walls in science
"Students remove words from the wall and make connecting statements about the words. The class can then create a summarizing statement, for example: cells make up tissues, and tissues make up organs" (Reading Rockets, n.d paragraph 10)



Word Family Word Wall: Word families help readers look for patterns when decoding. When students begin to recognize these patterns, they can sound out words that they do not readily know, which in turn can build their confidence during the difficult early reading stages. 

​ Vocabulary Word Wall: Allows students to comprehend new vocabulary encountered in reading materials. After reading a story to the entire class, teachers can create a word wall using the vocabulary included in the text. 


​Social studies word walls are consistently changing based on the content being taught and the needs of the students. As an activity, teachers can ask students to search for key words in an assigned reading to collect examples of  important vocabulary terms. These words can then be recorded on the word wall for later reference. 
References: 
 Interactive Word Walls. (2010, November 1). Retrieved October 8, 2015, from http://www.springisd.org/docs2/ci/special/Word Walls 2010.pdf 
​Intro and Word Walls. (2014, April 29). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uh0HWdHgaY 
Reading Rockets - Word Walls. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/word_walls 
Teaching Vocabulary using Word Wall. (2011, April 11). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tEjDdFoB2k 
Ten Great Word Wall Strategies for Classrooms. (2008, August 29). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from http://www.k12reader.com/10-great-word-wall-strategies-for-classrooms/ 
Wagstaff, J. (n.d.). Word Walls That Work | Scholastic.com. Retrieved October 7, 2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/word-walls-work 
​Wright, W. E. (2010). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Pub.