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What
are Word Walls?
A
word wall is an organized collection of words prominently displayed
in a classroom. This display is used as an interactive tool for
teaching reading and spelling to children. There are many different
types of word walls including high frequency words, word families,
names, alphabet and "doozers".
What
is its purpose?
Word
walls have many benefits. They teach children to recognize and spell
high frequency words, see patterns and relationship in words build
phonemic
awareness skills and apply phonics rules. Word walls also provide
reference support for children during reading and writing activities.
Children learn to be independent as they use the word walls in daily
activities.
Word
walls can also be used:
- To
support the teaching of important general principals about words
and how they work.
- To
foster reading and writing.
- To
promote independence on the part of young students as they work
with words in writing and reading.
- To
provide a visual map to help children remember connections between
words and the characteristics that will help them form categories.
- To
develop a growing core of words that become part of a reading
and writing vocabulary.
- To
provide reference for children during their reading and writing.
How
do I do it?
- Make
words accessible by putting them where every student can see them.
They should be written in large black letters using a variety
of background colours to distinguish easily confused words.
- Teachers
should be selective about the words that go on the word wall.
Try to include words that children use most commonly in their
writing. Words should be added gradually - a guideline is five
words per week.
- Use
the word wall daily to practice words incoporating 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 word walls are always spelled correctly in
the children's daily writing.
How
can I adapt it?
Activities
in word walls are designed to be multilevel.
On-The-Back
Activities are designed to extend knowledge of the Word
Wall words and to help students learn to spell other words.
Types
of Word Walls
- ABC
Wall
- Words-We-Know-Wall
- Chunking
Wall
- Help
Wall
- Name
Wall
Assessing
Progress
"Good
assessment is an on-going activity. Teachers watch children in a
variety of reading and writing situations. They notice what strategies
children are using and what they need to move them forward."
(page 66 Month-by-Month Phonics for First Grade by P.M. Cunningham
& D.P. Hall)
Assessment
and Evaluation Considerations
- word
wall reading
- portfolio
of worg to show progress through year
- assessment
rubrics
- spelling
- anecdotal
records
- observations
by teachers
Teacher
Resources
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Allington, R.L. Classrooms That Work: They Can All
Read and Write. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.
1999
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Making Words. Carthage, IL: Good
Apple, 1994
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Making More Big Words. Carthage,
IL: Good Apple, 1994
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Making More Words. Carthage, IL:
Good Apple, 1997
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Month By Month Phonics for First Grade.
Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1997
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Month By Month Phonics for Second Grade.
Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1998
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Month By Month Phonics for Third Grade.
Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1998
- Cunningham,
P.M. & Hall, D.P. Month By Month Phonics for Upper Grades.
Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1998
- Cunningham,
P.M.,Hall, D.P. & Sigmon, C.M. The Teacher's Guide To The
Four Blocks. Greensboro, NC: Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1998
- Cunningham,
P.M., Hall, D.P. & Kohfeldt, J. Word Wall Plus For Second
Grade. Greensboro, NC: Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 1998
- Mahaffey
Sigmon, C. Implementing the 4-Blocks Literacy Model. Carson-Dellosa
Publishing, 1997
- Schiffer
Daniff, V. The Pocket Chart Book. Scholastic Professional
Books, New York, 1996
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