Word Wall Use in Kindergarten

Word Wall Use in Our Kindergarten

These words just keep popping up!

The word wall is a list of sight words that children are encouraged to learn throughout the year in order to prepare them for reading in first grade. These sight words are words that appear with great frequency in children’s literature.

The words are introduced slowly at the beginning of the year. We start with the children’s names and gradually introduce words (such as and, a, the) that appear in our Morning Message and poems. Later in the year sight words and word families (-at words, -an words, etc.) are introduced more frequently.

I find that many children absorb the letter sounds early on because of the many language rich activities that focus on sight words, shared writing and word families. Similarly many children have learned to identify the letters before they are formally taught because of these activities.

The children are assessed on these words at the end of the year and I often host a Sight Word Contest with prizes.The activities are all presented in a fun way. The emphasis is on building the students’ confidence that they will be able to read –because they are already reading!

Click here to see our list of words

This photo shows our Word Wall one year. (Currently my word wall is on my magnetic whiteboard. Each word is put up there with a little magnet.) In the center is a train made with Ellison die cuts. The letters of the alphabet are on the train cars. The first half of the alphabet is on the top and the rest is on the bottom. My thanks to Patty Marseglia, a colleague from whom I got the idea to set up the bulletin board this space-saving way. In the corner is another train with the words "Choo, Choo, Choose to Read" in the puffs of smoke.

This is the first activity I use with my students. We practice “spelling” out loud the words in unique ways. There are many different ways to cheer a word but the ones below are our favorites. The teacher always starts with, “Give me an …”. The students fill in the letter and perform appropriate hand movements.

opera style, the whisper scream, like a cheerleader, marshmallow clap, basketball, volleyball, ketchup bottle, disco, like a cowboy (astride their chairs and lassoing those letters home), the rocket blast off, and the frog (start standing, squat lower with each letter and jump with the final word).

This activity is good when teaching words that are longer or harder such as mother, morning and father. Simply write the word with large letters on a piece of paper and make copies for each student. The children then decorate the word with glitter, rainbow writing, play-doh, yarn, etc. Decorating each letter helps them to really focus on the word.

Start off the game by turning off the lights and pointing the flashlight at a particular word. The teacher calls on a student to read the word. When the child has read the word, it is their turn to shine the flashlight on a word and call on another student to read.

Divide a piece of paper into six parts and write a word wall word in each part. I make seven cards with different arrangements and selections of words. Then I make three copies of each and distribute to the students. I don’t have just one winner each time but three. Each winner gets a star stamped on his hand.

Use three books for bases. Divide the class into 2 teams. One team is up at a time. That team reads the words off of index cards you have prepared. Each child moves along the bases. When a child goes home they score a point for their team. When a child misses a word that is an out. Each team gets up once. The team with the most points wins.

I got this idea from my fellow teacher, Debbie Lendach. Divide the class into two teams. Using index cards prepared with the sight words, give each student a chance to read a word (going back and forth from team to team). The student may use a lifeline and call a friend (on the toy telephone) in the classroom to help them read the word. This game can turn noisy. I make it a rule that if you talk and it is not your turn, your team loses a point.

This activity is introduced later in the year. I begin by writing a sentence on the board using the sight words. The children have to copy the sentence correctly with their neatest handwriting. This activity really helps to focus and reinforce not only the sight words but also concepts of print, and listening and following directions from the board. When, and if, they are ready we move on to copying a very short dictated sentence.

See the photos below for center games I created. For Freaky Family Fun the children spin, move that number of spaces, look at the picture on the board and find the matching sight word in the card pile. This game takes about three spins only to win but the kids like to play any game with a spinner. The children must read their words to their partner.

In Fishing For Fun I wrote the sight words on index cards and then cut them out like fish. I put a paperclip on the tip and with a magnet tied to yarn for a fishing pole; the kids go fishing. I threw in some puzzle pieces of ocean animals that go with another magnet puzzle for extra fun. When a child has fished out all the words, they must call me over to read the words to me. Then we throw the fish back.