Word Walls and PWIM

1. Word Walls and PWIM Enhancing Your Language Arts Program

2. Welcome!! Listen Learn Share

3. Agenda • Word Walls • Overview • Benefits • Tips for use • Daily activities and strategies • Portable Word Walls • PWIM • How it works • Advantages • Steps • Getting started • Examples

4. WhatareWord Walls? • an organized collection of words prominently displayed in a classroom • an interactive tool for teaching reading and spelling to children • come in many different types, including high frequency words, word families, names, alphabet, themes (seasonal, content area)

5. Benefits • Word Walls teach children to: • recognize and spell high frequency words • see patterns and relationship in words • build phonemic awareness skills • apply phonics rules • recognize content area words

6. Benefits • Word walls can be used: • to support the teaching of important general principals about words and how they work. • to foster reading and writing. • to take away the “permission to forget  • build vocabulary

7. Benefits • Word walls can be used: • to promote independence on the part of young students as they work with words in writing and reading • as a visual tool for older students, giving them access to content area words

8. Benefits • Word walls can be used: • to provide a visual map to help children remember connections between words and the characteristics that will help them form categories.

9. Benefits • Word walls can be used: • 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.

10. TipsforUse • 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 • For young students, having the shape of the word provides another visual connection

11. TipsforUse • 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

12. TipsforUse • Use the word wall daily to practice words - 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

13. Cross- curricular Interactive

14. Colorful Subject Specific/ Thematic

15. Seasonal Portable

16. Creative • use clothespins to pin index cards on word wall • students can take card off and look on back for definition.

17. Your Turn  • Do you have any other creative ways you have used a Word Wall in your classroom?

18. Daily Activities for Word Walls

19. Clap, Chant, and Write • Students number a scratch paper from one to five. • Call out five word wall words and put each in a sentence. • When all five words have been written, point to the words, and have the students clap and chant the spelling of the words as they correct their own papers.

20. Review Rhymes • Have students number their paper from one to five, and write the word that rhymes with the word you give. • Give them both a first letter and a rhyming clue: • Number 1 begins with t and rhymes with walk • Number 2 begins with b and rhymes with my • To check their papers, you say the rhyming word and let students say the word they wrote (and chant) its spelling: • "Number 1 rhymes with walk, what did you write?" Students respond, "talk, t-a-l-k"

21. Review Endings • Call out the usual five daily words, but add endings on to some of them. • Begin with just one ending at first, probably "s". Then do another ending, such as "ing", or "ed". • Only do words with spelling changes after you have taught the rule. • Students spell (and chant) the words.

22. Make Sentences • As the year goes on and more words are on the word wall, you can dictate entire sentences that are made up of word wall words. • You also can use this opportunity to practice punctuation.

23. Be a Mind Reader • The teacher thinks of a word wall word and gives five clues to that word. • Students number their papers from 1 to 5 and try to "read the teacher's mind“. • By the time you give the fifth clue, everyone in the class should guess your word and have written it down on their papers.

24. Be a Mind Reader • Procedure: • First clue is always the same one: "It's one of the words on the wall." Students write a guess by number 1. • Next clue: "It has four letters." Students write another guess by number two. • Third clue: "It begins with "th". Students again write their guesses by number three. • Fourth clue: "Its vowel is an "e". Write guess by number four • Fifth clue: "It finishes the sentence, "I gave my books to _____." Write guess by number five. • Check (and chant) the correct word, and ask for a show of hands as to who had the word by 1, 2, 3, etc.

25. Ruler Tap • The teacher says a word wall word and then taps out several letters in that word without saying those letters. • When the tapping stops, the teacher calls on a child to finish spelling the word out loud. • If the child correctly finishes spelling the word, that child gets to call out a word and tap some of the letters.

26. WORDO • This is a version of BINGO, only it is played with word wall words. • Students need a sheet of paper that has 9, 16 or 25 blank blocks on it, and some small pieces of paper or objects to cover words as they fill in blocks.

27. WORDO • Call on students to pick words from the word wall they want included in the game. • As each picks a word, everyone writes it in a blank of their choice. • Teacher writes it on an index card.

28. WORDO • Shuffle your index cards and call out each word. • Students are to cover the words wherever they have written them. • The first student to have a complete row covered/blackout wins. • You might let the winner become the word caller for the next game. • Variation: teacher gives the definition of the words

29. Reading Bingo • Students fill in a bingo card with new words for a unit. • As students complete the unit’s • reading, they fill in the page numbers where the unit’s words appear. • Acknowledge the first person who gets a straight line completed, then assign completion of the entire grid for • everyone in the class. • Variation: Students skim text to find words listed on their card.

30. Word Sorts • Students write 10-15 word wall words on small slips of paper • Sort the words into different piles depending on the features certain words share. • Students may sort for: • # of letters • begin/end with certain letter • have a certain vowel(s) • have a certain letter anywhere in them • semantic features (names, actions) • teacher gives groups, students tell sorting criteria OR vice-versa

31. Guess the Covered Word • Purpose: practice cross-checking meaning with letter-sound information. • The teacher writes 4-5 sentences on board, sentence strips, overhead, SMART Board. • Cover a word in each sentence with two sticky notes--one covering the onset, the other covering the rime.

32. Guess the Covered Word • Call on a student to read the first sentence. • Students make several guesses for the covered word. Teacher records. • Take off the first sticky note (onset). • Guesses that don’t begin with that onset are erased and any new guesses can be added. • Reveal word when all the guesses which fit both the meaning/onset are written.

33. Build/Mix/Fix • Teacher calls 5 words from the word wall one at a time. • Students write on paper as teacher writes on board. • Teacher directs class to Build the first word with letter tiles/cards atdesk.

34. Build/Mix/Fix • After all students have the word built, teacher directs class to Mix up the letters of the word. • Students are directed to Fix the word by arranging the letters to spell the word. • Continue with remaining words.

35. Word Search • Give each student a Word Search worksheet. • Choose 5 words from the word wall. • Call out word and students write at bottom of worksheet. • Students place each word in the word search puzzle and add additional letters to fill in the boxes. • Students trade Word Search puzzles • and complete.

36. Making Words • An activity that will have students interact with letters and words. • Assists in developing spelling and word decoding skills. • Engaging - like a puzzle. • Procedure: • Choose letters that are found in word wall words. • Students print the letters at the bottom of the “Making Words” graphic organizer. • Cut letters out. • Arrange letters to form words. • Print words on chart.

38. Word Fun Center • An activity to have one of your guided reading groups do while you are busy • Choose 5 words from the word wall and write them on the board • Provide different materials to spell the words: • *letter tiles *pasta letters *stencils *WikkiSticks*play-dough *alphabet stamps*magnetic letters *painted lima beans

39. Word Ad • Divide the class into groups • Each group chooses a word, and brainstorms all the possible uses of the word. • They create a radio or television ad to ‘sell’ the word and present it to the class. • Variation: students think of a product for which they create a radio advertisement, using as many words as possible from the word wall. • The group avoids making direct reference to the product and asks the class to guess what it is that the ad is trying to sell.

40. Categories • Students create categories and group the words from the word wall to fit those categories. • Set the number of words that are allowed in a “miscellaneous” category and create a • maximum and minimum number of categories that can be used. • Could be done individually first; then students share/compare their categories with a partner. • Share their groups of words with the class who guess the principle behind the sorting.

41. Contextualization • Students write about a situation in which a word wall word would be commonly used. • The student reads the situation to the class, who then guess the relevant word. • Variation: students portray multiple contextual situations – for words with multiple meanings • E.g. “brackets” - something that could be spoken about in both writing and construction contexts.

42. Your Turn  • What ways have you used the Word Wall in your classroom?

43. Gettheminteractingwith the Word Wall!

44. Gettheminteractingwith the Word Wall! ___. _______.

45. Gettheminteractingwith the Word Wall! • Attach key words with Velcro strips or sticky tack • Put pockets under your Wall at the children's eye level. Place copies of key words in the pockets • These techniques allow students to go to the Wall, remove a word, use it at their desks, and return it

46. Gettheminteractingwith the Word Wall! • Have students record the number of times they use the word wall words in their writing • Sticky notes on the words • Stickers on the words • Text talk • Hang Man • “Wheel of Fortune” • “HinkPinks” – riddles with rhyming pairs • Jeopardy

47. Your Turn  • Wall space in classrooms is always limited! • What creative ways have you handled this?

48. No Wall Space – No Problem! • use three-panel display boards or foam display boards • These freestanding materials don't require any wall space, and can be moved around the room and placed on tables for easy visibility • You can fold one Word Wall down and put up another when a new student group arrives OR for different seasons/subjects • Easy storage!

49. No Wall Space – No Problem! • students take the ring of cards back to their desks • each subject's vocabulary words are in a different color index card to make the words easy to find • can be used year after year 

50. Portable Word Walls • A great alternate to the traditional word wall • Wonderful if you have limited wall space in your classroom • Perfect for students on the move • Available commercially • (check Teacher’s Trunk) • Make your own