Word Walls for Teachers
Are word walls a part of your strategy for boosting literacy skills in the classroom? Or maybe you're looking for word wall ideas and printables to add to your teacher toolkit?
The Teach Starter teacher team has carefully created and curated this collection of word walls for primary teachers to cover your needs — whether you're helping your kindergarten class stay on track with sight words or introducing new social studies vocabulary to your year 3 class!
New to this concept? Our expert English teachers have got you covered with a few quick tips to help you determine if a word wall is right for your classroom!
What Is a Word Wall?
A word wall is pretty much what the name implies — a classroom wall display with words in large print that can be read by students from across the room.
What goes on a word wall? Oh, the possibilities!
- Sight words
- Unit vocabulary
- Parts of speech
- Prepositions
- Content area words
- High-frequency words
- Word families
- Spelling words
- And more!
Used as an interactive tool, word walls tend to start out small and grow as you progress through a lesson or unit and students learn new sight words or vocabulary to be added to their word wall.
One idea for a word wall is to add words throughout the school year as students learn new vocabulary.
How to Make a Classroom Word Wall
If this all sounds good so far, let's talk about how to actually create a word wall. There are plenty of ideas out there, from using pictures alongside the words to printing your words on fun shapes, but here are some important tips our teacher team stands by:
- Make sure your words are printed in large text that can be easily read even by students seated across the room.
- Keep contrast in mind to ensure readability — you might want to use a dark background with lighter text.
- The organisation is key! Many word walls are set up in alphabetical order to make it easier for students to find the words they are looking for right when they need them, but you may want to organise unit vocabulary terms by how they connect to one another or group word families together.
- Choose a spot on your classroom wall that has space for additional words to be added.
- Keep your students' usage in mind when you mount words to the wall. Using sticky tack or similar mounting putty will make it easier for students to remove a word and take it back to their desks when necessary. You can also set up a word wall with wall hooks and place words on book rings (or looseleaf rings) so students can take them down to flip through!
Easy Word Wall Ideas
Looking for easy-peasy word wall ideas? Our team has got those for you, too, with word lists developed by teachers for teachers! Explore this collection of printable word walls that cover a variety of subjects and grade levels to save your precious planning time.
- Print and display the vocabulary cards that are provided.
- Use the customise option to add content words of your own.
- Use the blank cards at the end of the resource to add any specific words that your class finds during their learning experiences.
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Learning Areas - Word Wall - English
A set of English-themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Rainbow Starburst - Word Wall Template
A set of rainbow starburst themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Hollywood - Word Wall Template
A set of Hollywood themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Chocolate Buttons - Word Wall Template
A set of chocolate button themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Respiratory System Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of word wall cards with respiratory system vocabulary.
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Nervous System Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of word wall cards with nervous system vocabulary.
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Green Tartan - Word Wall Template
A set of green tartan themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Block Beasties - Word Wall Template
A set of building block-themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Owls - Word Wall Template
A set of owl themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Ancient Rome - Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of 20 Ancient Rome themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Monster Madness - Word Wall Template
A set of monster madness themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Tropical Paradise - Word Wall Template
A set of tropical paradise themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Pineapples - Word Wall Template
A set of pineapple themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Proud Peacocks - Word Wall Template
A set of proud peacock themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Pastel Flags - Word Wall Template
A set of pastel flag themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Plain Purple - Word Wall Template
A set of plain purple-themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Teal Chevron - Word Wall Template
A set of teal chevron themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Blank Lined Paper for Word Walls
Blank lined paper for identifying content specific vocabulary.
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Native Australian Flora and Fauna - Word Wall Template
A set of native Australian flora and fauna themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Ancient Rome - Word Wall Template
A set of Ancient Rome themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Scottish Wars of Independence Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of 48 Scottish history related vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Matariki Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of 18 Matariki related vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Pencils - Word Wall Template
A set of pencil themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Coding Word Wall Definitions
A set of definition word wall cards to display in your classroom when learning about computer coding.
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Music Symbols Vocabulary Word Wall
15 music related vocabulary word wall cards with associated musical symbols.
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Rainbow - Word Wall Template
A set of rainbow themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Pastel Dots - Word Wall Template
A set of pastel dot themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Monotheistic Religion Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of vocabulary words relating to monotheistic religions.
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Bright Chevron - Word Wall Template
A set of bright chevron themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Lush Leaves White - Word Wall Template
A set of lush tropical leaves themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Sports - Word Wall Template
A set of sport themed vocabulary word wall cards.