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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Modality Word Wall With Information
Immerse your students in high, medium and low modality words with this set of 56 word wall cards.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Vocabulary Word Wall
Help your students enhance their persuasive writing skills with a set of 40 persuasive vocabulary word cards.
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Understanding Angles – Word Wall Vocabulary Cards
Promote maths vocabulary development with this set of 15 vocabulary cards focusing on angles.
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Describing Rocks and Minerals Chart Pack
Use a Describing Rocks and Minerals Chart to help your students describe the properties of rocks and minerals.
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British Colonies in Australia - History Word Wall Vocabulary
45 British Colonisation in Australia related vocabulary cards.
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Time Connectives Word Wall
Help your students demonstrate the passage of time in their writing with 35 time connective word cards.
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Year 3 Heat Energy Vocabulary Cards
Explore heat energy vocabulary with this set of thermal energy vocabulary cards.
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Australian Federation - History Word Wall Vocabulary
90 Australian Federation related vocabulary cards.
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Light Vocabulary Word Wall
Print out and use our Light Vocabulary Word Wall to introduce new vocabulary for your light energy unit.
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Informative Writing Word Wall
Display key vocabulary related to informative writing with a set of 48 word wall cards.
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Describing Rocks and Soils Vocabulary Cards
Introduce your little learners to the academic vocabulary they need to describe rocks and minerals with a printable rocks vocabulary word wall.
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Animal Adaptations Vocabulary Display
Introduce animal adaptation and behaviour vocabulary with a word wall featuring photographs and definitions of adaptation-related words.
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Units of Measurement Word Wall Vocabulary
Print a pack of measurement vocabulary cards to help your students review academic vocabulary.
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Greek and Latin Root Words - Illustrated Word Wall
Use word wall displays to build student vocabulary with daily exposure to Greek and Latin root words.
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States of Matter Word Wall Vocabulary
Review vocabulary related to matter with a printable illustrated States of Matter Word Wall.
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Statistics Word Wall Vocabulary
A comprehensive selection of statistics vocabulary for use on a Mathematics Word Wall.
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Living and Non-Living Things - Word Wall Vocabulary
Discover the world of living and nonliving things, starting with a printable vocabulary word wall.
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Fraction, Percentage and Decimal Word Wall Vocabulary
Print your own fraction, percentage and decimal vocabulary for use on a maths word wall.
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Weather Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created weather resource to teach weather vocabulary. Build a weather word wall with your students during your weather lessons.
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Poetry Vocabulary Words – Word Wall
Display and discuss vocabulary related to poetry and figurative language with a set of 30 word wall cards.
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Procedure Writing Word Wall
Display this set of 30 procedure writing words in your classroom when teaching your students how to write a procedure.
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First Fleet Word Wall
A vocabulary word wall to display and use in the classroom when learning about the First Fleet.
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Properties of Materials Word Wall Vocabulary
Forty-eight 'properties of materials' vocabulary cards.
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Kindness Vocabulary Word Wall
Learn vocabulary around the topic of kindness with this set of word wall cards.
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Australia and Its Neighbours - Geography Word Wall Vocabulary
Sixty-three mapping vocabulary cards for Geography.
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Soil Word Wall Vocabulary Cards
Immerse your students in subject-specific vocabulary related to soil types and their properties with this set of 16 illustrated vocabulary cards.
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Prefix Words Classroom Display
Build a classroom word wall and boost vocabulary skills with a printable prefix classroom display.
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Natural Disasters Vocabulary Display
Reinforce science vocabulary in your classroom with this set of illustrated and annotated natural disaster word wall cards.
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Save Planet Earth - Science Word Wall Vocabulary
Print and display Earth Day-related terms in your classroom to improve vocabulary and discussion about Earth Day.
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Moon Phases – Vocabulary Cards
Reinforce science vocabulary with a set of 15 vocabulary cards covering the different phases of the moon and related terms.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Environmental Word Wall
Help your students learn about recycling and conservation with an illustrated word wall.
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Economics Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of vocabulary word wall cards to use for a unit on economics.