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 elementary 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 3rd-grade class!
New to this concept? Our expert ELA 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.
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 who are seated across the room.
- Keep contrast in mind to ensure readability — you might want to use a dark background with lighter text.
- Organization 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 organize 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're mounting words to the wall. Using sticky tack or similar mounting putty will make it easier for students to be able 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 customize 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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Black History Word Wall Cards
Use this set of 42 Black History Month vocabulary words to expand your students’ language skills and knowledge of history.
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Music Word Wall Vocabulary
Build a comprehensive music vocabulary display with a set of 80 printable music vocabulary word cards.
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Onomatopoeia Words - Vocabulary Display
Display a fun onomatopoeia word wall in your classroom with printable cards containing onomatopoeia examples.
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Ocean Animals Word Wall Cards with Pictures
Introduce your students to the amazing animals in the sea with an illustrated ocean animal word wall.
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Weather Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created weather resource to teach weather vocabulary. Build a word wall with your students during your weather lessons.
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Earth, Sun, and Moon – Vocabulary Cards and Puzzles
Reinforce science vocabulary with this set of word wall cards and vocabulary puzzles covering the Earth, sun, and moon.
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Lights, Camera, Action - Theater Word Wall Vocabulary
Lights, camera, action word wall vocabulary cards to expand your students' theater vocabulary.
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Animal Adaptations Vocabulary Display
Introduce animal adaptation and behavior vocabulary with a word wall featuring photographs and definitions of adaptation-related words.
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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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Water Cycle Words - Illustrated Word Wall
Boost vocabulary skills and understanding with an illustrated water cycle word wall.
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Prefix Word Wall - Words with Un, Re, Pre, Dis, In, and Mis
Build a vocabulary bulletin board of words with un-, re-, pre-, dis-, mis-, and in- with a printable prefix word wall display.
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Magnetism Vocabulary Cards
Reinforce science vocabulary in your classroom with this set of word wall cards that focus on magnetism.
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Persuasive Words – Modality Word Wall with Information
Immerse your students in high, medium and low modality words with this set of 56 word wall cards.
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Fraction, Percentage and Decimal Word Wall Vocabulary
Print a set of fraction, percentage and decimal vocabulary for use on a math word wall.
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Word Wall - Earth's History Vocabulary Cards
Introduce your students to Earth's history with a printable vocabulary word wall.
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Rock Cycle Vocabulary Word Wall
Promote daily rock cycle vocabulary review with a printable rock cycle vocabulary word wall.
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Coordinate Planes and Graphing Vocabulary Card Set
Introduce coordinate planes to your students with this set of 18 vocabulary cards.
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Illustrated Landform Vocabulary Word Wall
Show your students examples of different landforms with a set of printable Landform word and picture cards.
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Muscular System Word Wall Vocabulary
Learn about the vocabulary related to the human muscular system with a printable science word wall.
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Animal Characteristics - Write the Room Activity
Help your young students read and write about features of animals with a printable Animal Characteristics Write the Room activity.
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Insect Word Wall - Insect Names and Pictures
Use a printable insect word wall to introduce your students to the creepiest, crawliest creatures on the planet.
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Ocean & Marine Word Wall Vocabulary
64 marine life word wall vocabulary cards.
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Gravity Word Wall Vocabulary Cards
Immerse your students in gravity vocabulary with this set of 15 illustrated vocabulary cards perfect for a word wall display.
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Friction Word Wall Vocabulary Cards
Immerse your students in friction vocabulary with this set of 15 illustrated vocabulary cards perfect for a word wall display.
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Seasonal Changes Words and Definitions Display
Display this easy-to-read seasons word set in your classroom as you investigate seasonal changes with your young students.
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Weathering, Erosion and Deposition Vocabulary Posters
Display this set of science vocabulary posters in your classroom when teaching about weathering, erosion and deposition.
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Electricity Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created electricity resource to teach electricity-related vocabulary. Build a word wall with your students during your electricity lessons.
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Magnets Word Wall Vocabulary
Expand your students' science vocabulary with printable Magnets word wall vocabulary cards.
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Space - Word Wall Vocabulary
Use these space vocabulary words and space terms to unlock the solar system for your elementary students as they learn about space, the solar system, and the world far beyond your school.
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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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Objects in the Sky – Vocabulary Cards and Writing Templates
Create a vocabulary and writing center with a word wall and writing templates that cover objects in the sky.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Environmental Word Wall
Help your young students learn about recycling and conservation with an illustrated word wall.