Word Wall Revamp!

At the end of this last school year I made a list of things I wanted to do better at teaching next school year.

One of the top items was my Word Wall.

I started off strong last year... I created, printed, laminated, and cut out new letters for the Word Wall headers. I talked with first grade and got a list of words they focused on throughout the year, words my 2nd graders would definitely know and I turned those words into word cards to be added to the Word Wall.

And then October came, SPED, LAP, ELL, and RTi started, I my schedule got hectic and I lost track of my Word Wall. 

So how will this year be different? 

I started by making new headers to match my new classroom theme "Bright Chevron." I have a whole Classroom Basics pack coming soon soon soon! Included will be my Word Wall, ABC posters, a Birthday Bulletin Board, name tags, table numbers, supply labels, lots of bunting banners, and more!

I was at school today for a scheduling meeting and wanted to get something done in my classroom so I started with my Word Wall. 

I chose to put my Word Wall in the back corner of my classroom. This is going to be one of the main meeting areas for my class (here and in front of the SmartBoard). I thought about putting it up on one of the cross beams but quickly x'd that idea knowing that if something is too high for me to reach... even standing on a chair... then I am not likely to stick to it.  

I also want my students to interact with the Word Wall A-L-O-T this year, so putting it at a comfortable level for them to see will be beneficial, too. 

As I was putting up the headers, with my million little blue tape bubbles ready and waiting, I started to first worry...what if we run out of space for all of our words?! That got me thinking... Word Wall Master Board. Here is what I am thinking...

Let's say letter "O" gets full, we have no where to put anymore "O" words on our Word Wall, but we just learned a very important word in science "omnivore" and we desperately want to add it to our Word Wall!! What do we do?

How about we look through the other "O" words on the Word Wall and choose one to take off, one that we have MASTERED! We can read it, we can spell it with out eyes closed, we can use it in a statement, question, exclamation, we can find it in stories... WE.HAVE.MATERED.IT! So we sing our Word Wall Mastered It song (working on this...) and then we add it to a special poster or bulletin board, or something in the hall, front office, commons area... and every time we walk by our wall of Mastered Word Wall Words we feel proud, we smile, and maybe we even do a little dance :)

Just  a thought!

Pinterest gave me a great way to instantly get my students working on Word Wall words. Thanks to Jennifer over at DiaryofaSecondGrader I now have a little project to get on! Hurry on over to her blog and get your copy of her SUPER cute Word Wall Chants!

I would just love to hear what goes on in your classroom when it comes to your Word Wall.