How to Decorate a Word Wall for an Elementary Classroom

An elementary school classroom should be a fun, inviting and exciting place for students to learn. When you come in the classroom to teach, you also want to find things to make you smile and things that inspire you to teach with the passion that brought you into the profession. A word wall is a great addition to any classroom for so many reasons. Repetition is the most assured way of learning something, and seeing a word over and over is great for recognition and spelling improvement.

Instructions

1. Start with a brightly colored board as your canvas. Choose one that stands out from all of the other colors of your classroom. If browns are the norm, go with orange. If you have light blues in your classroom, choose a bold navy blue. You want the word wall to be the focus point of your classroom.

2. Grab several pieces of paper, both white and color. Cut all different sizes out of the papers. You want to make words of all sizes to place on the board. The collage of words will not look visually appealing if it's written as a mere list. Make sure you have various shapes and colors when preparing the canvases for your words.

3. Write words that will be used this year for spelling and vocabulary. You don't want to choose words below the grade level, but you also don't want to choose words that students will find too difficult and frustrating. Choosing words from your own current and future lessons will give your students a leg up on the lessons for the year. Write the words in all different sizes.

4. Choose a word that you think is most important for your class to know. It could be a synonym for smart or kindness. You should make this word larger than all the others, on the biggest sheet of paper. This is going to the be the centerpiece for your word wall.

5. Find some images of the words used on the wall. You don't have to pick many images, but you should definitely pick some important ones. Pick images of words that will be difficult for students to learn or hard to explain without a visual cue. Place the visuals nearby the word on the board.

6. Staple, tape or glue all the words and images to the brightly colored wall. Treat this as a collage, but you must make sure that each word is individually clear and easily readable.

Tips & Warnings

• Go with vivid colors when choosing the construction paper. You can even choose a multi-colored pen for writing the words.

• Don't be afraid to tell the child to look up a word on his own. Your word wall is for learning, but you don't have to give a student the answers to everything simply because you're the teacher. Looking up a word on his own will probably ensure that he remembers it longer.