Vocabulary wall- sounds a bit uncommon, right? What is this device and why do we need it? We will discuss that in this article, but first, let’s take a look at our current vocabulary expansion process.

What tricks do you apply to improve your vocabulary? Most of you will answer by learning new words regularly. And how do you remember them? By maintaining a notebook? Or do you depend on your memory only? Or do you actively use those words in your daily life?

Learning new words is easy but remembering all of them is hard. And there is no point in acquiring more words if you keep forgetting old ones.

 

What Is a Vocabulary Wall?

Now imagine a wall in your room or in your classroom, filled with the words you are learning or struggling to learn. You can always see them before your eyes and can look at them whenever you need. That is called a vocabulary wall.

In other words, a vocabulary wall is a collection of words displayed on a board or other surface. It is usually used in the classroom to teach students, but students can easily build one for them at home.

A vocabulary wall is a practical interactive way to help students remember the words by always showing the words in front of them. They can take a quick glance at them while writing or reading a passage.

Vocabulary walls can also be used to teach spelling too. Walls containing high-frequency words can be built for beginner level students. It can also contain irregularly spelt words or commonly misspelt words for advanced level students. If done correctly, it can also teach students about spelling patterns. The wall can also teach students about roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Vocabulary wall is a widely used tool for teaching and you can use it too. But first, you need proper planning.

 

Building A Vocabulary Wall

Appropriate Location

Finding a proper place in your classroom can be a bit tricky. You need to take care of certain factors:

• There should be enough space for including all necessary words
• The place should be well-lit
• It should not be too high or too low. The students should be able to look at it easily.

Students in lower grades cannot look at words written in a high place. The wall should be within their eye level.

 

Vocabulary Wall Display

The words should be prominent enough. The students must read it easily. The letters need to be large enough to see from afar.

The type of display also matters. Are you using a whiteboard and writing down the letters? Or will you write those words on paper and glue them to a board? You can also use big magnet letters. Anything that makes finding and understanding the word easy is acceptable.

Colour combination is another important part. Use vibrant colours for the words with a white background. Multicoloured background with black letters can also work. Be careful if you are using multiple colours for both words and background. The display should be pleasing to the eyes.

Want to know about common vocabulary errors? You should definitely read our blog on it.

 

Organizing Words

You should decide what types of words will be on the wall and what pattern will they follow.  More so, you should also take into account the level of your students. You can organize the words in alphabetical order and use a separate section for each letter. For example:

A Able, Act, Add, After, Again, Air, All, Among, Angle, Apple, Area, Ask, Attend, Aura, Average, Away	B Ball, Bear, Become, Bed, Before, Bell, Best, Big, Bird, Black, Blue, Board, Bone, Book, Box, Break, Brown, But	C Call, Can, Car, Case, Center, Chart, Child, City, Class, Color, Come, Control, Cook, Cost, Cow, Create, Cut	D Dark, day, Deal, Deep, Direct, Doctor, Draw, Dress, Dry
E Ear, Eat, Egg, Eight, Else, End, English, Enjoy, Even, Exact, Explain, Eye	F Face, Fall, Far, Fast, Fear, Fee, Field, Fine, Fire, Fit, Floor, Flower, Fly, Food, Force, Four, Free, Fur	G Game, Gas, Get, Girl, Glass, Go, Good, Great, Grow, Guess	H Had, Hair, Hand, Has, Head, Help, High, Hill, Hit, Home, Hot, How, Human
I Ice, Idea, If, In, Interesting, Iron, Is, It	J Jail, Job, Jump, Just	K Keep, Key, King, Know	L Land, Last, Late, Law, Left, Leg, Less, Lie, Life, Light, Like, Live, Look, Lost, Love, Low
M Main, Make, Man, Map, Mark, May, Me, Meet, Metal, Milk, Mind, Money, Month, Moon, Mother, Much, Music, Must	N Name, Near, Need, New, Nose, Now	O Off, Often, Oil, Old, One, Only, Order, Other, Our, Over, Own	P Page, Paper, Park, Past, Pay, People, Person, Pie, Place, Plan, Play, Poem, Poor, Price, Put
Q Queen, Question, Queue	R Race, Rain, Rat, Read, Red, Report, Rest, Rich, Ring, River, Road, Room, Rose, Row, Run	S Safe, Same, Saw, Scale, Sea, See, Sell, Shape, Sound, Space, Spot, Stand, Star, Still, Stop, Strong, Study, Sugar, Sun, Swim	T Table, Talk, Team, Test, That, There, Think, Though, Three, Time, Tool, Town, Travel, Tree, Try, Tube
U Uncle, Unit, Use,	V Value, Very, View, Village, Voice	W Walk, Warm, Water, Way, Week, Wheel, Whole, Wild, Wind, Word, Write	Y Yard, Years, Young, Your

 

This wall contains fry sight words for kindergarteners. Building such a wall in the classroom will help them remember the words faster. You can also make such a vocabulary wall using uncommon words only. In that case, you must include the meaning.

Vocabulary expansion exercises can also include vocabulary walls. Learn more about these expansions now!

Categorizing words by their roots, suffixes and prefixes is a great idea to enrich vocabulary. The student will get an idea about the meaning without much effort. This strategy is particularly useful in learning field related words e.g., science-related words or geography-related words. The wall can also display synonyms and antonyms. Check the vocabulary wall ideas below:

 

Vocabulary Wall Based on Roots

Greek Root		Latin Root
Astron Star Astronaut, Astrology	Auto Self Automatic, Automobile, Autograph	Annus Year Annual, Annuity, Anniversary	Bene Good Benefit, Beneficial
Bio Life Biology, Biography, Antibiotic	Dia Across Diagram, Dialect, Diagonal, Diagnosis	Capitis Head Capital, Captain	Contra Against Contradictory, Contrast, Contrary
Geo Earth Geology, Geography, Geometry	Homo Same Homophone, Homonym	Dictum Speak Dictionary, Dictate, Predict	Equi Equal Equity, Equation
Mega Large Megapolis, Megaphone	Micro Small Microscope, Microfiber, Micron	Fract Break Fraction, Fracture, Infraction	Ject Throw Eject, Reject, Object, Inject, Project
Meter Measure Diameter, Millimeter, Thermometer	Para Beside Parallel, Parenthesis, Paragraph, Parabola	Migrat Move Migration, Migratory, Immigrant	Populus People Population, Republic, Publication
Phone Sound Telephone, Phonics, Microphone, Symphony	Sphere Ball Atmosphere, Hemisphere, Spherical	Port Carry Portable, Transport, Import, Export	Scribe Write Scribble, Transcript, Prescribe, Describe
Techne Skill Technician, Technology	Therm Heat Thermos, Thermodynamic	Trans Across Transfer, Transport, Transaction, Transmit	Verb Word Verbal, Proverb

 

Vocabulary Wall for Synonyms

Word	Synonym	Antonym
Aesthetic	Artistic, Beautiful, Pretty	Ugly
Big	Enormous, Gigantic, Huge	Small, Tiny
Colossal	Immense	Miniscule
Diligent	Active, Devoted, Hardworking	Careless, Lazy
Erudite	Literate, Scholar, Wise	Uneducated
Gloom	Despair, sadness	Joy, Happiness, Delight
Implacable	Brutal, Cruel, Merciless	Kind, Mercy
Jumble	Unorganized, Mixed up	Order, organized
Meticulous	Cautious, Careful	Reckless
Nigh	Adjacent, Close, Near	Far
Obnoxious	Offensive	Agreeable
Perceive	Notice, Realize	Overlook
Sinister	Bad, Evil, Nasty	Auspicious, Good
Timid	Bashful, Introvert, Quiet	Extrovert
Weary	Exhausted, Tired	Energetic

 

Which words to include in the vocabulary wall can be a matter of hassle, but not with SpellQuiz. SpellQuiz Words Lists are divided into grades and available for adults too. There are multiple words lists for each grade including fry or sight words and separate word lists are available for the spelling bees.

 

Vocabulary Wall Ideas for Interactive Learning

• Student participation is needed in this kind of project. Take their opinion on the vocabulary wall display. Ask them which words they want to see on the wall and which pattern should be followed.
• The students should participate in making also. Hand them the papers, paints and other equipment and give instructions. Keep an eye on them while using glue, scissors etc.
• The wall should have enough space for adding new words. You can add them on monthly basis.
• The words displayed must be learned in the classroom beforehand.
• You can make separate sections on the wall, for example, Fry word section, irregularly spelt word section, scientific word section etc. The goal is to make the wall as efficient as possible.

 

Vocabulary Wall Activities

The basic function of the vocabulary wall is to give students quick access to words necessary in classroom activities. The students must know how to use the wall for their benefit.

• Instruct students to always check the words on the wall when they are forgetting one.
• Encourage them to use the words on the wall in their writing or in conversation. Use these activities to make sure they are using the vocabulary wall properly:
  • Assign certain words and ask them to write a paragraph about it.
  • Assign a topic for discussion and tell them to use as many words as possible for the wall.
• The wall can be used in other ways also. For example:
  • Some words have multiple definitions in a different contexts. Ask the students to discuss them and use the word accordingly in their activity.
  • Ask them to rearrange the words using a new pattern occasionally, especially when the number of words is increasing. Why do they think the new pattern will be more useful?

The effectiveness of the wall can be determined by evaluating the student’s vocabulary range. You can monitor the progress of your students using the SpellQuiz Vocabulary Test. The test can evaluate one’s vocabulary size within just 10 minutes. The audio clips used in the questions are recorded by professional voice artists so that the participant has no problem understanding.

Vocabulary Wall is an effective idea for improving the vocabulary of the students. For more interesting ideas, don’t forget to check SpellQuiz Blogs.

Happy Spelling!