• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Brown Bag Teacher

Teach the Children. Love the Children. Change the World.

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Meet the Teacher
    • Disclosures
    • Professional Development
  • My Classroom
    • Back to School
    • Differentiated Instruction
    • Distance Learning
    • Management
    • Organization
    • Technology
  • 1st Grade
    • Art
    • Daily Five
    • Guided Math
    • Reading/Literacy
    • Science
    • Writing
  • 5th Grade
    • 1:1 iPads
    • Book Displays
    • Community Building
    • ELA
    • On Demand Writing
  • Shop
  • Blog

July 7, 2014

Word Wall {Monday Made It}

Happy Monday, friends! While you are reading this post, I am on a plane to Las Vegas for the SDE Differentiated Instruction conference and the first ever Teachers Pay Teachers conferences. I.CANNOT.WAIT. It is going to be an amazing week of learning and meeting some of my favorite cyber friends. 🙂 While away, you can keep up with me and the conferences on Facebook, as well as, Instagram! I’ll be back on Thursday for our Reading in the Wild book study, and then, over the weekend I’ll share about my amazing week!
Today I’m joining the spectacular Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! With a new city and new school, I’m designing/creating my classroom from the ground up. Plus, I’m now teaching in a BRAND new school (it’s only been open 2 years), so everything is beautiful. I have 4 REAL walls (rather than partitions) and my walls are tan and blue, not bright yellow. It’s amazing! 
One of my first projects of the summer took place yesterday – my word wall. Initially, I planned on using a word wall different from last year…just to change it up, kicks and giggles – I say. Well friends, why change something that works?? Plus, last summer I spent an entire Sunday afternoon cutting out yellow circles and pieces of ribbon. (I choose to add yellow circles and ribbon, but you could change it out for any color/texture/style to match your room.) All of the pieces were still in great shape, so I decided to stay the course and use the interactive word wall!
Last year, I never took a picture of our word wall before the end of the year (oops!), so here is a screen shot from one of my video-taped lessons in January. Our Word Wall wasn’t complete (and the picture quality is not fantastic), but it gives you a general idea of how it developed. 🙂

Vocabulary is a HUGE part of the Common Core and plays a huge role in reading comprehension, so I really wanted my students engaging with and grappling with new vocabulary on a daily and weekly basis. 
With that said, I really wanted to do it in an authentic way…I didn’t want to throw a list of words at my 5th graders. 

So, I designed this interactive word wall where students learned 15 new words each week – 10 words from our Flocabulary video (Read about how we use Flocabulary here.) and 5 ‘Student Choice’ words.Throughout the school year, my students submited vocabulary suggestions from their own reading, using this quick and easy form. From these requests, I picked 5 words each week to include on the wall. The first few weeks of school, I picked all of the words as I ‘trained’ students to use this system. 

On Mondays, we watched the Flocabulary rap video, introduced the words, and recorded the words in our vocabulary logs. Vocabulary was our mini-lessons on Mondays, and then, we spent 5 minutes (or less) practicing/using the words throughout the week. On Tuesdays, we used the words in 7-Up sentences with our shoulder/fact partners. On Wednesdays, we found synonyms and antonyms for our words, and on Thursdays, we played a quick game of Showdown. Finally on Fridays, we assessed!

Since I had already assembled the letter headers making the word wall this year was simple. To make the headers, I used a circle cutter to cut the yellow circle backgrounds and then, the circle-letter headers. I attached 2 feet of ribbon to the back of each header.

Working together, Mom and I were able to put up the word wall is record time – 50 minutes!! I used 13 feet of black bulletin board paper to act as a background for the headers and then, attached the headers/ribbon use masking tape. SIMPLE!

Click here or the image below to learn more about this Interactive Word Wall Set. Using different colored ribbon and circles, it can match any classroom theme or work for any age group! 🙂

How do you manage your word wall? Do you include student-choice words or use a school program? I would love to hear what is typical at your school. 🙂 Also, make sure to stop by Monday Made It to check out all of the amazing summer projects out there!

Join me for weekly classroom updates and free resources that are just-right for your guided math classroom!

Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Related Posts

  • Classroom Reveal: Our Learning Space
  • Getting Started on Donors Choose
  • 1st Grade Classroom Reveal
  • Classroom Organization: Tips and TricksClassroom Organization: Tips and Tricks

Filed Under: 5th Grade, Back to School, ELA Tagged With: Classroom Reveal, Monday Made It, Vocabulary

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lena Troxtell says

    July 7, 2014 at 12:59 pm

    I really like this idea! We will have to wait and see what my room looks like but this might be an awesome choice! It looks great!

    Reply
  2. Miss McDonald says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:00 pm

    What a great way to use that space above your cubbies! I love this idea! 🙂

    Miss McDonald's Memoirs

    Reply
  3. Carol Davis says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:04 pm

    I recently helped my daughter put up her word wall. It looks very similar to yours! We used gray fabric on the background and chevron border. Her letters are a lot like yours, but with a touch of green and she used green ribbon. I'm looking for ideas for my own board now! Thanks for sharing!
    Carol
    Teachers Are Terrific!

    Reply
  4. Sara Kovach / Dare to be Different - Teach! says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:37 pm

    Those are very attractive, I really wish I had more wall space to do something like this.

    Reply
  5. Mrs D's Corner says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    What an adorable idea! I love it!

    Reply
  6. Ana says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    I really like your word wall!! I wish I had enough space to make that work… I'm going to have to see what I can do! 🙂
    Ana
    Mrs. Bentin's Blackboard

    Reply
  7. Jamie Sears says

    July 7, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    I love that you use a word wall even in the older grade! It is really cute too!
    Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher

    Reply
  8. A Rocky Top Teacher says

    July 7, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    Love this! Cannot wait to see your classroom reveal!

    See ya soon!
    -Sarah
    A Rocky Top Teacher

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 7, 2014 at 6:09 pm

      Thank you, Sarah!! And I have many more hours left before I can show it off-ha! 😉 Sitting in the airport now!!

      Reply
  9. Ashley D says

    July 7, 2014 at 3:29 pm

    This is amazing! Would be perfect for my 4th graders. Just added it to my TPT wishlist 🙂

    Reply
  10. Jenny Looney says

    July 7, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    Just added those headers to my wish list! I'm loving that word wall! Last year I put my letters on my white board, so we could write words on our word wall whenever new words came up. I'm getting a new classroom and I think it has limited white board space, so this is a great alternative!
    Jenny

    Livin’ the Third Grade Dream

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 7, 2014 at 6:10 pm

      Oooo…so glad you found something that might work for you. 🙂

      Reply
  11. Erin says

    July 7, 2014 at 5:20 pm

    I love this and wish I had more wall space! I love the idea of a building list for your students, it makes it that much more engaging!
    Erin
    Short and Sassy Teacher

    Reply
  12. Miss King says

    July 7, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    I LOVE your word wall! I am sort of doing something like this for my homophones. TOO CUTE!
    Miss King's Enchanted Kingdom

    Reply
  13. Learning in Wonderland says

    July 7, 2014 at 6:16 pm

    Wow! Your word wall is gorgeous!!

    Reply
  14. Bridget S says

    July 7, 2014 at 6:45 pm

    I love it!!! IT IS PERFECT!!!

    Bridget
    Literacy Without Worksheets

    Reply
  15. Tara says

    July 7, 2014 at 10:35 pm

    GORGEOUS!!!!! Now if I can only find the wall space I WILL be doing this!!! Love it! Thanks for linking it up:)
    4th Grade Frolics

    Reply
  16. Anne says

    July 8, 2014 at 1:56 am

    This is a post chock full of great info. I'm really interested in the way you teach vocabulary. Could you explain a bit more how you assess on Friday? Also, when I clicked on the link for "showdown", I didn't find an explanation of that page…am I missing it? I'm going to ask PTO to get Flocabulary for my team and try to use some of your ideas. Thanks for a great post!

    Reply
  17. Mary W says

    July 8, 2014 at 2:19 am

    I love the ribbon on your word wall! I wish I had the space to do that.

    Mary
    Fit to be Fourth

    Reply
  18. Courtney says

    July 8, 2014 at 2:55 am

    You are AMAZING!
    Courtney
    Ramona Recommends

    Reply
  19. Musings from the Foreign Teacher says

    July 8, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    Love your word wall, it's gorgeous. I have never used one before but really want to reinforce vocabulary next year. Thanks for the suggestions.

    Reply
  20. Kristin says

    July 8, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    I have limited kid-level space in my room. I did letters and ribbons with my words this past year and my word wall was elevated. The kids didn't use it that often, though. I'm not sure if it was because it was elevated or the words were too small or a combination. How high up is your word wall and how big do you make your words?

    Kristin
    Teaching In A Nutshell

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

My name is Catherine Reed, and I am in Year 10 of my elementary life, residing in small-town, Kentucky.  I student taught in 1st grade and never ...

Read More

Find it Fast!

Join Me!

Join me for weekly classroom updates and free resources that are just-right for your guided math classroom!

Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Don’t Miss These!

Working together to meet a goal builds classroom community & encourages teamwork. As a PBIS school, check our our 20 favorite nonfood, low-cost rewards!

20 Positive Behavior Rewards that Aren’t Food

Guided Reading offers students intentional reading instruction with texts that are just a little too hard! From lesson planning to benchmarking students to word work activities, check out these awesome ideas to make Guided Reading work!

Guided Reading: 1st Grade Style

Weekly Lesson Planning Routine

Overwhelmed by math centers? Check out these SIMPLE ideas for create predictable patterns and routines that allow for streamlined planning!

Managing Math Centers

Wordless Picture Books

Categories

Archives

Footer

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Join Me!

Join me for weekly classroom updates and free resources that are just-right for your guided math classroom!

Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

The Brown Bag Teacher © 2022Built with and Genesis Framework by Bellano Web Studio