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 primary 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 year 3 class!
New to this concept? Our expert English 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.
One idea for a word wall is to add words throughout the school year as students learn new vocabulary.
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 seated across the room.
- Keep contrast in mind to ensure readability — you might want to use a dark background with lighter text.
- The organisation 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 organise 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 mount words to the wall. Using sticky tack or similar mounting putty will make it easier for students 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 customise 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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Impacts of Colonisation Word Wall
A Word Wall of the Impacts of Colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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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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Wildlife Conservation Vocabulary Words
Build academic vocabulary with a printable Animal Conservation word wall.
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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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Fraction, Percentage and Decimal Word Wall Vocabulary
Print your own fraction, percentage and decimal vocabulary for use on a maths word wall.
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Narrative Writing Word Wall
Review terms related to narrative texts and narrative writing with a set of 33 narrative vocabulary word wall cards.
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42 Action Vocabulary Words
42 action verb-related vocabulary word cards for use on a word wall.
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Recount Writing Word Wall
A set of 30 vocabulary words related to recount writing.
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Narrative Vocabulary Word Wall
A set of words to help your students when writing narrative texts.
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Light Word Wall Vocabulary
Sixty light related vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Australian Animals - Word Wall Template
A set of Australian animals-themed vocabulary word wall cards.
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Exploring Yesterday and Today – History Word Wall Vocabulary
27 exploring yesterday and today vocabulary cards.
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Early Explorers - History Word Wall Vocabulary
Forty-two Early Explorer related vocabulary cards.
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Past and Present Word Wall Vocabulary
A set of 30 vocabulary words related to teaching about the past and present.
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Illustrated Ocean Animals Word Wall Cards
Introduce your students to the amazing animals in the sea with an illustrated ocean animal word wall.
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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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Coordinate Planes and Graphing – Vocabulary Cards
Promote maths vocabulary development with this set of 18 graphing and coordinate plane cards.
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Units of Measurement Word Wall Vocabulary
Print a pack of measurement vocabulary cards to help your students review academic vocabulary.
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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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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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Save Planet Earth - Science Word Wall Vocabulary
Print and display Earth Day-related terms in your classroom to improve vocabulary and discussion about Earth Day.
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Ancient Egypt Word Wall Vocabulary
Download a printable set of 36 Ancient Egypt-themed vocabulary word wall cards for your classroom
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Strong Verbs Word Wall
Print a set of strong verbs word wall cards to help your students boost their writing skills!
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28 On the Farm Vocabulary Words
28 on the farm-related vocabulary word cards for use on a word wall.
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Poetry Word Wall
A set of 30 vocabulary words related to poetry.
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Scientific Method Word Wall Vocabulary
Thirty-nine scientific method vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Australian Gold Rush - Word Wall
An Australian Gold Rush themed word wall to use in the classroom.
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Money Word Wall Vocabulary
A comprehensive set of word wall vocabulary cards related to money.
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Exploring My Local Community - History Word Wall Vocabulary
20 vocabulary cards about exploring the local community.
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Sound Families Word Wall
A set of 45 word wall cards featuring common sound families.
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Olympic Games - Word Wall
An Olympics themed word wall to use in the classroom.
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British Colonies in Australia - History Word Wall Vocabulary
45 British Colonisation in Australia related vocabulary cards.