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word wall

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Rest in peace, dead words!
“Dead words,” by my definition, are words students “use to death” in their writing samples. As Language Arts teachers, we can generate a list of such words a mile long. Examples would include: pretty, nice, bad, a lot, and good. This cooperative learning activity is designed to eliminate those repetitious words by providing students with a word bank/wall they can refer to when given a writing assignment.
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts)
By Cynthia Cook.
Hear it, spell it, see it!
This is an activity to help children develop visual recognition of basic sight word vocabulary at the kindergarten level. The words covered are: I, am, can, like, it, and is. This is a simple, quick activity that adds a new dimension to sight word building with the help of the computer.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)
By Vickie Hedrick.
Digging in the dictionary
In this activity, first grade children will learn to use an age-appropriate dictionary to find a word, write its definition, write a sentence using that word, and report their results to their classmates.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Information Skills)
By Mary Waldrup.
Vowel, consonant, vowel your way to better reading
This is a lesson for Secondary Special Education Teachers who teach exceptional children who are reading at the second grade level. Students will learn decoding patterns using vowels and consonants to divide words into syllables in order to sound out the word.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)
By Julie Wilson.
Using symbol and function keys
Students retype sentences in the data file that require the use of shift and Caps Lock (function keys) as well as some symbol keys ($, ?, !, &, ", /). Students must put capital letters at the beginning of some sentences and correct punctuation marks at the end of others.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Computer/Technology Skills)
By Carolyn Uprichard.

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An organized collection of words displayed on a classroom wall for easy student reference. Word walls help develop student vocabulary and support reading and writing.

Additional information

The word wall collection should be built gradually, with the addition of several words per week. Words should be written on large index cards for ease of reading, and focus on commmonly-used words.

Often used with new writers and readers, word walls can also be used for older students to explore homonyms, for frequently misspelled words, or to cluster words related to a particular theme or unit.

Examples and resources

See the Four Blocks site on Working with Words for more information on word walls. In addition, see The Interactive Word Wall for information including more than 20 examples of word wall activities.