Tips to Make Your Word Wall Beneficial & Functional

Today, we started back with our first "teacher day" and it was the first day that I have worked on my room since last year.  The main thing I got accomplished was getting my word wall laminated (thanks to our awesome librarian) and hung up in my room.  I also cleaned the tables and got them all in order along with my own desk.  While everything is still in the boxes I packed at the end of last year, I will get all of that cleaned up and put up tomorrow.

This is my word wall that I put up today. I kind of love how it
turned out. <3

While hanging up my word wall, I realized some pointers that I wanted to share with you guys in an attempt to make it easier for you than it was for me.

1. Make sure your letters are large enough to see from across the classroom.

2. Laminate the cards or letters that you will stick to the wall.

3. Make sure you have enough room on the wall.  If not, you can get creative and put it on two walls like I did. I kind of like how it looks.

4.  Make sure that you can reach the word wall to easily put words on and take them off.  Make sure the kids can reach it, too, so that they can interact and play the word wall games.

5.  Try to position the word wall in a place that does not have desks in front of it.  I am going to be moving those desks in my picture.  I know this isn't always 100% possible, but do the best you can.

Two years ago, I had my wonderful husband hang letters perfectly around the top of my classroom. THE TOP! I could not reach it and none of my students (even the 6 foot kids) could reach any of the letters or the words.  So, this word wall failed miserably.  So, all of that to say that, even though the word wall might be cute and look great in your classroom, it must be functional to be beneficial for your kids.

I can't wait to add words to my wall.
If you have any tips, share them in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.