Word Wall Building
To develop sight word recognition for personally meaningful and high-frequency words.
- Framework: EYFS
- Unit: EYFS Literacy
- Learning area: Literacy
- Level: EYFS 3-4
Objectives
- Recognises personally meaningful words
- Reads some high-frequency words
- Uses word wall as resource
- Shows increasing word bank
Materials
- Large display board
- Word cards (child's choice)
- Word wall for the room
- Individual word tins
Instructions
Establish the word wall as a living, child-contributed resource. Each week, invite children to suggest a word they'd like to know: names of characters from favourite books, words from current topics, children's own names, family member names.
Write each contributed word on a card in front of the child who suggested it: 'Dragon! You want to know 'dragon'? Here's 'dragon'.' Write large and say each letter: 'D-R-A-G-O-N. Dragon!' Add it to the wall.
Visit the word wall regularly as a group: 'Who can spot the word 'dragon'? What does it start with? Can you see another word with a 'd'?' This brief daily interaction builds word recognition over time.
Create individual word tins — small tins or bags where children collect words they 'know'. When they can read a word independently, it moves into their personal tin. Children love the tangible collection.
Play word wall games: 'I'm looking for a word that starts with 'b'... and it's the name of someone in this room... it's... BEN!' Children love guessing games using the wall as a resource.
Refer to the word wall naturally during writing: 'You want to write 'dragon'? Let's look on the word wall — there it is! D-R-A-G-O-N.' This demonstrates the word wall's functional purpose.