Word Walls In Preschool

When creating a print-rich environment word walls are a fun and effective learning tool in any preschool classroom.  Being exposed to a print-rich environment is a critical component to early literacy.  When children see words on a wall that have meaning to them, it helps them become excited about words and helps them to understand that word are important.

Word wall will help children learn

*        The names of letters (letter recognition)

*        ABC Order

*         Letter Sound

When creating a word wall remember that it should be at eye level of the children.  You can put your word wall in a Group Area where information can be added on a regular basis.  Remember that words from a theme or lesson plan work the best.

Our word wall goes along the back side of the children’s cubbies.  It is not in front of my group area but instead it runs down the whole side of my circle area.  The small blue strip of carpet is a walk way area for the children to move in and out of the circle area. 

The first words under our word wall are the words that go to the song Alphardy by Dr. Jean.  As we sing this song we use a pointer and point to each letter say the word and then the letter sound.  We are now in October and I have to say that I have a class size of 32 children and more than have of the children can say the letter and letter sound in random order.  I have never had this success so early in the year.  I have to say I love this song.  My staff teases me and says that it is my theme song.  I guess there is nothing wrong with that.

Next we have placed all the children’s name under the letter that their name starts with.  When I talk about a letter they know who start with that letter they will shout out A is for Arianna and Ashlie.

Sing To Learn CD by Dr. Jean

  Song: Alphardy

As we use our word wall we will be build vocabulary by using the word wall.  We will find opportunities to use new words through out the day that are related to the theme or story of the day.  We will have the children say the word again and use it in a sentence.  We then will encourage the children to use the new word through out the day.  The children will then help put the new word under the corresponding letter that it starts with (leaves under the letter L)

Environmental Print and Logos

Environmental print from the world around us is a great tool for teaching beginning stages of literacy development.  Most children recognize labels and logos from their favorite products, even if they cannot read. By using environmental print from the world around us it helps children accesses prior knowledge which gives them the ability to improve their word knowledge.  This will help harness that interest in reading and building readiness skills. 

Begin using environmental print by having children bring in their favorite cereal box.  Turn these boxes into an environmental print breakfast book.  Add value to this book by including the child’s name with a sentence on their favorite box of cereal or breakfast food.

Title of book:  What’s for Breakfast?

Tami’s favorite breakfast is Cheerios. 

Or

Inez eats Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast.

Idea came from Dr. Jean

Another idea would be to use pizza boxes and turn them into another class book.

Savina eats pizza from Round Table.

Add Environmental Print to the Block Area

In our block area we have added different types of can goods.  Children can use them for building with our using them for store fronts.

Use boxes and turn them into local stores.  Here we used different types of pizza eateries. 

Add Environmental Print to your Dramatic Play Area

Here we added sale fliers for pizzas to our pretend pizza parlor.

We also created phone books for the children to look up their favorite pizza parlor by using their store logos with numbers.  We also included pizza boxes and local pizza menus.