Vocabulary Rich Learning Environment by Joe McLaughlin (Heliax4)

mclaughlinjr4 — 2024-07-08 18:22:28 UTC

This is a word wall with 18 different pockets that you can label with different categories. Students then have words that they then need to put in a category that makes sense for the word that they have. You can question them about their choices to really get a feel for what they're thinking and encourage them to think about their decisions.

mclaughlinjr4 — 2024-07-08 18:26:11 UTC

Here is a another word wall that you can have students create to work on recognizing the roots of words. You give a student a root like "Dem-" and then have them come up with four words using that root to write on the four panels. The panels open up and inside they need to also write the definition of the word. You can make it even more fun for students at the end if you let them glue their words onto the word wall themselves.

mclaughlinjr4 — 2024-07-08 18:31:34 UTC

This is a more straight forward word wall that combines the vocabulary word with a picture. I've done this a couple of different ways. The first and probably easiest is to have pictures already made and let students match their words with the pictures before putting them up on the board. The other way, which tends to take more time but students liked it more, was to let students find their own pictures. You can use magazines if you have them or if they have laptops/tablets let them find pictures online and print them for them. I've also known a teacher who had students draw pictures for the words.

mclaughlinjr4 — 2024-07-08 18:36:18 UTC

I've not used this one before, but teacher who teaches elementary said she uses labels to label things around the room. Its a good way to get students to visualize words and to help them spell common things found around the room both in the classroom and elsewhere. As a side, it is also can help keep the classroom organized as they know exactly where things should be if they borrow something.

mclaughlinjr4 — 2024-07-08 18:42:38 UTC

This is an interactive word wall where the teacher and students found physical examples of the vocabulary words and put them on the word wall. This works well to get students looking in the world around them for the vocabulary words they are learning about. I like this idea because it adds a level of realism to the lesson as students see evidence of the words in use around them.