Should I put a sound wall up in my classroom? Perhaps you were like me and wanted to, but didn’t know what to do with it. Here is your chance to learn!
I downloaded a sound wall three years back, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I mean it was the direction teachers were going. Teachers were showing off their sound walls on social media, like Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok. I was like: “Hey! I need one too!”. So, I downloaded it and started printing everything off in color, laminating, and preparing.
You can prep your sound wall too with all of the cards and activities we have on Education to the Core Premium. Download and print your wall cards today. Run them through a laminator and cut them apart while catching up on the newest season of Virgin River.
Why a Sound Wall?
Sound walls have grown increasingly popular in recent years. For good reasons too!
Sound walls stem from the Science of Reading which focuses on the connection between sounds and the letters that spell them. Sound Walls allow for explicit instruction of phonemes or the sounds we hear. Because those sounds we hear cannot be written, we use letters to represent those sounds or graphemes. A sound wall pairs the speech sounds (phonemes) with the letters (graphemes).
Using sound walls, your students will have everything they need to…
- Properly produce sounds.
- Identify which sounds correspond to certain spelling patterns.
- Read and write words that have them.
Sound Wall, Word Wall, or Grammar Wall…
There continues to be research coming out comparing the three walls: word walls, grammar walls, and sound walls.
Grammar Walls
A Grammar Wall is a wall of words and vocabulary organized into eight parts of speech. Students would utilize this area just like the word wall or sound wall, but a grammar wall provides the students an opportunity to understand words and how they serve their purpose in a sentence.
Word Walls
Word Walls are teacher-centered and teacher-focused. A word wall is often high-frequency words/sight words or targeted spelling words that are generally listed by alphabet order. This means the word blue would be posted under the letter ‘B’ and the word ‘would’ is posted under ‘W’.
Sound Walls
Sound Walls are student-centered and student-focused. This wall is truly set up from the learner’s point of view and perspective. A sound wall is a reference tool for students that shows the English language’s phonemes (individual building blocks, or smallest units of sound). It helps students focus on articulating those phonemes (sounds) and recognize and use the graphemes (spelling patterns that represent those sounds – of which there are often).
Teacher Info and Setup Guide
I learned I wasn’t using my current wall to its full potential just from reading the Teacher Info and Setup Guide! This guide offers examples of phoneme/grapheme words and activities, as well as how to set up the wall.
Teachers can and should use the sound wall and other associated sound wall materials as an explicit tool for teaching and learning. Remember, students won’t use the sound wall as a reference tool without you modeling that first and often!
Phoneme Cards and Mouth Images
A huge part of any sound wall that you may have or see, is phoneme cards. Most likely there may be some type of mouth image showing how to formulate the sound. When choosing mouth images, it is important that ALL students see themselves represented.
These mouth cards are the visual representation of how to properly formulate the phonemes. I am sure if you are anything like me, you’ve used the phrase “Look at my mouth” while teaching phonics! Here is the perfect pairing.
Phoneme and Grapheme Cards
Now, let’s talk about how you spell each of those sounds. Grapheme cards have the spelling of the sound as well as an example word and example picture for each.
Sound walls can look different across grade levels, while still serving the same purpose. A kindergarten wall can and should look very different than a second or third-grade wall.
The kindergarten wall may simply have the phoneme card and the mouth image you choose (clipart, photo, or both). The second or third-grade wall will likely have many options for graphemes as the students would be introduced to a variety of spelling patterns for each sound. Only include those graphemes on the wall that you explicitly teach and expect your students to use.
Individual Student Desk Cards
Individual student desk cards are so nice to have for students to reference their individual sounds at their desks. These desk cards are a great reference throughout the day!
These are perfect for independent use during writing AND reading time! I’m also planning on printing these cards out and laminating them so I can include them in my writing center as well!
Click here to try our Sound Wall Desk Cards FREE!!!
Sound Wall Digital Teaching Slides
This is by far the BEST part of the Sound Wall that Team ETTC created. The digital teaching slides follow a progression of what to teach. They are 100% designed to not only be differentiated based upon student needs but your needs as well! Each slide includes an audio recording from a Speech and Language Therapist who models the appropriate pronunciations as you progress through the slides.
Depending on what you are looking for as an educator, these slides are a “take what you need” resource. Each sound follows a short progression through 3 slides. The sound itself, to the sound within words, to sentences made up of words with the target sound.
Slide 1
- Phoneme Level
- Includes phoneme mouth photo and clipart
- Audio included focusing on the individual sound
Slide 2
- Takes a step further to focus on the Word Level
- Phoneme, mouth photo, and audio included.
- Four Pictures (clip art) of things that have the sound within the word (whether it be initial sounds, medial, and/or final position).
Slide 3
- Takes it to the Sentence Level
- Still includes the phoneme, mouth photo, and audio, but also has two levels of sentences.
- 1) Sentence for Kindergarten and Early First Grade – includes multiple sight words and CVC words.
- 2) Sentence for Late First Grade and Second Grade – includes sight words, CVC, CVCe, blends, digraphs, vowel teams, multi-syllabic, etc.
Depending on your students depends on how far you’ll want to use this resource. Perfect for whole groups, small groups, and even within Google Classroom! Assign those individual slides to your students virtually or provide them within work centers in person!
Anchor Charts and Student Sorts
These might be my personal favorite part of this amazing resource!
I received speech services for common sound confusions and articulation concerns. However, cute I was…. Or still may be! Saying words like /qu-oun/ for “crayon” or pronouncing /f/ as /d/ like “Dan” for “Fan” wasn’t appropriate.
These anchor charts and student sorts directly reinforce those more common sound confusions, common ELS confusions, and articulation confusions! These anchor charts are so interactive that students and teachers can utilize them during whole group lessons. Images are included to sort on your anchor charts while you are reinforcing the skill. By taking it a step further you can use the student sorts in your centers, small groups, or individual practice!
Student Phoneme Work Pages
Speaking of individual practice, centers, and small group work…believe it or not here is ANOTHER great piece! These work pages follow the same progression as the teaching slides. Again, teachers are using whatever fits their classroom, lesson, and student needs!
- Dabbing letter of the phoneme
- Write the letter or letters of the phoneme
- Color clip art (phoneme is included within the beginning sounds whenever possible)
- Read and Highlight the word (phonemes are located within the initial, medial, and final sounds)
- Read the sentence and trace it.
Organizational Tools for Your Sound Wall
How in the world are you going to organize all the pieces!?! Here are some great ideas…
- Create files with File Folders
- Accordion File Folders
- Rainbow Holders
- 4×6 boxes
- Pencil Boxes
Wow!
This Sound Wall is manageable and user-friendly, but it also naturally lends itself to student differentiation. The variety of components included lends itself to someone who already has a wall but is also designed for someone brand new to using a sound wall. No matter the case, students with speech and language concerns, ESL students, or special education students are often included in your general education classrooms.
I often hear well; I’m not a speech pathologist, however explicitly teaching the phonemes and paired graphemes will help with your phonics instruction, reading, and writing! Not only for the student in need but all students.
Let’s see how excited you are about this resource! How are you planning on using it within your classroom do you think? What part do you think will be your favorite? Make sure to share those thoughts in the comments below. Once you have your sound wall set up in your classroom, be sure to come back and share a picture of it!
Remember… this resource may “sound” /A/-mazing, because it truly is!
Written By: Christopher Olson
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