Interactive Science Word Walls

Hello again! I know it's been a while since I've actually blogged, but I really have been doing some fun and exciting things in my classroom. 

One of the favorite things I've been doing is Interactive Science Word Walls. I LOVE them! But I can't take credit for them. They are the brainchild of Dr. Julie Jackson, an associate professor at Texas State University. I've been lucky enough to work with Dr. Jackson for the past couple of years (and also lucky enough to have her grandsons in my class!) 

So what are Interactive Science Word Walls? They are SO MUCH MORE than traditional word walls. Simply put--they are giant, colorful, engaging, hands-on, student-created graphic organizers! They help students develop a deep understanding of key science vocabulary.

Here are a few pictures of some of the word walls my kids and I have created. Over the coming months, I will detail some of the lessons that go with these walls. But in the meantime, here are a few important tips:

• The word walls are not "front-loaded". In other words, I do not pre-make the word walls ahead of time and put them up at the beginning of my unit. They are made with my kids in the context of hands-on, inquiry-based science activities. Vocabulary is introduced as children are having concrete experiences that they can connect all those words to. 

• That does not mean that the walls should not be planned out. Know in advance what vocabulary you want the kids to learn (look to your standards for that). Think about how the vocabulary fits in to the objectives that you are teaching and create a graphic organizer that supports those objectives. Dr. Jackson has some really good planning documents on her website (The Science Toolkit) to help with this.

• When possible, real-objects should be used on the walls. Real rocks, leaves, tools, etc! When not possible, pictures should be used (kind of hard to put the moon on your wall).

• The kids should help as much as possible when creating these walls. In kindergarten, I start out doing most of the work, because I want the walls to be usable (let's face it--there's a lot of scribbling in the beginning of kinder). But even at the beginning of the year, I let the kids pick out the objects that will go with the words. As the year progresses, and the kids gain more writing and drawing skills, they do more of the work. 

• Use these word walls every day! Don't just put them up so they look pretty. Use the vocabulary in discussions, with sentence stems, writing and in science notebooks. 
• The word walls need to be accessible! In kinder, that means down low. Because wall space is at a premium in my classroom, I use rolling pocket charts for my walls. The kids are able to take the words out, use them to write, and put them back when they are finished.

I have been truly amazed at how well my kids learn science vocabulary since I started using Interactive Science Word Walls. I highly recommend a visit to Dr. Jackson's website, The Science Toolkit and her Facebook page for lots and lots of pictures and resources to help you build your own walls with your students. 

Have fun!

Comments

[Sam]

Thanks for coming back! I love all your lessons! All so helpful.

[Mary]

You do not know how happy I am that you are back! I love that you include your sources and encourage your readers to make these ideas our own.

[Sue Schueller]

Wow! It is so nice to see a post from you. Thanks for the amazing idea! I will try the with my rock unit when I come back from break!

Sue

[site]

What a great post shared with us.

[Sara]

YES! Today we generated plant vocabulary after a read aloud. They each picked a word, wrote it on a card (some of them need to redo it later ;) ), then we went outside and searched for the words. Luckily we have a lot of flowers and a garden on campus, so everyone found their word! :D They took a picture of it with an iPad. I just printed them and they are going to match the pictures and words and glue them together on a strip, and put in our pocket chart. i think tomorrow we can sort into categories, like parts of a plant, what plants need, etc. They were SO happy and it is hard to get this class engaged. I can't wait to see how they use this in their writing. Thank you!

[Amanda]

tell me more about going on a bearhunt with landforms! We are in the middle of our landform unit and I am trying to find engaging hands on ways to teach it!

[Meagan]

Thank you for posting! I am a Kindergarten teacher in Ontario, Canada - and have always loved your teaching style, and great curriculum ideas. I was so happy to see that you're back to blogging. Looking forward to learning more from you!