When I was in the classroom, I made it a point to list terms my students were studying on the board. These words stayed on the board for a few days or an entire week, depending on their complexity.

I didn’t put a lot up at once because I really wanted students to focus on each word. I wanted them to know that these words were not going to be used just once and then they would never see them again; these were important terms to know and to understand the concepts behind them.

In younger grades, many teachers use word walls to expose their students to the vocabulary words they will be learning about. I wanted to start doing something similar with Oster. Of course I am not expecting him to start working on his phonemic awareness skills just yet. I just want to expose him to word recognition.

I started Oster’s word wall with the letter “B” for the sole reason of his love for books, balls, and birds.  I purchased a poster-sized foam board and Velcro for this “wall”. I printed and laminated the three words along with its associated pictures and placed the Velcro on the back of each laminated piece and on the poster board.

Sometimes I prop it up against the wall or against a piece of furniture. Other times, Oster plays with it on the floor. He likes “ripping” the laminated pieces off and handing them to me. I talk about the photos and sound out the letters for him. I show him tangible objects in and outside of the house that he can touch (although, I won’t let him touch a real bird).

Although he tries so hard to put the laminated pieces back onto the board, he just can’t seem to line up the Velcro just yet.