There has been a lot of discussion about the use of sound walls in kindergarten vs word walls. Because I am all about what works best for my learners, I researched the sound wall completely before deciding to discard my word wall which I have had a lot of success with. Here is what I learned.
What are sound walls in kindergarten?
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- Sound walls in kindergarten are focused on the phonemes that individual letters represent. It makes the connection from speech to print.
- They are organized by phonemes and not by the order of letters in the alphabet.
- Students are taught the positions of the mouth and voice intonations when sounds are made and are then divided into categories.
- Stops
- Nasals
- Fricatives
- Affricatives
This is an in-depth program based on the Science of Reading. Students learn how to make the sounds and how their mouths and voices are used. Walls are created by phonemes. So, if a word begins with SH, they would look for that phoneme based on the category Fricative instead of looking for the S on a typical word wall.
Pros and Cons of Sound Walls in Kindergarten
Pros
- Students develop a greater understanding of how sounds are made.
- They learn how speech sounds connect to the written word.
- Learners can find irregular words by their initial sounds. The word “know” is found under “n.”
Cons
- The vocabulary terminology and instruction are hard for young students to grasp.
- A sound wall is a very slow-moving process in kindergarten.
- Consonants and vowels are separated into their own walls, and this makes having the space difficult.
Personally, I am having a hard time finding where the letters are and I feel this type of structure may be way too difficult in the kindergarten classroom. It would be a long process to get kindergartners to find the words that they need for writing.
Pros and Cons of Word Walls
Pros 
- Young students know the order of the alphabet already.
- Word Walls help students find sight words.
- Wall doesn’t separate vowels and consonants.
Cons
- Words are placed by a beginning letter which may not be the first phoneme heard in a word.
- The typical A-Z format leaves out many common phonemes.
- Students can’t always find words that they need for writing.
Should I use a sound wall in kindergarten?
First, if you have been around for a while, like me, when something new comes along we are a bit skeptical. We have seen trends and research come and go.
And, we usually end up taking the good parts but not buying into the entire program.
This is me on this one. Am I going to throw out my word wall in exchange for the latest trend of the Sound Wall? No. I am not. Word walls have been very successful in giving my students tools to learn to read and write and make the transition from spoken word to written words.
It is about giving kids enough tools to have in their toolbox that they will be able to find the one that does the job for them. What will I do? See below.
How do I combine a Word Wall and a Sound Wall?
First of all, it is important to know what your goal is in having a word wall or a sound wall. My goal is to help students become independent writers and combine reading and writing skills to accomplish that goal.
The sound wall takes components of Lively Letters which I like so much better when teaching kindergarten about phonemes and sounds.
First, it doesn’t make things as confusing but still teaches about speech sounds and what our body parts are doing in a fun and motivating way.
Alternatively, creating a word wall that incorporates different phonemes such as th, ar, sh and ch combines the best of both worlds. Students can still look for the beginning sound and find the word on the word wall.
For me, the words that I put on my word wall are the most common words that kids want to use to express themselves while writing and have a hard time sounding out. They like to write about “my friend,” and people they “like.” These are often sight words and heart words that help them compose beginning sentences.
Pendulum swings often.
Of course, in kindergarten, students are still encouraged to use invented spelling on hard words in order to become creative, independent writers. If students want to spell every word correctly, their independence is shattered and the teacher is overwhelmed with, “ I don’t know how to spell, “skeleton.”
Every new strategy seems to have very good components within them. So, take what you feel makes sense and use it, but you don’t have to get rid of all your old successful strategies.
They will come back around as the pendulum swings.
Cover photo credits from Instagram: @shipshapeelementary, @mrswintersbliss, @learningwithmisspowell
