Often when I grade students' science practice packets, I found out that half of the time when they did not do well was due to lack of understanding of important vocabulary terms.
I realized then that not all students are familiar with science terms because of the lack of constant exposure to them. So I created a word wall on the bulletin board next to the white board. When I start a new lesson, I would ask one of the students to write the key vocabulary words on index cards. As we continued with the lesson, I would staple them on the Science Word Wall.
After reading about the effectiveness of using a word wall for math, I will definitely try it out for the next school year. I'll have to figure out how to make use of every square inch of wall space in the small classroom.
