How to Set Up a Classroom Sound Wall 

So, you’ve heard the buzz about moving from word walls to sound walls in the classroom. 

Maybe you’ve heard of sound walls and want to set one up in your classroom. Or maybe you’re still trying to figure out the difference between sound walls and word walls. 

No matter where you are at, you are in the right place! 🙌

I’ll walk you through some benefits of using a sound wall, how to create one in your own classroom, and give you a peek at how I set one up myself! 

Sound Wall vs. Word Wall  

Sound walls and word walls have a similar goal: help kids learn how to read, write & spell. 

So, then, what makes a sound wall so different? 🤔 Well, the biggest difference is how the words are grouped. Traditional word walls will group words by the first letter. Sound walls group words by sound. 

While this may not feel like a big shift, it can be powerful for your students. Students know how to talk, and they are generally able to identify the first sound of a word. However, they may not always know the letter they are looking for. 

➡️ For example, if a student is trying to spell the word “photo”, they might look under “F” on a word wall because that is the sound they are identifying. However, the word “photo” will not be found under the “F” section. 

Grouping words by sound and specifically teaching these sounds empowers students to be able to identify the sound they are looking for. Ultimately, this will help students learn spelling patterns for different sounds. 

Sound walls often include pictures for each word or even grapheme as well. These pictures give students another tool to remember the sound. 

Creating Your Sound Wall 

Maybe you are wanting to create your own sound wall in your classroom… But, where should you even begin? There are SO many sounds in the English language. 

First, I recommend deciding which sounds you will teach throughout your year. 

Selecting your Sounds 

Pull out your curriculum books and standards and figure out the different sounds your students need to master by the time they are finished with the school year. 

If you are an upper elementary teacher who wants to include this as a resource, chat with the primary teachers in your school to see what a good selection and progression would be. 

The sound walls I created include these phonemes: 

• Short vowels 
• Long vowels 
• Diphthongs 
• Y endings 
• R controlled vowels 
• L blends 
• R blends 
• S blends 
• Beginning digraphs 
• Ending digraphs 
• Trigraphs 
• Double consonants 
• Hard & soft G 
• Hard & soft C 
• Stops 
• Liquids 
• Affricates
• Nasals
• Glides
• Fricatives
• Sounds of “ed”
• Silent Letters

A full list of the specific phonemes included can be found in my Modern Calm Colors Sound Wall description on TpT! 

Setting up your Classroom Sound Wall Display 

Once you have decided on the sounds you will be teaching, we can get into the fun part! There are two different ways you can put together your sound wall display. 

1️⃣ Create as you go.

Begin the year with only a “Sound Wall” heading on a bulletin board or wall of your classroom. Then, each time you teach a new sound, add the corresponding sound wall cards to the display. 

This method works great if you are getting started halfway through the school year or don’t have time to get the entire display up right away. 

2️⃣ Use Lock Cards to keep things hidden! 🔒

With this option, you will hang EVERY SOUND CARD you will teach throughout the school year.  This gives you a chance to make sure you can fit everything on your display. Then, cover up sounds you haven’t taught yet with lock cards. 

As you teach a new sound, all you need to do is take down the lock card and it magically appears! ✨

💡TIP: I like to hang the lock cards with Washi Tape to keep them in place, but not ruin the sound cards underneath! 

That’s it! You are ready to create your sound wall! 

My Sound Wall Example 

Sometimes it just helps to be able to see a real-life example of what you are trying to create in your classroom. Here are the steps I went through to create my sound wall with some pictures to help cast a vision for what this can look like inside your classroom! 

For those of you who are planners, here are a few key details about my display:  

✅ The bulletin board display I created measures 4 ft. by 6 ft. 

✅ I did not use every sound, but the ones I included I printed at 80% to make them a little smaller to fit my board

✅ I printed the cards on cardstock paper 

Here is an example of what your printing settings may look when you want to print at a smaller scale using Adobe. 

To create my sound wall, here are the steps I took: 

1️⃣ First, I printed out all of the cards I would be needing on cardstock paper. 🖨️

2️⃣ Second, I cut the cards out using my paper cutter. ✂️

3️⃣ Next, I hung each piece of the display up with Washi tape and spaced it out until I liked what it looked like. 📌

4️⃣ Once I liked the look of the display, I stapled the cards into the bulletin board. 

5️⃣ After that, I covered sounds I would teach in the future with lock cards using Washi tape again. 

🌟 I have found that when you peel it off slowly, Washi tape does not ruin the paper underneath.

🌟 Some other options you could use are velcro dots or magnets if you are displaying your sound wall on a whiteboard. 

✨Tada! The sound wall is complete! ✨

If you are looking for a sound wall to use in your classroom, check out my Modern Calm Colors sound wall on TpT. 

Or if you prefer to shop on Etsy, you can grab this same sound wall here!

It uses soft, pastel colors that will fit into most classroom decor themes and is completely text-editable. That way you can make it work with your curriculum!! 

Looking for more classroom decor items to add to your home away from home? Check out my blog post describing my Modern Calm Colors with the same color palette as this sound wall! Learn more about many of my favorite items included in that bundle!