Word Wall Linky Party

Ms. M is having a word wall linky party.  Here is mine:

I don't have a picture of my word wall by itself.  However, you can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like to the left of this pic.  (Please excuse the "clutter" and the horrid library area- this pic is almost two years old!)

I obviously have an ocean theme in my classroom.  One of my favorite things is the ocean paper backdrop for the word wall, which can be found at any teacher supply store.  They also have different themes.  

I went to a workshop last year that had a session about word walls.  The presenter suggested having word families instead of the ABCs as the basis of the word wall.  Then have the students come up with ideas for each section and pick the top 3-5 to actually incorporate into the word wall.  This way, the students learn the "rule" for each family and can generalize it.  They won't be asking how to spell each individual word them come across.  I really liked the fact that the students had a say in what goes on the wall.  I think they will be more vested in this process, and I am going to give it a try next year!

What does YOUR word wall look like?  Join the linky party fun over at Ms. M's blog.