A Kinder Friendly Dictionary {FREEBIE ALERT}

 I use mini word walls EVERYWHERE in my classroom.  There are word walls in the writing center, science center, art center, math center and dramatic play area.  I am obsessed with how well my kids respond to them, how easy they are to prep, and how much writing and vocabulary growth they inspire in my little ones.  They LOVE to copy the words and add labels to their own drawings and stories.  They also love that they are small, lightweight and easy to move around.

 All you have to do is print them out, trim them to 8 by 10 inches and pop them in an acrylic frame.  Voila!  All done.  I get my frames at the Christmas Tree Shop for about $2. 

The word cards can be placed on a ring, in a pocket chart or hung up on a word wall.  I love to laminate them and slap them on a binder ring so that I can use them year after year.  This also gives me the option of taking them off the ring and putting them in a pocket chart if I want to.

 Here is a word wall in a frame in my dramatic play area.  Paired with a book, it is the perfect way to integrate literacy and play in a natural way.

Here, a veterinarian is interviewing a patient about what is wrong with his dog (maybe the fact that it is upside down and smashed between his legs is a start).  She used the word wall to write "dog" and then began to write his symptoms all on her own (he had a VRY BD KOF aka very bad cough)... LOVE!

The only problem I was having with all of these word walls was storage.  The kids would still want to look at them from time to time, and I liked the idea of them having a resource they knew they could go to instead of being dependent on the teacher.

Voila!  In comes Our Class Dictionary.  It's just a binder with a fancy cover!

 And here's what's inside.  Heavy duty binder sleeves with all of the word walls not currently in use in the classroom inside.  

And here is a math shapes word wall.  You can click on the picture to grab your copy for free!

This new system allows me to pack away my word rings in my month by month bins, but leave out the word walls all year round.  They only take up a teeny bit of space, teach my students how to use resources and improve their vocabulary and writing skills.  Perfecto!

You can grab your copy of the dictionary cover {HERE}.

And check out all of my word cards and word walls by clicking on the button above.  You can also click on any picture in this post and go straight to the product shown in the picture.