Same Reading › Letters and sounds › Sound walls
What is a sound wall?
A sound wall is a classroom display that groups speech sounds by how the mouth makes them, instead of listing words from A to Z. Lips-together sounds like /p/, /b/ and /m/ sit together, and each sound shows the different ways it can be spelled.
- Grouped by mouth: sounds made the same way sit together.
- Each sound lists its spellings: /k/ can be c, k or ck.
- Vowels sit in a “vowel valley,” ordered by how the mouth moves.
Why schools teach it
Speech comes before spelling
An ABC word wall starts from letters. A sound wall starts from sounds, which is how kids hear words. It shows that one sound can have several spellings, like /k/ in cat, kit and duck, and supports the letter-sound work in RF.K.3 and RF.1.3.
Many classrooms have switched from word walls to sound walls in recent years. Kids learn to feel where a sound is made, with a mirror or a hand on the throat, which helps with sounds they mix up, like /f/ and /th/.
At the kitchen table
What to say, and what to skip
Say this
Where is your mouth when you say /f/?
Top teeth on the bottom lip.Which sounds are made the same way?
/p/ and /b/ both pop the lips.How else can we spell that sound?
/k/: c, k, ckHand on your throat. Does it buzz?
/v/ buzzes, /f/ doesn't.
Skip this
- Only practicing with an ABC chart.Letters matter, but the wall's point is sounds.
- Saying letter names for sounds.“Pee” isn't /p/. Use the sound.
There's only one way to spell that.
Many sounds have several spellings. The wall shows them.
See it in action
Finding /sh/ on the wall
Say it and feel it: lips push out, a quiet rush of air
/sh/Find its group: sounds made with air through the teeth
/s/ /z/ /sh/ /ch/ /j/Read its spellings
sh as in ship; later, ti as in nation
A small mirror at the homework table helps kids see what their mouth is doing.
Free practice sheet
Make a home sound wall
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Parents: tell your child's teacher about this guide
Parents also ask
Is a sound wall the same as a word wall?
No. A word wall lists words by first letter. A sound wall groups sounds by how they're made.
Do we need a mirror?
It helps. Seeing lips and tongue makes the groups make sense.
What's the vowel valley?
The vowel sounds in a curve, from smiling sounds like long e, down to open sounds like short o, and up to round ones like oo.
Should we put one up at home?
A small one by the homework spot is useful. Our printable fits on a page or two.