A sound wall is a way to organize and display the different sounds (or phonemes) we hear in speech. In this post I’ll share tips for how to set up a sound wall in the kindergarten, first or second grade classroom and share details about my virtual sound wall resource.
Lately, I’ve been sharing a lot of information about Sound Walls. I’ve written about the benefits of sound walls, created a sound wall resource, and shared videos with tips and ideas about using one in the classroom.
I’m thrilled to see all the enthusiasm you have for them! So many of you are ready to take down that word wall and replace it with a sound wall!
I’ve also gotten a lot of smart questions about sound walls! You’re wondering about the best ways to set up a sound wall and how to introduce it to your students.

I want your sound wall to be an interactive tool. One that will help your students have the knowledge and the tools to read, spell, and write confidently. I also want it to be something that feels manageable for you as the teacher. To help ensure that that’s the case, today I’m sharing 4 tips for setting up a sound wall.
Tips for Setting Up a Sound Wall
1. Build the sound wall with your students.
You’ve probably seen images of sound walls that have ALL the keywords under each phoneme. They likely overwhelm you! But don’t worry- that’s what we want the sound wall to look like at the END of the year! At the start of the year, you will not have all the components of the sound wall posted. The only components you will post are the mouth articulation photos and the sound spelling cards. You will “unlock” the new phonemes one by one and build your sound wall WITH your students as you introduce, explicitly teach, and practice each one. (Phonemes that have been learned in a previous grade should be posted and reviewed at the start of the year).


In addition, once you unlock the sound, you’ll want to cover some of the graphemes with Post-Its or paper and unveil them as you teach them. Following your foundational skills’ scope and sequence, teach the most common letter or grapheme(s) that represents the sound. For example, after introducing the phoneme /f/ you would tell your students the grapheme f is the most common spelling for that sound. You can also attach a keyword picture to help students see the phoneme in context and remember the sound-spelling.

2. Plan out the space you will need.
Yes, your sound wall starts out empty but I know you need to know how much space you’ll need once it is complete! As a busy teacher, you don’t have time to measure it out and determine exactly where to place each card as your wall grows!
Many people have asked about the space needed for a sound wall. The size of my bulletin boards for both the vowel valley and consonant sound wall were each 4′ x 8′! They are large bulletin boards! I’ve got some ideas if you have limited space later in this post.
To help you plan I’ve added locks to my sound wall resource.

Set up your entire consonant sound wall and vowel valley and use the locks or yellow covers to cover up each sound. Then unveil them one by one as you teach them. The locks make things a little more exciting and engaging for students! You can really build anticipation and excitement when you tell your students you’re going to “unlock” a new sound!

If your wall space is limited, print the smaller sound cards. If those cards are still too large, you can adjust the scale settings in your printer or print two pages on one to make them smaller. This picture shows a teacher who shrunk the cards down in order to fit her sound wall on closet doors.

3. Create a mobile consonant sound wall and vowel valley.
If you have limited wall space or worried students won’t be able to see the sound walls from their seats? Create a mobile sound wall using a tri-fold project display board. Use it on the rug for whole-class instruction, bring it to your table for small groups, or place it in a center to support students in their independent practice!

A portable sound wall is also a great solution if you teach multiple ages or groups of students, each class can have its own sound wall!
You can also print individual sound wall folders for students to use at school or home. The disadvantage of this option is that students could be overwhelmed as the sound walls show ALL the phonemes and graphemes from the beginning.

4. Use a Virtual Sound Wall
Limited wall space? Not interested in resizing the cards, printing, laminating, etc?? No problem! I have created a VIRTUAL SOUND WALL and VOWEL VALLEY for you! This sound wall has all the components you’ll need to easily and clearly introduce each phoneme to your students and there is NO PREP work required!

I created this virtual, interactive sound wall on google slides so you can display it on your SmartBoard, projector, or whatever digital platform you use. You can use it on laptops with small groups or individual students, and even share it with families to use at home!
Curious to learn more? This video takes a closer look at the resource and walks you through all the components that are included!
Please note, if you own the physical sound wall this virtual version has been added to the bundle, please download it again to get this free update! Now you have more ways you can interact with your sound wall!
5. Print extra letter sound cards and use them in different ways.
Remember, you can print the sound spelling cards as many times as you’d like! Here are a few other ways I would use the phoneme-grapheme cards:
💗 Print an extra set and place them where I’d normally set up my large A-Z alphabet line.
💗 Print an extra set of cards and use them as a close-up reference during your direct instruction.
💗 Highlight the sound you are teaching that week by placing the card on the whiteboard, focus board, or in a pocket chart.
💗 Print them out and put them into a flip ring for students to refer to and use in centers.
💗 Print small cards and create a center game, students would love to play Sound Wall Memory or Go Fish!

What other ideas do you have??? I know the options are limitless!
Finally, take a look at this video where I recap the information I’ve shared here and provide you with a few MORE helpful tips and tricks on how to implement a sound wall in your classroom!
Making the switch from a word wall does take time, effort, and some new learning but you can do it! I hope the information I’ve shared today makes the task of setting up a sound wall feel more manageable and leaves you excited for all the benefits a sound wall can bring to your classroom and students!
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Phoneme Sound Wall with Mouth Articulation Photos – science of reading alignedProduct on sale$28.00
–PIN for LATER–

How do you attach the locks? What are place cards used for?
Hi Michelle, You can attach the locks with a push pin or staple so they can be easily removed as you teach the phonemes. The placeholders could be used if you want to “prebuild” your sound wall. Check out the video for more information! 🙂 -Christina https://youtu.be/xlsUskiQzRI
I see pics of sound walls using your resources and some use both the sound cards with word cards underneath while others use just the word cards. Is there a reason for one or the other and which one do you feel is better? I have bulletin space to use one or the other so I was hoping that would be sufficient. Thanks so much for providing a fantastic resource!!
Hi Amy,
If you have the space I’d use both! The sound spelling cards are great for having a keyword picture as an anchor for the phoneme, the word cards allow students to see the sound in context.
Where you mention giving students their own sound wall chart, you also mention this might be overwhelming. Might I suggest a blank template with empty rectangles representing each sound wall card. Students can then glue the appropriate sound wall card onto their copy as they are taught.
Hi Tamara, Funny you should mention that idea, I am working on a cut and paste/build your own sound wall now. It will be added to the bundle soon! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂 -Christina 💕
Is this included now?
Hi Brenda,
I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean? How can I help? -Christina
Do you by chance have lesson plans for the sound wall?
Hi Michelle,
I am!! I’ve been working on a teacher’s manual to go with the sound wall that will help you learn about the benefits of a sound wall, guide you from the beginning in implementation and explicit lesson routines! You can join my email family if you want to know when it is ready! https://mrswintersbliss.com/join
Thanks, -Christina
I have my wall up and it is gorgeous! My question is about the letter card C with the car. Where does that go? And the /k/ /s/ sound card??
Thanks!
Hi Angela,
Thank you for your kind words! You only need to post one /k/ card- after further learning, I would post the car one because C is the most common spelling of /k/ and so you want your students to be able to choose from spellings in a predictable order. Posting both isn’t necessary.
Q and X are 2 sounds
Q- /k//w/
X- /k//s/
so the /k//s/ card will go with the X
Thank you! -Christina
What is the difference between the /o/ (short o) sound and the /aw/ sound? Are they not the same sound? I thought the different graphemes for this sound would all be on one card.
Hi Stacy,
The aw sound is referred to as the broad o sound. It’s a variant vowel. Some areas don’t differentiate because of dialect, that may be the case for you! Hope this is helpful! -Christina
What size do you print for the portable sound wall?
Hi Jessica, I printed the smaller cards 2 to a page (which printed 4 to a page since there were already 2 on a page). Make sure the print setting is set to portrait! 🙂 -Christina
Hi Christina,
I have been using your program for my Grade Two Class. The lesson I am on calls for “final blends.” However, I am unable to find the corresponding word list and lesson plan that goes with this. Could you please let me know what I am suppose to be teaching for this?
Thank you in advance
Hi Stephanie, I just left this on your question on Youtube:
a blend is 2 or more consonant phonemes. So if you are teaching _nt (like ant, hunt, etc) your students will use the sound wall to support their learning by segmenting and blending the /n/ and /t/. Does this help? -Christina
Hi-
I was curious how important it is to put the vowels into a ‘vowel valley’? I was thinking of not putting the vowels in a v shape in order to save space. Tia!
Hi Lisa,
It is highly recommended to set your vowel valley in the v formation. The vowel phonemes are often displayed as a V-shaped valley because they are organized by the position of the mouth and jaw.
Hope this is helpful! -Christina
Hi-
This might be a silly question, but I was wondering why the picture of the banana under the upside down vowel letter e?
If I only have room for the vowel valley, is that still useful in and of itself? I could put the other part in a different part of my classroom but I do not have 2 bulletin board size spaces together.
Hi Lisa, that sounds like you are making the best decision with what you have to work with! You could also print extra cards to use while students are gathered close during direct instruction, use the student printable sound walls, or the digital sound wall files!
Thank you so much for your purchase! -Christina
If my vowel valley and consonant chart will be next to each other on a bulletin board, does it matter which way they are displayed in a left to right manner? I put my Vowel Valley on the left and was going to put the consonant chart on the right, but many pictures I am now finding have the consonants on the left. I’m wondering if I need to switch it. Thank you for this amazing product!
Hi Jessica,
I have not read any research that suggests placing them in either order. I do think you will interact with the vowel valley more often so my preference would be to place that sound wall in the location that is closest/easiest for students to see!
Hope this helps, -Christina
Hi, I bought your sound wall with mouth photos. However, I have a friend who uses your sound wall with real pictures. For example, p and it’s a picture of a real piano. Z has a real zipper not a clip art picture. Do you know if my bundle includes those? Do you still sell that sound wall? Thanks
Hi Lisa, I have never created a sound wall with real photos, the one you have is the only version available. It sounds like your friend may have merged 2 resources. Sorry! -Christina
Thank you for letting me know. My friend must have done that. I do love my resource of yours that I bought. Thanks again!
I know you suggested revealing the sounds that were taught in the previous year, when you first set up the wall, but If you are teaching a split grade, the sounds will be different for the 2 grades, How might you set it up to begin, as “half” the class will already know so many more of the sounds?
Hi Jodi, That is a tricky situation for sure!! I think the best option is to uncover the sounds for your higher-grade students and when appropriate refer to them less formally to your lower grade students until you explicitly teach and practice the skills. Some teachers have made 2 sound walls on trifold science boards but that is A LOT of work! I hope this helps a bit! -Christina
How do you get a copy of the individual sound walls for kids to reference.
Hi Jen, they are part of my sound wall bundle here: https://mrswintersbliss.com/product/phoneme-sound-wall/
You can also get just the student sound wall printables and digital slides here: https://mrswintersbliss.com/product/virtual-sound-wall-with-mouth-photos-audio-science-of-reading-aligned/
I hope this helps you! -Christina