Using Write the Room to Practice Key Skills

In the primary classroom, centers are used to give students opportunities to practice skills that have already been taught.  This repeated practice is a necessary part of the learning process.  One of my favorite center activities is Write the Room and I'm excited to share how I use it in my classroom.

What is Write the Room?

Write the Room is a center activity where students move around the classroom looking for cards and completing the activity on the the card.  It's kind of like a classroom scavenger hunt for task cards.  

Students use a clip board and a response sheet and move around the classroom looking for the cards that are posted.  They write their answer on the response sheet and then move on to the next card.  In addition to the skills practice, they get some movement built into the activity too!

Setting up Write the Room

Write the Room can be set-up quite easily.  You can use a ready made Write the Room resource or, if the skills allows, you can use the items already found in your classroom to complete the activity.  

For example, if students are working on finding the letters of the alphabet in words, they may be able to complete this activity by walking around the classroom and looking at environmental print (names on desks, class schedule, class rules, books in the library, etc.)  It is very likely that they will be able to find most, if not all letters, in a text that is already in the classroom. 

However, if you are working on a skill like silent 'e' you would probably want to use specific Write the Room cards for this purpose because it will be more difficult to find those words already in the room. I like to use this Long and Short Vowel Write the Room set each year as we begin working with CVCe words. This activity helps children quickly and easily spot the differences between CVC and CVCe words. 

To use, the children will look at the picture on each card and compare the words. They, they decide whether the CVC or CVCe word matches the picture. I love using this game when we first introduce silent 'e' words, but it's great for review too! 

Write the Room works for so much more than phonics though. You simply find the resource that meets your needs, print off the cards, and post them randomly around the room.  Then students will look for these cards and complete the task.  

With just a few supplies, you can easily make Write the Room a consistent part of your center rotations. And . . .guess what?  If you don't want students to be moving around the room during center time, you can set them up as a task card station that can be done in one location.  Just put all the cards together in a pencil box or baggie and students will be ready to take this to their seat to complete.

What Skills Can You Target with Write the Room?

You can use Write the Room for almost any skill!  That is one of the reasons that I love it.  At the beginning of the year, I can teach my students the procedures for Write the Room.  Each week, or as needed, I can change out the cards for a set on a different skill, add the new response sheet and I'm done.  Since the procedure of the activity stays the same, my students are able to independently work on this center.  

You can find Write the Room resources for so.many.things!  Simply choose a skill your students are focusing on, or one they learned in the past and need to review.  

I use Write the Room for just about everything, but I especially love to use it for working with new words and spelling patterns. The reason for this is because it offers a way to practice the skill over and over in a fun way. For example, when we're beginning to target trigraphs, I love to use this Write the Room resource that focuses on 3-letter blends.

The children will look at the picture on each card and determine the word it represents. Then, they apply what they've learned about 3-letter blends to spell the word. Each task card includes letter boxes as well so that students can easily check the word they've written to see if it would fit in the letter boxes. If it doesn't, they know they've written the word incorrectly. 

Organizing Write the Room

Write the Room is really easy to organize and store so you can use it year after year.  I like to laminate the cards to give them extra durability.  Once we are done with the center, I keep the cards in a gallon size baggie with a copy of the response sheet.  This allows me to store the cards and response sheets together without having to fold it.  On the outside of the bag, I write the skill, or subject, and the month or quarter that I generally use the resource.  

I keep all of these prepped and ready to go in a filing cabinet.  I try to keep them in order of how I would use them, but at a minimum, I keep them by month or quarter so I can find what I need quickly.  Who's got time to sort through a whole year of activities to find the right one?!

For example, when we're using this Base Ten Blocks Write the Room Set, I make note of when it's introduced and when it's time to review. This could vary a little each year, but for the most part, I find that they use the same materials each quarter. Place value is a skill we work on all year long, so I tend to introduce this one towards the beginning of the year and then use it for review each quarter. Since the cards are already laminated and ready to go, this is a simple review activity that can be added to center time without any additional prep! 

Using the Cards for Other Activities

Over the years I've found another great benefit to Write the Room resources.  The task cards can be used for many other activities.  Grab the cards for small group instruction practice, play scoot with your whole group, or add cards to a game board to create an interactive game.  Having ready-to-go practice and examples is valuable in so many ways.

One of the ways I love using Write the Room is for intervention activities in my small group. One area this comes up frequently is with balancing equations. It seems that each year, I always have a few kiddos that need a bit more practice with this before they're ready to move into to more complex problems. 

We use this Balanced Equation resource as a small group activity to help my kiddos identify false equations on the cards. Students will look at the equations on each card and decide whether or not they are balanced. This resource has multiple response sheets, so I like to start out with the ones that have the fewest answer spaces. As my kiddos improve with this skill, I will give them a recording sheet with more spaces to further challenge them. 

Try Write the Room with Your Students

Ready to try Write the Room in your lessons? Give it a try in your classroom with this free activity for working with tally marks. This fun Write the Room set is a great way to give your students the practice they need with using tally marks to represent numbers 0-20. 

I recommend trying out this resource in a couple of ways to see how it works best with your students. Use it traditionally and have kiddos move around the room to collect their answers, use is a scoot game, and try it as a center game, or small group activity. This is a great opportunity to see how versatile one Write the Room activity can be in your room! 

More Write the Room Resources

My love for using Write the Room activities in my classroom, led to me creating these resources too!  You can find a variety of Write the Room resources in my store at Teachers Pay Teachers. Whether you need to target phonics, writing, or math, there's a little something for everyone! 

And don't forget, you can use these activities more than once each year. The magic really happens when we give kiddos the opportunity to review what they've learned. Store those resources away, and bring them out again to brush up on those skills in a fun way! 

Save these Write the Room Ideas

Pin one to your favorite classroom Pinterest board so you can quickly come back when you need a fun and interactive Write the Room activity.