Write the Room activities are one of my most favorite classroom activities! In my first-grade classroom, we use write the room to practice all kinds of important skills. Whether you're looking to target reading, writing, or math you can easily do it with Write the Room! Today I'm chatting about why I love Write the Room activities and how to use them!
What is Write the Room?
First things first! Write the room is a type of activity that involves task cards and a recording sheet. To use it, you'll hang the task cards all around the classroom and give students a recording sheet. They will travel around the room from card to card, solving each one and writing down the answer on their sheet.
Write the Room can also be used as a center activity. Instead of hanging the cards around the room, simply place the task cards in a bin or small container. Kiddos will work through each one, writing the answers down as they go.
Another fun way to use Write the Room is as a "Scoot" game. To play, you'll lay 1 task card down on each desk in the classroom. As a class each students works on the card in front of them. About every 30 seconds or so you say "Scoot" and students will scoot from one desk to the next. It's a fun whole class activity that includes controlled movement.
No matter which option you choose, Write the Room is a fun way to mix things up. We use all of these methods throughout the week with different Write the Room sets to keep things interesting.
Using Write the Room in the Primary Classroom
Once you've decided to use Write the Room activities, it's a good idea to go over some procedures for this activity before beginning. If you plan to use this with your whole group at once, it's especially crucial to chat about some ground rules first!
In my classroom, I have the kiddos use pencils, a recording sheet, and a clipboard when we write the room. This allows them to write on the floor without poking through their paper or writing on the walls.
My students know they aren't allowed to wander around the classroom aimlessly to fill in their recording sheets. When you have 30+ kiddos doing this it can get hectic fast! Instead, we line up and then spread out in a circle around the room and they move from card to card clockwise. I tape the cards up around the edges and walls of the room to make this simple to do.
Write the Room also works great as a center activity. When used in this way only a few students are up and moving around at one time.
When it comes to actually writing, you'll probably notice that some children will stand with their clipboard, others will kneel, and some will sit at desks. I allow them to choose freely for this part of the activity because I want it to be fun and comfortable for them. Allowing this flexibility makes for high engagement and more learning!
Write the Room is Versatile
Now, let's talk benefits of this activity! One of my favorite things about Write the Room is how versatile it is. While you might automatically think it's primarily for practicing handwriting and vocabulary, you can use it for so much more!
In my classroom, we use write the room for practicing a variety of math and phonics skills. You can use Write the Room activities for just about anything, which makes this such a great exercise for the primary classroom. I also love to use themed Write the Room activities that go along with the month or holiday we're celebrating. This versatility allows me to use these activities all throughout the year without losing student interest!
My Write the Room centers also come with a few different styles for the recording sheets. This means there are options to differentiate, and they can be used more than once as students progress in their abilities with each skill. As they improve, we move on to the recording sheets with more boxes to fill in for an additional challenge.
For example, when we first begin working on r-controlled vowels we use Write the Room recording sheets that have a word bank and only 12 spaces to fill in. This guides students as they begin working with these new words and helps to avoid overwhelm. As the children begin to master this concept, we use recording sheets with up to 24 spaces and no word bank. This small change adds a bit of challenge and interest to the activity.
Write the Room Helps Shake Out the Wiggles
Have you ever had a day when your students just can't seem to sit still? In the first-grade classroom, these days are rather frequent! Firsties are full of energy and definitely need a change of scenery throughout the day to stay engaged in learning. We use lots of different learning methods like center activities, songs, and group games to help combat this, but my favorite option is Write the Room!
Write the Room is the perfect activity to pull out when your kiddos seem a bit restless and need to move around a bit. I love that I can give my students what they need to refocus while also continuing to work on important concepts.
For example, towards the end of the afternoon, my students are often beginning to burn out a little on our lessons. They might start to wiggle in their seats, seem to lose focus, or just start to get a bit snappy with each other. After a long day of learning, this is to be expected! One of my favorite remedies for this is to pull out an especially engaging and active Write the Room center like this Measuring Resource.
I take a few moments to get things set up and then send the kiddos off to fill out their recording sheets. This is a great way for my students to practice working on standard and non-standard measurements while also getting them up out of their seats and moving. The kids love measuring each item on the cards while they stretch their legs a bit.
Write the Room Makes Practice Fun and Engaging
If you teach in the primary grades, I don't need to tell you how important repetition is. So much of what we cover in our lessons must be practiced again and again before my students fully grasp a new concept. This can get a little boring if you aren't switching out your learning activities regularly.
This is where Write the Room comes in beautifully! I love that practicing something like place value, a skill we work on daily, can be more fun with Write the Room. The Place Value Write the Room activity we use focuses on mastering tens and ones.
To play, students will travel around the room and count the base ten blocks on each card. Since we work with base ten blocks every day, this is a great way to use something familiar to my students in a new way. This activity is great for whole-group learning, but it's also a fun center activity too.
Using Write the Room All Year Long
Perhaps the best part of Write the Room though is the simple fact that it can be adapted and used all year long. Since we use it across multiple subjects and themes there is always a Write the Room option that suits what we're learning about.
If you'd like to try a Write the Room activity with your class, you're in luck! Grab this FREE Addition Resource to add to your math centers. This activity focuses on addition to ten and is a great way to get started with Write the Room. There are task cards, recording sheets, an answer key, and number lines included!
And if you already love Write the Room as much as I do, be sure to check out all of the fun resources in my TpT Shop! Whether you need seasonal sets, math-focused activities, or phonics practice, there's something for everyone!
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