Write the room activities (and write and solve the room activities) are among my favorite center activities for my students. In my classroom, write the room activities consist of task cards hung around the room with pictures on them. Students go on sort of a scavenger hunt around the room to find the cards that match the pictures on their recording sheets. These activities make awesome centers, warm up, or morning work activities!
There are so many things I love about this type of practice, but here are three of the major reasons I love it!
1.You can adapt this type of practice to almost any subject area or practice skill!
Originally I used write the room to practice our spelling words or phonics skill words. Originally this really consisted of students reading and then copying words. Soon my eyes were opened to so many more opportunities for practice including content area vocabulary, math skills and fact fluency, and even punctuation practice!
2. The format/procedure is consistent allowing for increased independence with routines.
No matter what the subject matter, the basic procedure and routines are similar! In my classroom students practice using a clipboard to move around the room. We practice all together the first few times so they know what it feels, sounds, and looks like to be appropriately engaged in this center (and let’s face it… first graders take clip boards VERY seriously!) Since the routine is pretty much unchanged, I can change out the cards and content tasks and provide challenges on a more independent basis since the students are so familiar with the procedure.
3. Kids are MOVING while they practice!
Toss out those worksheets. Kids are required to do so much “sit and produce” work as it is. Some of it is avoidable… but when we have an opportunity for our students to get up and move, to be engaged in solving, reading, or whatever the focus skill is…. let’s go for it!
Here are some of my available Solve & Write the Room resources!
