Miss Kate's Desk: Write the Room

Good afternoon! Can you believe that tomorrow is the 4th? I'm still in shock. After the 4th, the summer just seems to be gone. Today I want to share about my kids' favorite activity for Word Work.

Write the Room

My first year of teaching I did 10 literacy stations (How? Why? I don't know, I was crazy). I saw a write the room online and decided to print it off and try it. I was slightly nervous to let my kids walk around with clipboards. I just knew they'd get into other people's business and not be focused.

Surprisingly,

that did not happen at all. They LOVED it. Last year when I switched to Daily 5 my group of kids I had also loved it. It is honestly very rare that someone has to be redirected or pick a new station for not staying on task or bothering others.

Here's how I set it up:

Print, cut, laminate, and cut again. Literally post them all around:

*on the front of your desk

*on the paper towel dispenser

*on the back of a chair

*on a window

*on a shelf

*hidden behind something the kids can see

I have a plastic tray that holds the sheets (get the sheets for free at my TPT store). Students go up and grab a pencil, clipboard, and snap a sheet on the board. I told them when we started stations that they have to write one word in each box and to write with their best handwriting. Then, off they go searching for words.

What's that you say? You have a few that will find them in 5 minutes and have them all wrote down.

That's when I said at the beginning of the year: "If you find them all, turn it over and write that word in a sentence."

You could even have them write their own definition for the word. I'm sure there's even more that I'm not thinking of.

Want to get crafty?
Buy plain wooden clipboards and cover them with washi tape or duct tape. I always then put a layer of modge podge, or some sort of protectant on it. I have a bin filled with these cute clipboards that students grab and go.

I just started making my own Write the Room sets. I have 2 posted currently and this next week will be adding more (holidays, themes, seasons, what we're studying, etc). I am also going to edit my Write the Room Recording Sheet that is posted as a FREEBIE.