How to use Write the Room for Engaged Learning

Young children are little explorers.  They love magnifying glasses, binoculars and touching everything in sight!  As we know, this is how young children figure out the world- through exploration!  So, when planning academic activities for young children, why not build off their need to explore?

Years ago, I tried out my own version of 'write the room' in my preschool classroom years ago. If you are not familiar, 'write the room' is an activity where you hang letter, word or number cards around the room.  Then, with a clipboard and recording sheet, children hunt the room for the letter/word/numeral and write it on their recording sheet.

It was a well loved activity by students that were able to easily copy and write letters. Not so much a favorite of my students that were not yet interested in writing or words. I have always liked the idea of 'write the room' because children are up and moving.  Plus, their natural need for exploring lends well to children moving throughout the room and looking for letters, words or the like.  

So, when a fellow educator asked me if I had any 'write the room' resources, it got me thinking that it was time to take a look at what I did in the past with fresh eyes (and the fact that years had gone by and I, as an educator, continue to grow and learn).

That is when I made some changes and created a resource that would better encourage all learners through curiosity and movement, now called 'Hunt the Room'.

One of the biggest goals when creating this resource was to make it easy to differentiate. I wanted all students, in all stages of learning, to enjoy hunting the room.  Another goal when creating this resource was to focus only on skills that are end of year goals for our preschoolers.  Therefore, no 'copy the word' or words with letter boxes are included.  

How to Use Hunt the Room

Using Hunt the Room is fairly easy, but I'll share what worked best for us. First, decide which skill or skills you want to focus on (see the list below). Print, cut and hang the cards for that skill around your room.  Make sure you hang them at 'child-height' or below! Decide how you want to use the recording sheets.  You could laminate, place in a dry-erase sleeve (see picture below) or make multiple copies.

Then, you will have to 'teach' children how to use this activity.  Model how to hold the clipboard, walk around the room and hunt for items on the chart. Start with easier task such as matching or hunting for shapes to help children understand the process.

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Hunt the Room Skills

SEARCH THE ROOM: children go around the room and look for the matching items on their clipboard recording page.

• Letters (both uppercase and lowercase) - photo above
• Numerals (0-10 and 11-20)
• Matching (picture matching)
• Shapes

TRACE THE ROOM: children go around the room and look for the matching items on their clipboard recording page and trace the letter/numeral/shape.

• Letters (both uppercase and lowercase)
• Numerals (0-10 and 11-20)
• Shapes (rectangle, circle, oval, square, triangle, rhombus)

WRITE THE ROOM: children go around the room and look for a certain picture. Then, they write the letter/numeral/shape on their recording sheet next to that picture.

• Letters (both uppercase and lowercase)
• Numerals (0-10) - photo above
• Shapes (rectangle, circle, oval, square, triangle, rhombus)
• Counting (1-10)
• Subitizing (1-6)
• Letter Sounds (uppercase)

Tips for using Hunt the Room

1. Use more than one skill hunt in the room.  This way you can differentiate the skills your students are ready for.
2. Encourage children to work in groups or pairs. I have loved how my students naturally work together to complete the hunts. I also love that if one student isn't sure about an item in the hunt, the other students help teach him/her!
3. Use this activity as an observation to see what skills students know.
4. Teach children EVERY step that goes into this activity. Including placing lids on dry-erase markers (if using them), how to erase the recording sheet and where to store the recording sheets.
5. Try taking the hunt outdoors or in other rooms in your school!
6. Change the hunt activities when you start to notice student interest decreasing.

Does this Write the Room type activity look like something your children will love? Grab the Hunt the Room resource!