First Grade Reading and Math Activities – Tips for Scoot and Write the Room Activities

To Scoot or Not to Scoot….

Do you want to do fun activities in your classroom like Scoot and Write the room… and do them successfully? The idea of Scoot and Write the Room activities is to give students a recording sheet which must be filled in by pieces of information located around your classroom. Because of the nature of these activities, your students can become rowdy, off task and possible not learn a thing. In this post I’ve put together some tips for successful Scoot and Write the Room activities.

Activities:

Write the Room

This activity is fun, but does give your students an opportunity to be silly and loud, since they will be moving to many different areas of your classroom in no particular order. I like to hide the information just a little so they have to look for it. When they find a card, they will probably be so excited that they shout it out! Hiding the cards does take a bit longer, but is much more fun.

Tip: Use a device to take pictures of where you placed the information cards. The more cards you have, the easier it is to forget where you hid them. There have been many times where I’ve hidden cards so well that we didn’t find them for weeks or months later.

After I started taking pictures of them, I would allow my students to go to the device and find the card they were missing… especially if time was running out. I take the pictures at a pretty close range to make them really think about where in the classroom the card is.

Scoot

This activity has a bit more structure than write the room. You might simply place the information on the floor, hang them on the board in your classroom or place them on the unoccupied desks. For this option, have the students stand up while you prepare the space for the Scoot. Then give them the recording sheet and let them begin. Either way, they should be in order so your students can get the information quickly. Some might start at the front and some at the back, but it’s a linear movement.

Success Tips for Write the Room / Scoot Activities:

Establish a time limit. Let your students know that they have “X” amount of time to complete the activity. This will help assure that they stay on task. Have consequences for students who do not finish unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Monitor the activity. Unfortunately, this is not a good time to check email or grade papers. To make this activity a success, your students will need your full attention. Praise the students that are doing it correctly and possibly have a special incentive like homework passes or other non-tangible items available.
Have clipboards on hand. Your students will need some sort of writing surface since they will not be at their desks. Clipboards will add to the success of this activity. If you don’t have clipboards, you can use dry erase boards with clothespins or your students could use a folder or spiral from their desk.
Make sure your students know your expectations by going over your rules first.

Some rules might be…

1.) Stay focused on filling in the recording sheet.

2.) The answers should come directly from the information cards, not what students think they should be. I’ve had kids just write in the answers and not actually go find them. Ask them to spell everything correctly since it is displayed on the card correctly.

3.) Everyone is in charge of finding the answers themselves. Don’t give the answers away or tell others where the cards are (in special circumstances, you may need to assign partners).

4.) This is a fun activity, but you must follow the classroom rules. We can continue to do fun activities like this if you are actually learning from them and not using the time as an extra recess.

Have an alternate assignment available. For kids that cannot discipline themselves to complete this type of assignment, have something else for them to do. This should be something less fun but still practicing the same objective. Sometimes just the threat of this is enough to keep kids in line.
Have work for Early Finishers. In this activity, students will finish at different times. Have a plan for this so the students will not get off task and create chaos in your classroom. I recommend an activity or worksheet that is tied to the original Write the Room or Scoot activity, like a word search or sorting activity. See below. Click to see the resource.

Check the recording sheet. Once everyone is finished, tell the students the answers. Project it if possible. Kids need to know if their answers were correct. They can learn a great deal from this part of the activity.

Final Thoughts:

Write the Room and Scoot activities are engaging and kids can learn a lot from them, I hope you find these tips helpful. You can use either of these styles on any Scoot or Write the Room activity that you have. If it says Write the Room, you can use the “Scoot Technique” if you think your students won’t be able to handle all of the freedom of the Write the Room style. I think these types of activities instil a love of learning in kids and they want to come to school everyday because of them. Scheduling them into your day on a regular basis can make for great classroom community.

Don’t forget to pin the image below to your Teaching Resources board on Pinterest for future use.

Thanks for stopping by!
~ Carrie