Anybody who works with primary students understands that our students need movement! Kids are full of energy, and their brains work best when we can tap into that energy to help them learn!

We pepper in activities and brain breaks throughout the day to make sure our active learners, and our kids who love kinesthetic learning – which is usually most of them at this age – can thrive. 

Read the Room center activities are created for active learning and are designed like a scavenger hunt to build phonics and writing practice into your day.

An Activity with Low Prep and Tons of Value

Read the Room activities can look different depending on what your academic focus is. Students have the opportunity to quietly walk around areas of the classroom looking for specific words. These can be sight words, academic vocabulary, spelling words, or specific activity or story-related words. Then they write them down on a recording worksheet or in a notebook.

Kids activate so many parts of their brains during this fun and simple activity, it’s often a favorite for both students and teachers. During this time, you can also reinforce classroom routines and expectations so that students can actively practice being part of a classroom community.

Some teachers have students read the room by finding materials already available in the classroom such as books, posters, maps, and diagrams to find the selected words. That doesn’t always meet our needs, so there are also printable resources, and that’s what I’m introducing to you today.

Try it Out for Free or Dive Right In

If you’ve never used a Read The Room game in your classroom, you have a chance to try it for free! I have a Read the Room Freebie with three games that you can play all year round.

The themes included are Birthday, Recess, and Farm, and will give you a bite sized example of what’s contained in the full 50-themed resource in my TPT Store that’s available for purchase to use all year long!

The full resource  includes  Seasons, Holidays, School Subjects, Favorite Activities, People and Jobs, Places and more! There is everything you can think of to help expand student vocabulary and engage their growing minds.

Tips to keep in mind to help use this center resource successfully:

For Teachers:

• Each activity comes with 12 printable picture/word cards to go with each theme and a recording sheet.

• Print the picture cards, laminate them, and cut them out.

• Print one recording sheet for each student.

•  Decide if you want students to work until they finish, or until a certain amount of time has passed.

• Consider what areas of the classroom the words will be kept in. We don’t want a traffic jam with too many students gathered in one place, and we don’t want to disrupt other students or groups. Make sure kids know their limitations if there are areas that are off limits, or if you just want them in one general part of the room.

For Students:

• Let students know the recording sheets do not have to be completed in order. When they find a word, they can write it down on the sheet next to its picture.

• Students can work independently or with their buddies if you have children who need support.

• Use this time to reinforce how to work together. Practice or demonstrate following classroom expectations before they work independently.

• Explain where students will keep their recording sheets. Will they have clipboards, notebooks, or other supplies to help them complete the activity independently?

• Let students know if this is to be handwriting practice as well, or if they are simply focusing on vocabulary. 

For all learners, you can modify this activity to differentiate for student needs:

• Assign fewer words for your students who need more time or support.

• Reuse cards in another word work center so students get lots of exposure and familiarity.

• Make extra copies of cards to send home as homework practice for struggling learners.

• Consider incorporating  sentence writing to keep gifted students engaged.

This resource is sure to be a classroom favorite! Make sure to check out my TPT store for more Read/Write the Room center resources to help all students shine. And if you aren’t already on the email list, make sure to opt in (use the form above) to get access to my most up-to-date primary teacher tips and offers for your classroom toolkit!