Last year, I implemented a Write the Room literacy center and it quickly became my favorite literacy based center. So much so, that this year I have also implemented a Math Write & Count the Room called Math in Motion. I was a bit nervous about how in the world the kids would be able to keep them straight but surprisingly they have not had any trouble at all!
I use center wheels to rotate my students through their literacy centers and match stations so I used a yellow center wheel for the reading centers and matching yellow library pockets for the Write the Room. For the math stations, I used a blue center wheel for Math and matching blue library pockets for the Math in Motion.
If we are doing the yellow centers (reading) then the kids know that if they are in the Write the Room station they will do the yellow envelope. If we are doing the Math Stations (blue wheel) then they will do the blue Math in Motion pockets.
For the first week of school I knew that I had to have something easy in these centers so that we could just focus on how to move around the room to find the pockets and then fill in the recording page. For Reading, I just added some different colored die cut letters in the library pockets and had them find the matching letter on the recording sheet and color it the same color as the die cut letter. I did capital letters the first week and lowercase letters the following week.
In our Math in Motion station, I added colored shapes in the pockets so students just had to find the shape from the library pocket on the recording page and color it the same matching color.
This week the kids will find a shape and then draw it on the recording page. That should be interesting since I have a few students that have evidently never held a pencil before coming to kindergarten. To help those precious ones, I will show them how to lay their paper on top of the shape and trace the shape.
I do have my library pockets numbered 1-12 but for these activities it is not necessary for the students to complete the recording page in any particular order.
I have been working on a Write the Room & Math in Motion activity packet but it does not have very many beginning of the year skills in it just yet. I hope to get it finished up in the next couple of weeks and listed on TPT and TN but for now enjoy these activities for free by clicking here!
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