12 Ways to Use Write the Room Cards

Sand/Salt Tray: All you need for this activity is a sand tray, or hard supply box, sand or salt, and your write the room cards. Students will simply pick a card and then write the word in the sand. When I use the supply box, I tape a colored piece of construction paper underneath the supply box. This helps the students see what words they are writing. *During back to school time, Target usually has sand trays in the Dollar Spot.

Dough Letters: All kids LOVE Play Dough. They can build the letters by rolling the dough and forming the letters. You can also use Wikki Stix or pipe cleaners. This is also a great fine motor activity!

Letter Stamps: This one is always a hit in our classroom too! My kids LOVE stamps, but I really don’t enjoy the mess from the ink. For some reason, I always have one or two students with red or blue hands the rest of the day 🤦🏻‍♀️ I usually have them flatten Play Doh and then place the letter stamps directly on the Play Doh. You can also purchase letter stamps that are made for Play Doh, but I found this works and it is one less thing to purchase.

Spell with Letters: This one may seem obvious. As K-1 teachers, I think we all love magnetic letters. However, I am a huge fan of these sparkly foam letters. When I have my daughter use these letters, I always have her practice tracing each letter with her finger for a multi-sensory activity.

For more advanced students, you could have them cut out letters from magazines.

Rhyming Words List: For this activity, students will draw a card. They will find words that rhyme with the word provided. They will then sort those words and write them in the “real” or “nonsense” column.

I always had students do this with their center partner(s). They would take turns saying a word that rhymes. As a group, they will then determine if the word is real or nonsense. The student who said the word, would help the other group member write the word on the shared board.

Letter Beads: Letter beads are a great way for students to practice their phonics skills while practicing fine motor skills. I usually put the letters, pipe cleaners, and cards in a hard supply box.

My personal preference is having students string letters on a pipe cleaner. I always feel like it is more sturdy and a little easier than a shoe string.

Pick and Write a Sentence: For students who are ready, they can pick a card and then write a sentence using that word.

For extra engagement, they can highlight the word using a highlighter. I don’t know what it is about highlighters, but kids love them!

Sensory Tub: We are big sensory tub fans over here! We use jumbo tweezers to pick up the cards. Students then write the word next to the picture on the recording sheet.

Once they have completed the recording page, they can practice placing the gold coins in the pots for extra fine motor practice.

1, 2, 3, Show Me! Place all cards face down on the table in a pile. Students will take turns flipping one card at a time. Once it is flipped, they will quickly write the word. After a few seconds, they say, “1, 2, 3, show me!” They look at their word and check that is spelled correctly. If they get it right, they place a tally, or point, at the top of their board. They play until all the cards are gone.

This is a fun game for a warm up or conclusion to your reading instruction! I also use this activity for review before our assessment and as an early finisher activity.

ABC Order: Students will place all the cards face up on the table. Next, they will place the cards in alphabetical order. Finally, they will write the words in alphabetical order on a piece of paper or white board.

I typically did this as an extension/early finisher activity.

Assessment: If I needed a way to assess my students’ progress with a specific phonics skill, I typically would use the blank cards and one of the recording sheets as a formative assessment. This was extremely helpful because it was already prepped for me.

Write the Room: Finally, the last way to use the cards is for write the room.

If you haven’t heard of write the room, here is how it works:

1. Print the cards you want to use and tape them around your room.
2. Students walk around the room to find the cards.
3. Once they have the card, they find the word or picture on their recording page.

Want to see some differentiated write the room activities? Check out this “Write the Room” category to see all the resources I currently have available.

*I also can do a custom bundle. Please contact me to set that up 💜