Favorite+Floor+Scrabble

"Floor Scrabble" is a middle school (grades 5-8) classroom favorite or large group activity for all ages! This whole class activity is a take-off from the Scrabble board game, and it is played on the floor in a large circle, in partners or trios. To get started, the teacher needs to create a double set of tiles. Cut up white poster board into squares about 4 X 4 inches. You will need 200 squares since the Scrabble tiles' set is doubled. So, for example, there are normally 12 E's worth 1 point each, so you would make 24 E's; there is 1 Q worth 10 points, so this game calls for 2 Q's, etc. Use a permanent black marker and neatly write the letters with point values in corners of each tile, just like on the board game. A small shoebox works great to place all the tiles in with letters facing down.

RULES: Play in partners or trios only. We follow the general rules of Scrabble (i.e. no abbreviations; no proper nouns, no swapping letters with others,etc.), but I do encourage them to use a dictionary.Words already played can be added on to, which encourages the use of prefixes and suffixes, and you can score all the points for doing that. Since we're playing on the floor, obviously no points under the tiles or double word, so you only score what is on top. First, pass the tile box around for all teams to draw one letter. Whoever gets closest to the "A" goes first, and we rotate clockwise. Teams draw 10 TILES, which can be laid out on the floor in front of the players. As soon as you've played, draw new tiles to keep a total of ten tiles. The teacher keeps a running score on the board for each team, but doesn't total until the end of the game. Teacher calls an end to the game when all teams have had an even numbers of plays (usually 4-5 turns in a group of 20). This is equivalent to 45-50 minutes. GEOGRAPHY FLOOR SCRABBLE : All rules above, apply, EXCEPT, proper nouns ARE allowed, IF they are a place in the world, and students can show you the name in an Atlas if it is not familiar to the group. All teams have atlases, and if they play a country name like EGYPT, they get DOUBLE the points. This puts an exciting twist on things, and the letter Q, for once, no longer has to be followed with a U : (Qatar, for example, or Qi river). You would be surprised at how much fun they have discovering new places! SUCCESS : In my 32 years of teaching, "Floor Scrabble" is a favorite game of my students. It is highly engaging, fast-paced, and the kids look forward to the times they "get" to play this word-building, team-played game. Once students know how to play it, they just about run the game independently.