The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Scoreboard
Guidelines for the Activities

KIDS TAKE WRITING WITH THEM, no matter where they go. Even when they’re out in the backyard tossing around the ball, writing has a place. To make it official, help them create a backyard scoreboard to keep track of points, wins and losses, and other vital stats.

And while kids may not be writing tons of stuff on their scoreboard, this activity reinforces an important function of writing: keeping track. It helps kids get into the regular habit of pausing the action momentarily to make a note of something, however briefly. It establishes a connection between doing and writing, action and notation. And that’s a winning combination, in my book.

The way I see it, it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you score the game.

MATERIALS

∗ baking sheet

∗ chalkboard paint

∗ shovel

∗ one six-foot-long section of two-by-four lumber (available at hardware stores)

∗ drill or screw gun

∗ two 1¾-inch wood screws

∗ one twenty-inch piece of elastic

∗ old washcloth

∗ chalk

HOW-TO

1. Paint the baking sheet with chalkboard paint (two to three coats) as directed on the paint can. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly between coats.

2. Select the spot for your scoreboard and dig a hole, two feet deep. Place the wood post in the hole; backfill dirt around the post, and compact it until it feels solid.

3. Drill a small hole in the middle of the baking sheet one and a half inches down from the top, and another hole one and a half inches up from the bottom. Use these holes to screw the baking sheet to the post.

4. Tie elastic tightly around one corner of the washcloth. Tie the other end of the elastic around the post, right below the bottom of the chalkboard. This (along with the rain) is the eraser for your scoreboard.

5. Start keeping score!

Variations

For Scribblers: Scribblers can surely learn to make tally marks. Make it noncompetitive, though. Your suggestion might be, “Put a line on the board every time you catch the ball,” and then ask them to see if they can beat their own score the next time around.

For Spellers: Since Spellers are learning to write their numbers, they can keep score numerically, erasing each number or striking it through before writing the next one.

For Storytellers: Storytellers may add some play-by-play descriptions, running commentary, analysis, or predictions to their score-keeping routine.

For Scholars: Scholars can begin to calculate more complex stats, such as batting averages, for example. Becoming proficient in writing numbers quickly, neatly, and in straight lines helps Scholars to focus all their attention on the math (without having to struggle to decode their digits).