Why Scoots Work For Me!

Before student teaching, I had never heard of the concept of a scoot. Then my second week in my first placement, my cooperating teacher asked me to hang up some scoot cards she had printed out for a Math Review. I was confused at what they were for, but she explained it as a math scavenger hunt to get the kids up and moving while they were practicing their facts! This idea sounded fantastic to me and I was hooked from that second. 

Fast forward to the end of the school year, and I have become a scoot fanatic! I have a slight obbseion with them and now love creating them! I am always looking for ways to have kids use their extra energy while still getting school work done, and for me scoots are the way to go!

Many teachers do scoots by just setting a card on each students desk and giving a time limit and then having the students rotate to the next card. For me that is too slow paced and does not benefit lower students, because they may need more then two minutes per card. I didn't want my students to feel entirely rushed by any card. 

The way I run a scoot in my classroom is in a scavenger hunt format. In the morning before the students come in I prep the room for the scoot, by hanging the cards up around the room! I'll put them anywhere from on doors, boards, my desk, reading table, computers, etc. I basically put them anywhere that the students would be able to see. Dependent on the amount of cards in the scoot I set a timer for anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. During this time, the students are working silently on the scoot. Their directions are to not talk during the scoot, unless they are whispering to someone about where a card they can't find is. I have piano music playing softly in the background, reminding the students that they are to work quietly. 

The scoots give the students an opportunity to be out of their seats for a decent amount of time during the day and the students love it. They don't even realize they are practicing their skills or reviewing for a test! I have seen my students skills and confidence really improve and it has sent my math test scores through the roof! I plan on creating many more scoots, based on my math curriculum for the next school year, as well as starting some language arts/word study scoots. 

I currently have some scoots in my store. For Math I Have a Mental Math Scoot, A Data and Probability Scoot and a 4 Digit Addition and Subtraction Scoot. All three of these are also available in a growing bundle! This bundle is 20% cheaper then buying each one indivually, and once you purchase the bundle, you get all future scoots for free! This bundle will go up in price after each scoot is added, so buying now is a great option because their will be lots more added in the coming months!

I also currently have one word study scoot posted called Cupcake Contractions. I plan on making many more to support Words Their Way curriculums that I follow for my Word Study program. 

From now until 11:59 on Friday Night, I will have my favorite scoot-My Data and Probability Scoot posted for free in my store as a thank you for reading my blog launch! All of my other scoots will be 50% individually and also the bundle will be priced at 50% off. This is a great time to stock up on some scoots and thinking about purchasing my scoot bundle to receive many more scoots in the future. Shop my store to take advantage of these great savings!