Have you ever spent too much time in class going over a past concept when you really didn’t need to? Do your students sometimes just need a quick, non-time consuming activity to get their brains going? If you answered yes to either one of those questions, then Scoot might be the answer you are looking for! Keep reading to learn how to play Scoot as well as five ways you can use Scoot to review ANY subject.
What is Scoot?
Scoot is an interactive game that gets your students up and moving. In order to play Scoot, you need to decide on the following things:
- What pattern you want your students to move in?
- What subject you want to cover?
- How much time is needed to answer each question?
Choosing a Scoot Pattern
When you play Scoot in your classroom, students will get up and move from desk to desk. Therefore, you want to set up your classroom in a way that is easy for your students to move around. If you do not have an easy pattern, Scoot can turn into chaos in a hurry.
Choosing a Scoot Subject
After you’ve established a pattern, you’ll want to choose a subject. You can literally use Scoot for anything from a STEM class or idea to English or history. The only variant you may have to consider is time.
Deciding on a Time
Once you have selected a subject, you need to decide how much time is needed for each question. If you are working with a STEM subject or grammar, you may only need around 30 seconds for each question. On the other hand, if you’re students are answering writing prompts or writing short answer history questions, you might want to allot more time for writing.
How to play Scoot
Now that you’ve made your three decisions, you need to gather your materials. For any Scoot game you will need:
- As many questions as you have students (maybe more if you put two on a desk)
- A Scoot Answer Sheet
- A sticky note to cover the Scoot question
- A timer
To set up the game, you will need to put a question on each desk and put a sticky note over that question with a number on the top of the sticky note. The number on top of the sticky note will correlate with a number on the Scoot Answer Sheet.
Once everything is set up, you can tell your students the pattern they will be moving around the room in, and get to work! Make you remind students to pay attention to the number they are on and where they are writing their answer on the Scoot Answer Sheet and let them learn!
Using Scoot
As stated above, you can literally use Scoot for any subject! Here are five different subjects you can use Scoot to review in your classroom.
#1 Math
Let’s start by counting! Math can be a tough subject for many students, and because it is a subject that builds on prior materials, it is so important that students get it! You can use Scoot to practice ANY math skill from place values to addition to multiplication to division!
To help your students get ready for the next big idea, use Scoot to review the prior material. By doing so, you will be flicking on a light that will help them understand the new concept better! This would also be a great way to review for a test!
#2 Science
Another STEMulating subject to work on is Science! You can use Scoot to study the different seasons and even have one for each season you’re in school: fall, winter, and spring! These Scoot questions can ask about the different seasons and what changes. As long as you have one question for each student, you are good to go!
#3 Grammar
Beyond STEM, you can have your students work on grammar. If you’re looking at identifying adjectives, write sentences with one adjective in them and have your students identify that adjective and write in on their Scoot Answer Sheet. You can do this for all the parts of speech which can help when it comes to diagramming sentences later.
#4 History
Similar to grammar and science, you can use history to review dates and names of important people you are studying in your class. You can also use Scoot to study state capitals or presidents! Having a fun fact about each president would be a fun way to celebrate President’s Day and give your students some extra knowledge.
#5 Sight Works
Finally, one of the best ways you can use Scoot is to practice your sight words. If you are looking for a fun way to increase your students’ reading skills look no further than Scoot. Beyond looking at your everyday sight words, you can have sight words that correlate with the seasons and different holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. Having your students practice sight words with Scoot will increase their skills and allows you to scaffold better!
Why Scoot?
Scoot is a fantastic way to get your students up, moving, and learning all at the same time! They can see what they struggle with specifically (as can you) which makes re-teaching much easier in the long run!
If you’re looking for some fun Scoot games, check some out at Stop and Smell the Crayons! There are ready made Scoot games that will take your students to the next level!
