CV Starr Students Take to the Hallway to Learn Math

The fifth grade hallway of CV Starr Intermediate School was not filled with students in tidy little lines. Instead, a gr­­­­­oup of students with clipboards in hand scurried back and forth from wall to wall, staring intently at little squares of paper, each one with a different math problem printed on it. The students were doing a socially distanced “math scoot.”

“They’re learning division,” said teacher Amy Butera. “It’s a more active way to learn the math.”

During a typical “scoot,” students move from desk to desk or spot to spot in the classroom, answering different questions at each location and having fun while reviewing along the way. This year, fifth grade teachers have taken the activity to the hallway so that students can spread out more.

“Sometimes, it’s just a lot of sitting,” Butera said. “Reviewing this way allows students to get up and move.”

On each clipboard there was a piece of paper with a numbered grid. Students matched the number on the upper right corner of the problem they found on the wall with a numbered box on their grid and worked the problem out before moving to another problem on the wall. They seemed to enjoy doing math this way.

“It’s fun,” said Imani Gilbert. “You get to move around. That’s my favorite way to learn.”