Hi,
It is the third month now (first term)
I started teaching my grade 1 students the speed game nearly the second week of the accademic year
2010-2011..
Now the result is amazing,, mabe 10 of my lovely students can read the onw hundred sight words in one minute,, others,, different levels,,, but mostly,, still have one student only whos really needs more help,,, I encourage all the teachers to start it if they didn't yet,, it takes time at the beginning, but it gives great results,,
I will show you the final report that used to evaluate my children in the class.. Hope it may help,,



The most common Sight Words in English /grade 1
Read these 100 words perfectly! As a challenge, read the words in 60 seconds or less!

Name: ____________________________

a, the, and, I, that, my, this, he, she, your 10
you, we, me, they, to, at, as, has, had, like 20
go, on, what, but, all, I'm, were, have, will, come 30
was, some, went, am, saw, yes, No, her, here, up 40
put, down, look, came, now, are, is, for, away, an 50
school, thank, our, any, help, hold, get, it's, us, it 60
says, said, him, want, can, where, got, did, do, so, 70
time, too, how, by, under, make, why, if, very, be, 80
still, does, of, wanted, dad, mum, his, not, back, with 90
every, looked, these, can't, asked, take, many, from 98
again, sometimes 100

Fluency Score
Total Words Read Per Minute: _________
Number of Errors: ________
Number of Words Read Correctly: (WCPM) _________
Done by: Ms. Ameena Abu Khalaf / 1J

I totally agree!!! Biffytoons and the SuperSpeed 100 are awesome....I teach kinders and out of 14..10 of them can read over 70 of the words and the other 4 have started the superspeed 1000...

They are awesome!!!!

Farrah Shipley
2010-2011 WBT Intern
Kindergarten

Farah,

So glad to hear this! My Kinder, First grade class know almost all the Biffy words and we are doing super speed 100 to start round 2 as both in class and home work and soon to start super speed 1000 in class for the first graders. AND I JUST FOUND YOUr VIDEOS ALONG WITH DEB'S SO NOW I AM PUMPED! We are year round so we have been off a long 4 weeks. I just finished watching both of you so I could be back in peak form with lot's of new questions when we return tomorrow.

Wish we could teach closer, you are a "hoot" (I mean that in a nice way
Annette

Farah,
I really was astonished when I read your post that some your kids in KG are able to read the 100 sight words,,, and some will start the 1000,,, so,,, I think that grade one can do it,, right? let me hear from you or from any teacher who has the same experience,,
thanks,,
Sahar

Well Sahar~ I can't say that I've reached 100, but I will say this~
with my district adopted curriculum, my students had to learn 18 words. On average my low kids would only master 7~10.
HOWEVER~ with the introduction of the BIffytoons~ they now learn 48 & last year most students ranged 46~48+ BUT my lowest student (only) mastered 33~ but that is not just reading BUT ALSO SPELLING THEM!!!!
Yah~ it works!!!!

Yeah they amaze me everyday! But I have to remind other kinder teachers that where I teach, we teach 6 months to a year in advance. So right now my kinders are actually beginning of the year 1st grade to middle of the year 1st grade with our material being taught. So it isn't unusual for them to know the 100 sight words. We are very structured and are really "brains on overload" sometimes! LOL! I really have had to find a balance between the stress of excelling and the fact that they are just Kinders. But our school sets such high expectations for our students. Amazingly they excel beyond my beliefs sometimes. I feel like a drill sergeant sometimes and often don't have the luxury of being the loving kindergarten teacher I want to be because I am having to "push push push" them to excel! What I love about the WBT methods is it allows me to achieve the same results without so much 'harshness' in my classroom. It really was a shock for the first year here (this is my second) for kinders to be in desks working 8 hours a day! Yes, in desks...pencil in hand, working!!! I really do love the concept that my principal (and school founder) has put in place. These kids need to be pushed so they will excel beyond their circumstances...but sometimes it can seem a bit like boot camp!! LOL! I will say though that word has spread...and I have pre-k parents coming to talk to me about their child coming to kinder next year and they want them in my class...so that tells me that I must be doing something right!

Super Speed Experts,

Question: Do you give each student the whole packet for SuperSpeed 100 to start OR do you pass out a few pages at a time? Do your students keep the copies in a binder? page protector? or somewhere else? I found/started Superspeed in Feb. and I was so confused...where to start, when to move to the next level. At the conference in SD, Chris R. explained the procedure. Just wanted to pick your brain and find the best way YOU have implemented this amazing activity. It may sound crazy but I'm trying to get organized for 2011-12.

Karen

Hi Karen!
I use the Biffytoons in kinder and I have them color coded like a rainbow (we have 6 "purple words", 8 "blue words", 8 "green words", etc). I start by teaching the students one word a week and then I send home fluency practice with just the words taught to date for homework. Students can excel beyond what I am teaching because once we have learned all the purple words I send home a copy of the words on purple flashcards. Once students can "pass" a level (meaning they can read AND spell them) I put their name up in that color in our kinder window and I give the student the next set of words. Each student is trying to "build a rainbow"~ which is what happens when they know all the words. I have some very self~motivated students (or parents...hahaha) who had passed their "red" words before I even introduced them to the class.

I also use the Biffytoons Super Speed and then Super Speed 100 with my kinders and their uppergrade buddies. All of the students started at the same level but of course advance at their own pace. I created folders for each student and gave our upper grade buddies stickers to "reward" their kinder buddy each time they broke a record. Because I teach kinder, I felt more comfortable having a big buddy be their partner rather than having the students partner up.

However, when I taught third I paired up students based on their levels so that students could help each other with words they didn't know. I did NOT, however, stick the top student with the lowest student. I have found that my gifted students just "take over" and read for the other student if paired this way. In the beginning of the year I would have students read with me so I could find the best level to start them at. Then I would find a suitable student partner and pair them up that way. I told students if they found a word that they both didn't know that they should both give me a thumbs up and I would help them.

I imagine first grade would be somewhere between those two examples. I think they can be independent enough that they do not need an upper grade buddy. The blessing of the Super Speed 100 is that the words repeat so the students will get multiple exposures with the first 100 frequently sighted words. I think the idea of keeping the pages in a folder would help with management~ although I think that hole punching them and putting them in a folder where they would not slip out might be the best way so they don't get lost. I have also heard of teachers putting them in sheet protectors in a folder so that the students can write on the sheet protector instead of the page and then the pages last much longer.


Hope this helps:)!!!

Karen,
I teach first grade, and my students have a fluency folder, which is a plastic folder with prongs. They keep the SuperSpeed in that. They have a sticky tab to mark where they left off. My 8 highest kiddos began SuperSpeed 1000 after first quarter. The rest of my students continued in SuperSpeed 100 until they passed all the levels. By the end of 3rd quarter, all but 6 were working on SS 1000!!! What a difference!

Our interventionists used page protectors on the SS, that way they could use the copies for several groups.

I found that I needed to divide my class into 3 groups, and then pair the students within that group. Basically, I numbered my students 1-28, low to high. My numbers 1-6 were my super strugglers, and they needed lots of intervention. My numbers 20-28 were reading at 2-5 grade level, so they needed challenging. The ones in between (7-19) were paired stronger readers with weaker readers, but my super high and super low were not factored into this group. Does that make sense? So when we did SS, they knew who their partners were, and what levels they were on. My parent volunteers would also pull pairs and listen to them read SS, which was beneficial, especially for my strugglers. After reading SS, they would read a passage in their fluency folder, and practice retelling the story. This combination of SS, then reading a passage and retelling, was a powerful tool in first grade.
Enjoy!
Deb Weigel

Andrea & Deb,

Thanks again for explicit directions about how you implement ss (especially the way you group your students).

I know you're preparing for the national convention but when you have a free minute I have another question...how do you organize the fluency reading passages and retelling the story? Are these passages from resource book?

About the convention, please, oh please, please, please please share EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!

Just a thought, has Mr. B thought about video taping the sessions?

Karen

Karen I had the same request! Can't make National, but p-l-e-a-s-e share there's so much to learn.
I started super speed with more defined groups today, and it was a hit. Now I'll be way more prepared next year.
I'd like to know about the reading passages also. I use the HB books but I'd like another resource.
Thanks,
Annette

Do students need to read the 100 sight every day or every other day?

I want to begin to implement the speed reading 100 game in my class, but am a bit confused about a couple of things.

1. I get the idea of pairing a low student with a higher student, but how does this work then for individual progress since they are playing and reading the words one after the other?

2. Do the children keep the same partner every time they play or do/can partners change?

3. Do they start each day that you play, back at level 1, or do they begin at the level they ended on the last time played?

4. Any advice on beginning would be helpful.

I love the idea of this game for my grade one class, but want to do it right before beginning.

I used SS 100 with my first graders last year. Let's see if I can help with your questions.

Pairing: I paired high with mid, and mid with low. This worked better than having a student who already knew all 100 words paired with a student who only knew 3 or 4 sight words. In fact, I had a group of 6 students who used SS 1000, because they had already mastered the first 100.

They keep the same SuperSpeed partner all the time. that way they can record their stars together when they set a new recoded. As far as individuals, you can have them go for a "solo" record every once in a while. I did this about every 2 weeks, and they loved it!

When a team breaks a record, they get to start one row down the next time. If they do not break a record, they start in the same spot as the day before.

Advice:
Model with the class, using a projector. Model how to take turns, how to mark where they end, and how to give helpsies to your partner. Show them how to track with their finger, so they do not get mixed up and lose time. Stress that they are not racing against one another in the class, but trying to set and beat their own personal best records. Look carefully at your pairings before you begin. When you set them up, determine which sets of students would make the most effective team over the whole year.

Have the SS copies ready to go. My students kept them in their reading folder, so we could access them at a moments notice.

Celebrate those who set new records!!!

Enjoy!
Deb

Thanks so much. It makes sense now. I will begin on the overhead with some practise sessions and think carefully about my pairings. I like the idea of the "solo" record. I will also follow your advice about the pairings. I was concerned about pairing a high/low as they high student may feel like they never get to the "record" or to a point where they are actually practising words that are challenging to them.
Much appreciated.

That sounds good.

Deb this is by far the best explination, I added one step homework with mom, dad or older sobling as a partner. I even had my parents come in for a demo lesson on my "hey, mom you gotta see" Friday's. Once or twice a month before and after school the parents are treated to a whole brain demo lesson. Oh, yeh.

risekinder wrote:



Thank you for sharing this! It's an awesome feeling when you know you are helping the kids in such a powerful way! I have taught 3rd, 4th and 5th and have always been a stickler for classroom management anyway. When I finally saw WBT, I was hooked and dove right in. Now I'm teaching 1st grade and I have the same expectations for behavior and work in my classroom. When visiters walk into my room they can't believe how mature, responsible and hard working my class is even though they are having fun and fully engaged in 1st grade content. When they ask what I do, I just respond with "Whole Brain Teaching." Some teachers at our site think they are using WBT, but are only scratching the surface with Class-Yes and Teach-ok. When they visit my room they have a much clearer picture of what their kids can do, especially when my 1st graders can do it. Strong yet FUN classrooom management, thanks to WBT!

When I start the 100 sight words with my grade ones, we all start at level one. We keep reading and the time goes off. We do this again the second time and if they beat their personal best they go to level two? or I want to start everyone off at level one. I would set a goal (read 40 words a minute)? I am going to have one person read, while the second person tallies how many times they read each word. i have a very busy class. Than they would switch roles. i am adapting it. What do you think?

Do the children keeping reading and reading until the time goes off? I mean they do not just read level one over and over. THey go to the next level, until the time ends?