Do the students cross of 5 words every time they reach a nonsense/bonus word or do they cross off 5 words one time per nonsense/bonus word? For example: every time they say "sploootz" they cross off 5 words or the first time they say "sploootz" 5 words may be crossed off that one time and now they have to reach for the next nonsense/bonus word "zoink" in order to cross off 5 more words? My students are not making much progress so I must be doing something wrong. Help?

they are to start 5 words in from the first word when they reach a nonsense word. If they go past 2 nonsense words you go 10 words in from the first word when you start again. each nonsense word is worth 5 words in. They will get further everytime they hit a nonsense word because they are starting further and further in from the beginning

An even simpler system that we have begun to use lately, is just to have students start one line down from their previous start point whenever they break a record. Say Juan and Tasha, starting at word 1 of line 1, read to word 100 in a minute. They go again as a team and get to word 101. They next time they play they start at the first word of line 2. The nonsense words are then just used to add fun to the game. This "starting 1 line down when you break a record" is the same system we use in SuperSpeed Math.