I've "heard" some mention of these things from the national conference. If you were lucky enough to attend, please fill in those of us who didn't!

Thank you!

I didn't attend the national conference but the Sentence ladder is explained in the new model classroom e book

Thank you Scrapbunny!

The copy I read off of facebook didn't include the sentence ladder. I just downloaded the Ebook. Thanks!



Anyone have info about SuperSpeed spelling?

Did you get the information you need on the Sentence ladder?

Mega Complex: John, my brother, has a brown dog, but he, suprisingly, wants a cat.

Compound Complex: John, my brother, has a brown dog, but he wants a cat.

Complex sentence: John, my brother, has a brown dog.

Compound sentence: John has a brown dog, but he wants a cat.

Spicy sentence: John has a brown dog.

Simple sentence: John has a dog.

That's just a quick example of the sentence ladder. You climb up to the more complicated sentences. You can display all the time, take words out, and the students can help supply words as well. You can use your sentence display all day long when teaching other core concepts as well. Hope this helps on the sentence ladder.

SuperSpeed Spelling is very similar to SuperSpeed Math, because they are working with partners and it is verbal. One student has a list of the most commonly misspelled words, which would be right up there with a lot of the same words that are in SuperSpeed 100 and 1000. They say a word, and the other student spells it. You see how far they can get in a minute. The student with the list will mark the ones missed, so they have a list of gnarlies (ones they need to practice more on). If the speller gets a word incorrect, the person with the list, spells it for them, and then they spell it again and continue on. That is a quick review, and I don't have my notes in front of me. Hopefully I covered it, and if not, can anyone else out there clarify on anything I missed or messed up?

Thanks,
Staci Glass
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Staci,

Thanks for the explicit directions for SuperSpeed Spelling! Another WBT activity at the top of my list for 2011-12.

Just wondering...is there a list of the words and instructions that can be downloaded for SuperSpeed Spelling?

Karen

I have an old copy of the "Writing Game" but from all the ladders I am seeing, ya'all must have learned something new. I think I understand the spelling. Did you just use the super speed words and turn them into the spelling list?

That works for me, going to give it a try.
Thanks for sharing,

Annette

Annette,
The sentence ladder is brand new, and was introduced at the national conference. Staci did an excellent job of explaining it. For Kinder and first grade, our goal would be to teach simple sentence, spicy sentence, and compound sentence.

For SuperSpeed Spelling, the easiest way is to begin with SuperSpeed 100.

Have fun!
Deb Weigel
Co-Director, WBT Model Classrooms

The plan is to use the words from Super Speed 100. These are the 100 most commonly used words that children need to know how to read. So it would follow that they would also be the most used words in writing; therefore, they would be the words students should know how to spell. (At least that was the discussiion we had as we were working out the details of the game at the National Conference.) I plan to play the game using the Super Speed 100 words. For my older students that master these words, I will move into the Super Speed 1000. I hope this helps.

Susan Floyd
WBT Intern, 2011-12

I'm so excited about SuperSpeed Spelling and the Sentence ladder! It's great to see that others want to know more about it, and are just as excited as me to use it in their classrooms! Thanks Deb and Susan for clarifying on the explanation for everyone on SuperSpeed Spelling!

Thanks,
Staci Glass
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Hey all I did this today they love, love,love it! We tried it with our Biffy words first. Then practiced our partner super speed list we went from that right into soelling. It worked great.
Now, we also built sentences from bottom of the ladder to the top, what a success story. Oh yeah

Annette.

Annette,

I'm so glad to hear that you've tried the sentence ladder & had success. I'm chomping at the bit to get back to school to start using the sentence ladder with my kiddos!

Thank you for sharing your success.

Tiffany
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Hey all!

As of last week at the conference in West Plains, Biffle had renamed the Sentence ladder to the Genius ladder. The concept is still basically the same, but by the time students get to the top, they are writing genius sentences! I don't have all my notes in front of me, but I wanted to put it on here, so when you post your "Sentence ladder" in your classroom, you can call it the "Genius Ladder."

Thanks,
Staci Glass
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

I love the idea of the Genius Ladder. Here is my question: Does anyone have a photo example? I'm not sure how it should be displayed. On the whiteboard? Or in a pocket chart? Is this something on paper that is strung together to look like an actual ladder? I am a visual learner.

Our most recent favorite saying in WBT is Andrea Schindler's, "It's your classroom!" Set up the Genius Ladder in whatever way makes sense to you. However, because you will be changing the sentences daily and erasing key words for kids to fill in, it probably makes sense to put it on your whiteboard. A sample would look like the following:

Genius!: Juan, my friend, likes sweet apples and, for breakfast, ripe bananas.
Conjunction-Complex: Juan, my friend, likes sweet apples and ripe bananas.
Complex: Juan, my friend, likes sweet apples.
Conjunction: Juan likes sweet apples and ripe bananas.
Spicy: Juan likes sweet apples.
Blah: Juan likes apples.

More detail about the Genius Ladder can be found in the "Designing Your WBT Model Classroom" download, though there it is still called the Sentence Ladder. I'm preparing some new zowie materials on the Genius ladder. If you haven't already, please buy an oxygen cylinder because you may soon be fainting with joy.

I have been playing around all week with the genius ladder and how I want it diplayed. I found a ladder bulletin board set online that is actually a growth chart. I may use this just to get their visual attention. I then bought boarder to use as side rails and for the rungs, I found dry erase sentence strips at staples. I will probably teach my lessons using power points on the Smartboard. If I can manipulate wall space, I will use the bulletin board as a constant visual reminder.

Rebecca Crooks
WBT Intern
2011-12

Rebecca, you've got me fired up. I'd like to put my ladder right in front of the mats where they sit. We don't have smartboards in primary grades yet but I could Ppt and do it on the doc camera. I felt sad that my pictures did not transmit via computer since I have taken my boards down- but at the same time you all that are ahead of me can help me with all kinds of arrangements. In short I am looking for your help.

Thanks - Annette

These are great ideas! I can't wait to start the Genius Ladder with my small groups when we get back to school in a couple of weeks. One of the things I like so much about this is it will be easy to do on my small traveling cart!

Susan Floyd
WBT Intern
2011-12

I used a modified version of the Genius Ladder this past year with my middle school classes to help them develop the topic sentence for each of five paragraphs in a persuasion paper they had to write. The conclusion paragraph was the easiest. In the end they paraphrased each topic sentence they had developed and the conclusion paragraph built itself!

Jeff ... how about posting a description of your Genius Ladder here and how you used it. I currently in the process, no surprise, of rebuilding the one described in the Model Classrooms ebook.

Hey Jeff!! Would love to see your modification of the genius ladder!! I have lots of middle school teachers dying to catch a glimpse of your modification!

Thanks!!
Heather Hansen
Wbt Intern
2011/12