Tech Tip Thursday - Word Ball

Word Ball is one of our favorite apps on iPad! The great news is this app is available for Droid and Nook users as well, it ranges from a free version to 1.99! It is similar to Boggle - but on speed! The balls {letters} bounce around the screen and you must create words by tapping on the balls. Words are based on a leveled point system, the more challenging a word is, the more points it receives! It also receives points for what letters are used - vowels get the smallest amount of points, but letters like Q and Z offer the most points. As time goes on the balls {letters} you don't use shrink and eventually disappear - making it more challenging to create words. Words also have to be at least 3 letters long. If a words is misspelled, it will let the play know and not award any points. When the game is finished, students can review the words they created. This app is perfect for your word work station! It is appropriate for students of all ages, even I enjoy playing it. It naturally lends itself to having students focusing on spelling patterns.

You could have different variations of this game to make it more interesting & challenging:

• Play regular - allowing students to create any words
• Create words only using a certain spelling pattern
• Each word they create they must create a word that rhymes with it
• Only words that begin with a certain letter
• Only words with a certain theme or subject {vocabulary}
• Class challenge - by keeping track of students scores

WARNINGS: The program is set up to be able to play against others, however the option must be setup. Students could potentially try to get in and change these settings, so a discussion about this may be necessary. Also on the opening page, there are options to buy different versions. It is important to make sure you have your settings in place that a password must be used to purchase apps! The free version has banner ads, as we know you never know what you are going to get with the ads!

Words Their Way & Spelling Test

I decided to start re-reading Words Their Way to kick off my summer reading list. As I read this I'm hoping to find a way to incorporate the word patterns we are working on (from WTW), with spelling test. Last year, I used a new spelling program our state has adopted - Zaner-Bloser Spelling Connections. I actually really liked this spelling program. The list were broken down by spelling patterns and were differentiated. This is the only way I'll do spelling tests. I don't see the point is spelling test that are just a group of words that may have a common theme (farm, seasons, science, etc), but not have a common spelling pattern. I'll be honest, I focus on spelling because I think that if students learn spelling patterns, it  will help them with their decoding!

 How I did spelling last year: Every Monday morning, I would give my students a 15 word spelling pre-test. This would determine which list they would be on basic 1, basic 2, or challenge. The program called the levels below level, on level, and above level, however, my team teacher and I decided that it we liked the other titles better. The lists overlap, so some words were shared with another list. The students list weren't static; they could move up or down levels depending on their pretests. As much work as it sounds like it was, it was actually pretty simple. The kids would have weekly homework. After attending a great GT training, I decided to make choice boards (tic-tac-toe) for their weekly homework. The kids loved it! They liked having a choice of which activities they wanted to complete. During centers, the kids would also have activities in word work. They had to complete word sorts and I also had their words on spelling city. On Friday, I would give everyone a test for ALL spelling words from each list. They would just note which list they belonged to by circling that number. They were only accountable for the words from their list, the others were used as bonus words (up to +5pt) but this also let me see who really learned the spelling pattern for that week. 

I'm not sure how I'll be able to incorporate my spelling program with WTW. I really, really like that my spelling program (ZB) was differentiated! I saw first hand how this helped my students. However, I would like to somehow keep my kids on the same spelling pattern (otherwise it seems like it would get out of control!). Our reading adoption, Texas Treasures, also has a spelling component that was created by none other than one of the authors from WTW (however I haven't been able to verity that!). I'm thinking that I may stick with my current spelling program from ZB, but use WTW during guided reading. I also want to somehow incorporate vocabulary as well! How am I going to merge all of these?!?! How do you manage your spelling/vocabulary?