Whole Brain Writing Game

In the past year I have had a chance to try out the Whole Brain Writing Game.  I like how it starts by creating sentences orally before pushing to have them written down.  In the future I will definitely combine this game with the Air Punctation brain toy, so that students can use gestures to practice capitalization and punctuation.

I tried this game last year with my entire 2nd grade class but unfortunately I did not follow through.  It is always challenging to find the time to fit everything in!  However, I really feel that taking the time to use this game will truly impact the students' writing.  It would have worked if I kept at it, but I think it may be even better to do it in small groups next year (at least in the beginning) so that I can more closely monitor for understanding.

I also used the writing game with the 7th grade boy that I tutor.  He needed practice writing and I really like how this game allowed for specific practice in a limited amount of time.  The topic lists for each complexor are also helpful because it sparks ideas while also allowing for plenty of creativity.


Just last week I had the 7th grader use the WB Writing Rules listed in the book to check his writing.  I love the list because it kind of took the pressure off of me.  It was no longer just me critiquing his writing.  It gave him guidelines to assess his writing himself.   Each rule also has a gesture to go along with it to make it more active and fun.  Even this 7th grader started to giggle when he got to #5 and got to flick each punctuation mark with his finger!

Last year I created a simplified version of the writing rules for my 2nd graders.  Before my students ever turned in their writing they had to grab a checklist and review their own work.  Click here to preview/download a copy of the document.  To download a free copy of the Whole Brain Writing Game book click here.

Summer Tutoring

School has been out a week and now it is time to start summer tutoring!  Last summer I took the opportunity to try out some Whole Brain activities with my tutoring kids.   I tutor a family of three children.  Last year the little girl was getting reading to go into kindergarten and the boys were about to enter 3rd and 7th grade.  It was a great opportunity to see how the WBT techniques worked on a wide range of age levels!

I had been working on letter sounds with the little girl.  Her mom wanted her to go into K with some reading skills already.  Over the summer I started teaching her sight words with Biffytoons.  I was extremely impressed with the effectiveness of Biffytoons.  They are basically cards with the sight word along with an illustration that corresponds to a sentence/phrase using the word.  At the same time there is a gesture used to act out each word.  The child sees the word, hears it, and uses the gesture.  As she was beginning to read books she might get stuck on a sight word and I could simply make the gesture and it would remind her of the correct word.  It was amazing!

The future kindergartner blossomed quickly and we soon began playing the SuperSpeed Reading game!  According to the website, SuperSpeed 100 incorporates the 100 sight words that make up 50% of the words students will read.  It is such a simple game, but it is so much fun!  SuperSpeed is actually the first WBT strategy I discovered a few years ago as I was looking for a way to build fluency with my ESL students.  As I tutored the kids over the summer, I not only used SuperSpeed 100 with the kindergartner, but I also used SuperSpeed 1,000 with the 3rd grader.  They both equally enjoyed the game and excitedly tried to beat their own records.  SuperSpeed is a game to be played with a pair of students, but in this case I just became the partner.

At the same time, I actually had all three kids playing SuperSpeed Math to work on math facts.  The kindergartner used SuperSpeed Numbers, the 3rd grader worked on subtraction and multiplication, and the 7th grader worked on multiplication and division.  It was awesome to see how they all eagerly tracked their progress and filled in stars when they beat their records! 

Last but not least, I also tried out the Whole Brain Writing Game with the 7th grader.  There is a portion of the game that focuses on developing ideas and orally creating sentences.  I have used this with my 2nd graders. But for this 7th grader I went on to have him creating sentences on paper.  The game gives sentence frames and topic ideas and allows the student to practice putting together sentences correctly. 

I enjoyed having the opportunity to use these WBT strategies with kids at all different grade levels.  They each found the activities engaging and I was able to see improvement in all areas.

I'm getting ready for tutoring again this summer.  I want to do more math this year with the kindergartner.  I'm excited to use Smoothy Bumper Planet to work on number concepts.  I also want to use Brain Toys with all three of the kids to work on comprehension and writing.  I think I'll use The Whole Brain Writing Game with both the boys this summer as well. 

All of these resources and materials are free for download at the WBT website!

Brain Toys

For the past few weeks, Chris Biffle has been broadcasting live from his garage on Saturday mornings.  I didn't have the time to participate until last week and when I finally joined in, I was shocked that I have gotten so far behind in the world of Wibbeting! 

Last Saturday I learned about the new Brain Toys: "Gestures that students use to develop critical thinking skills and...enliven lessons."  I've got to go back and rewatch the show, but this is what I gleaned from my preliminary viewing:

Use the question answer technique to help students orally practice answering in complete sentences.

Use air punctuation to reinforce punctuation as students answer aloud.

When I first heard about the question answer brain toy, I was thinking, "This sounds wonderful...but do we really have time in the day to sit around and practice answering questions?"  The answer was YES.   I introduced the question answer while discussing plant parts in science.  It was really basic information that the students probably learned back in K.  So it was the perfect way to review the content while also practicing this skill of answering in complete sentences, AND have some fun!  I wrote a sentence frame on the board, modeled it, and let the students create their own question answer sentence with a partner.  It only took a few minutes, and I will definitely tie this in to other content areas.

Back when my 2nd graders were studying complete sentences, my students used a gesture for capital letters (sweeping hands up with a "whoosh") and periods (flicking the pointer finger while making a clicking noise).  I thought it was an awesome idea to use this air punctuation as students construct complete sentences orally.  So many of the students know that they need capital letters and periods, but they just don't remember to use them in their writing. 

Today we were working on constructing topic sentences.  As students shared, the class mirrored my air punctuation.  I was so impressed when a student raised her hand after the first example and pointed out that we should use the captial letter gesture when referring to proper nouns as well.  YES!  She received a ten finger woo with lightning sizzles, by the way.  The students were engaged, involved, and having fun!  After this practice, they were let loose to write their own topic sentence for their paper.  This is an excellent way to scaffold the ESL students and those that need extra support.

I love that the WBT strategies just make so much sense.  They solve problems that all teachers encounter.  They are quick and easy to incorporate in a variety of situations.  They are free, require no materials, and they are fun!