Welcome to FastForword 

Room 305  --  Ms. Beyers

bebeyers@cps.edu

****************** June News ****************

Three cheers to these third grade students:

   Mahnoor  
  Julia  
  Aleena  
   David   
    Hazel    

who finished all six levels of FastForword activities!
  
This is a stupendous and colossal 
reading accomplishment!

Fast ForWord Overview

No, your eyes are not deceiving your brain!  
You really did read the word forward misspelled forword!

This clever play on words was done intentionally by the company, Scientific Learning, intimating that their intensive computer products help children learn faster in the classroom because the students have practiced and mastered concentrated focusing and listening as a result of this computer program. 

More specifically, what is FastForword?

  Click here for more information  

FastForword is a series of computer activities requiring students to listen carefully and focus for a long, sustained amount of time.  To master these "games" the child needs to be calm and concentrate for 30 to 40 minutes.  All of the 2nd and 3rd grade students at Budlong work with the FastForword products every day for 30 (2nd grades) to 40 minutes (3rd grades).  Our bundles of energy are learning to quiet their minds and bodies to sit still for an extended amount of time while they are having fun!

Students earn points for being on-task and responding correctly to prompts.  At the beginning level, called Language, students need to distinguish between sounds which are very similar such as "da" and "ba" and like sounding words such as "base" and "vase".  In addition, students need to repeat high and low sound patterns and follow multi-step instructions (i.e. click on "the clown that is chasing the girl that is little, is big."). Typically students work on the same activities, with increasing difficulty, for 12 to 16 weeks.  It is a great accomplishment when a child passes on to the next set of activities.

Upon completing Language students move to Language to Reading. This level challenge students to repeat three, four and five sound patterns, match spoken words to written and practice listening comprehension by listening to long and involved stories and answering questions 
based on story events. 

When the Language to Reading level goals are met, students move into four reading activities 
(Reading 1, Reading 2, Reading 3 and Reading 4).  These activities continue to build comprehension skills along with vocabulary, spelling and sorting words into categories such as nouns or prefixes, etc.

These programs provide an intense amount of daily repetition; consequently these programs are most beneficial for students learning English and/or those who need to develop her/his listening, focusing and reading skills.

For more information, visit www.scilearn.com 
or email Ms. Beyers @ bebeyers@cps.edu.

  Our lab rules!  We don't drools!  

*****  Come ready to settle down and focus to earn points.  *****

***** Respect your neighbor...... so no talking or giggling.  *****

*****  Ask for help if the program is getting the best of you.  ***** 

****** When it is time to leave, check your daily progress, put your mouse in the house and push in your chair.   *****

***** Finally, practice these skills when you return to your classroom.  *****