Build a Word Online
What is the Build a Word Online activity in the Blast Foundations Reading Playground?
As a Blast Foundations teacher, you can start a live Build a Word Online (BAWO) activity session with a class in the Reading Playground. Upon starting a session in the Teacher Dashboard, student devices will automatically launch the BAWO activity. Throughout the duration of the activity, students will receive words to build from you. This allows students to use technology to learn and practice new phonics concepts. In your Teacher Dashboard, you will see student progress in real-time. This allows you to use the Reading Playgrounds to complete the Build a Word section of your lessons from your Blast Foundations Teacher Guide. It can be completed whole class, or with a select group of students, allowing you to provide immediate guidance during your lesson.
Why would I use the Blast Foundations Online Activity: Build a Word?
The words in BAWO are identical to those that students build in Really Great Reading’s Blast Foundations lessons (as indicated in the Blast Teacher Guides). There are several reasons you may wish to use this BAWO feature in the Reading Playgrounds instead of having students build words physically using Student Phonics Kits:
1. You would like a report that captures student work in the Build a Word routine and Reading Multisyllabic Words routine.
2. You may not have access to Student Phonics Kits.
3. You have enough Student Phonics Kits for students to share, but you would like for students to practice on their own.
4. You want to change the materials used for the Build a Word routine or Reading Multisyllabic Words Routine to keep your class engaged.
5. You are teaching students virtually and want them to be able to complete the Build a Word activity at home.
How do I access the Build a Word Online activity?
You will access the BAWO activity in your Teacher Dashboard. To do this, follow the steps below:
1. Log in to your Teacher Dashboard.
2. Click into your class.
3. Above your list of students, on the right side of your screen, click the Online Activity button.
4. Select the unit you are teaching.
5. Select the lesson you are teaching.
6. A new session for the BAWO activity is now active.
NOTE: When your class has completed all BAWO activities for a certain unit, the unit button will change from white to orange.
What is the process for running a BAWO activity session?
The table below shows the process of a BAWO activity session. Each step shows what you and the students will be doing:
1. Teacher: Start a session using the steps from the previous section of this document.
Student: Go to rgr.fun. As soon as the session is launched from the Teacher Dashboard, the activity will pop up on the screen
2. Teacher: Demonstrate the I Do word by clicking through Blast Online as usual. You may also use Letter Tile Free Play or a Student Phonics Kit.
3. Teacher: Select the We Do word shown in your Teacher Guide from the available words listed in your dashboard.
Student: Watch the teacher’s demonstration (the teacher demonstrates using Blast Online as usual, not within the Reading Playground).
Student: Watch an animation on the screen while waiting.
4. Teacher: Follow the We Do process for this word using the script in your Teacher Guide. When it asks the students to build the word, click the green Start button to send this word to your students, then continue following the We Do script in your Teacher Guide. To end the word, click the Stop button.
Student: Listen to the teacher and participate. When the word is loaded on to the computer, work alongside the teacher to spell the word correctly. When the word is built, click the green Submit button.
5. Teacher: Select the first You Do word shown in your Teacher Guide from the available words listed in your dashboard. Announce the word and read the contextual sentence found in the Current Word section in your dashboard.
6.
Teacher: Click the green Start button to send this word to your students.
As students build words, their work will display in your dashboard. Any correctly placed tiles will be green and any incorrectly placed tiles will be red.
7.
Teacher:
When all students have submitted their work, or you have allotted enough time for building the word, click Stop
NOTE: You can see how much time is spent on the current word at the top of the student list in your dashboard.
Student: Listen to the teacher announce the word and read the contextual sentence.
8.
Teacher:
Repeat steps 5 through 7 for the remaining words. It is fine if you do not have enough time to build every word during one session; you can return to this word list later to build more words at any time.
Student: Build the word individually and independently and click the green Submit button when finished.
Student: The work will be captured and saved, regardless of whether the green Submit button was clicked. If the work is not submitted, it will be marked as incorrect.
Student: Repeat steps 5 through 7 until the teacher ends the session.
How do I end a session?
There are several ways to end a current session. If you accidentally started a session and need to end it, click Cancel Session towards the upper-right of your screen. A pop-up will appear to confirm that you want to complete this step. By cancelling a session, you are confirming that you do not want to save student data. If you have finished working with students and you need to end the session, click Finish & Save towards the upper-right of your screen. A popup will appear to ensure that you want to complete this step.
What does the icon next to each student’s name represent?
These icons help you determine whether your students are logged into your open BAWO session, and whether they are participating. It is updated with real-time data. Use the key below to help you understand the icons:
The student is not currently online and is not in your session at my.rgr.fun.
The student is currently building a word. The word has not been submitted.
The student has submitted a response for the word.
The student is in your session at my.rgr.fun and is waiting for a word to be sent to his or her computer.
The student was participating in your session at my.rgr.fun, but has since exited out of it.
What if I accidentally forget to end my session?
If you close the browser or tab with your Teacher Dashboard before ending an BAWO activity session, or if you navigate to a different page on your dashboard, simply return to the class you had started the online activity for and select Continue activity
What if I want to redo or finish a unit and lesson later?
If you wish to redo a lesson that you had previously completed, simply restart the lesson. Please note that this will erase previous data stored for this unit and lesson.
If you wish to finish a lesson later, you should look in the By Online Activity Report to determine which words have not previously been completed. Any words that are reassigned to your students will have the current data saved over the previous data (the previous data will no longer be accessible).
How do I view the results after finishing the Online Activity?
Upon finishing and saving a session, the results will appear on your screen. You can also view this report later by accessing the By Online Activity Report in your Teacher Dashboard. This report shows how many words each student started or worked on and how many of those words were built correctly or incorrectly. Additionally, you will be able to see how each word was built by your students. Any letters that were correctly placed will be green and any incorrectly placed letters will be red.