[Feature Focus] 5 Ways Reading Eggs Assignments Make Your Classroom Better

The journey to literacy proficiency is unique for each of your students, and as an educator, you know the value of having the ability to give students exactly what they need to grow and succeed as readers. After all, who knows your students better than you? That’s why we are so egg-cited to announce the arrival of the new Reading Eggs assignments feature, available as of April 23, 2019!

Now, similar to the assignments feature already available in Reading Eggspress, you now can assign specific Reading lessons, Spelling lessons, Storylands lessons, and Driving Tests to individual students, small groups, or your entire class with just a few easy clicks.

One of the best things about the assignments feature in Reading Eggs is that it’s super simple to use. To create assignments, simply identify the students you want to create an assignment for, select a start and end date, and choose the activity you wish to assign. The next time students you’ve created an assignment for log in to Reading Eggs, they’ll be prompted to complete their assignment before they can move on to any other areas of the program.

When it comes to your students’ literacy development, no one knows like you the value an assignments feature can have when it comes to helping you align your teaching with their unique needs. Check out these five ways you can use the new assignment feature to transform how you use Reading Eggs in your classroom:

1. Ensure That Students Stay On Task

Everyone knows that all teachers have eyes in the back of their heads to help them make sure that students are staying on task even then their back is turned, but it never hurts to have a little extra help. Because assignments in Reading Eggs must be completed by a student before he or she can move on to any other area in the program, they make a great tool for keeping your class occupied on a specific task or focused on a lesson of your choosing all at once. Also, you can guarantee that students are staying focused on the specific lessons you want them to complete and not otherwise occupied by dressing their avatar or arranging their house.

The Reporting Dashboard in Reading Eggs already includes a Time on Task measure, which tracks the amount of time individual students and your entire class spend logged in to the program. If you start to notice a few students are not spending as much time in Reading Eggs as you would like, or if you suspect some students might be logging in but spending their time playing with their avatar instead of working on lessons, assignments can come in handy as a way to subtly direct students to get back on task.

2. Support Targeted Practice in Your Literacy Stations

The simple click-and-assign capability of the Reading Eggs assignment feature makes it quick and easy to set students to work on the spot. You can utilize this feature in your literacy stations as an additional support as soon as you encounter a small group or individual student you identify as needing some extra help or if you want to check understanding before you send students off to their next stop. For example, let’s say you notice while working in your small group that Lilly is having some trouble with the sight words you went over last week. With just a few simple clicks, you can set up a Driving Test assignment in Reading Eggs that will be waiting for her by the time she reaches her technology rotation.

3. Stay Aligned to Your Scope and Sequence

There’s no question that individualizing and personalizing learning is great, but sometimes, you just need everyone working on the same thing. Reading Eggs assignments are a great way to “take the class temperature” on a skill or concept before or after you teach it to check for understanding. Simply set an assignment before your class begins working on Reading Eggs in class, during your students’ rotations at literacy stations, or even before they go home for the day.

While Reading Eggs is designed to let students to work through the program at their own pace, this feature allows you to create and schedule additional assignments for your students that are in alignment with your own scope and sequence. So, even while your students are learning to read at the pace that’s right for them, you can still make sure that your class is staying on schedule with your lesson plan.

4. Keep Students Engaged During Breaks

Count Reading Eggs assignments as another great tool in your never-ending search to find ways to keep students engaged and practicing literacy skills while they are out on break! Giving your students assignments to complete during school holidays are a great way to make sure that they are working on skills and concepts you’ve selected for them even when they can’t be in the classroom. Assignments are easy to schedule out in advance, and students will be alerted once the due date window has opened for them to complete it as soon as they log in. Whether it’s winter break, spring break, or summer vacation, you can make sure that your students are practicing in meaningful ways and building the most essential reading skills.

5. Build Comprehension Skills with Storylands

The Reading Eggs Storylands assignments allow you to prepare students for the next stage in their reading journey by assessing their comprehension skills. The Storylands area includes the last 20 lessons of the Reading Eggs program and focuses on expanding vocabulary and teaching the early reading comprehension lessons all readers need to succeed, acting as a sort of bridge between Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress. You can assign Storylands lessons to students who are showing signs that they are ready to move on to Reading Eggspress to check if they are truly ready to graduate to the next side of the program.

Don’t let your students’ hard-earned literacy learning slip away over the summer! Use Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress to support your students’ learning all summer long. Check out 5 Ways to Stop Summer Reading Loss with Reading Eggs!