Feature Focus: Reading Eggs Engagement Features

Reading is more than just a skill—it’s the foundation to future academic success! Using Reading Eggs, Edmentum’s 3-in-1 learn-to-read program, there are many ways to get your budding bookworms excited about learning to read.

The program's three learning areas, Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, and Fast Phonics, are designed to help motivate and reward students through interactive game-play. In fact, nearly every aspect of Reading Eggs makes learning to read a fun experience.

In addition to the program’s vibrant learning areas, check out these six immersive features that are sure to engage your learners as they embark on their literacy journey! (Bonus: Download these printable lesson trackers for Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, and Fast Phonics to keep your students even more excited to stay on track.)

1. Reading Eggs Currency: Golden Eggs and Yeti Coins

In Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, Golden Eggs are both a reward and currency. Students are motivated to earn Golden Eggs by completing activities, lessons, puzzles, and library books. In return, Golden Eggs can be used to decorate students’ avatars and their homes, or to access games in the Arcade.

As you might guess, the quest to collect Golden Eggs becomes a favorite pastime for many learners. While it may be tempting for students to spend all their time shopping or playing games, you can set boundaries by encouraging students to log in at home and spend their Eggs then. You can also schedule “Friday free time” where students have a designated time to spend their hard-earned rewards.

In the Fast Phonics learning area, students earn redeemable Yeti coins as they work through their Fast Phonics lessons, or mountain “Peaks.” Inside the Yeti shop, Yeti coins can be used to customize students’ Yeti avatar, unlocking different colors with more rewards.

2. Monthly Themes (Reading Eggs Only)

At the start of every month in Reading Eggs, Reggie welcomes students on the home page dressed in a new, themed outfit. Students can visit the Plaza to buy special, limited-edition swag including outfits for their avatar and house decorations.

Monthly Themes encourage continued program usage and keep students engaged so that learning to read stays fun all year long. Check out four ways you can make the most of monthly themes in your classroom!

3. Certificates

In Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, and Fast Phonics, students earn certificates after completing lessons to celebrate all the progress they’ve made on their reading journey. As a teacher, you can view your students’ certificates from the Manage Class tab. Students can see how many certificates they have earned by clicking on the Awards icon in Reading Eggs or the Trophy Room in Reading Eggspress, or by clicking on the Golden Egg icon in either program. In Fast Phonics, students can access certificates from their dashboard by clicking on “Progress” and then the scroll icon.

Certificates are a validating award of achievement for students, especially if they have struggled with a particular lesson or concept. They are easy to download and/or print for class celebrations or to share their reading achievements at home.  Just wait until you see the smile on your students’ faces when you call out their name and present them with recognition for their outstanding achievement!

4. Awards and Trophy Room

The wonderful thing about Reading Eggs awards is that they are presented to students at incremental levels, encouraging weekly program usage. Reading Eggs medals and Reading Eggspress Trophies are awarded for every 1,000 Golden Eggs earned. Here’s the breakdown:

• Bronze trophy/medal = 1,000 Golden Eggs in one week
• Silver trophy/medal = 5 bronze trophies/medals
• Gold trophy/medal = 3 silver trophies/medals

Students can view the awards they earn in Reading Eggs by clicking on the Awards icon on their dashboards. Students using Reading Eggspress can view their awards when they visit the Trophy Room from their Apartment or dashboard. Meanwhile, teachers can track student awards in teacher reports for both parts of the program.

If you want to take trophies or medals and apply them to prizes in the real world, consider a classroom raffle based on the number of bronze, silver, and gold trophies or medals students have earned. This way you are encouraging your students do use Reading Eggs every week and giving everyone a fair chance to be rewarded.

5. Collectibles: Critters, Trading Cards, and Gems

Critters and trading cards are colorful, virtual collectibles your students will love. Consider them a fun, interactive bonus to completing reading lessons.

• In Reading Eggs, critters appear after a student has completed a lesson, accompanied by a brief silly song and dance. From the Reading Eggs dashboard, students can click on the critters icon to revisit the critters that have “hatched” in previous lessons.
• In Reading Eggspress, students are awarded trading cards after they have completed a lesson or reading quiz. Trading card collections are viewable from inside a student’s Apartment, where they can also swap out cards they already have for new ones or print them.

Critters and trading cards encourage grit, especially for students who might have more trouble completing lessons. Try challenging your students to see how many of these rewards they can earn in a week. Your students will feel accomplished as they complete lessons and reading quizzes and watch their collections grow! If your students are particularly enamored by critters or trading cards, let them compare and browse through their collections after they have completed all their lessons for the week.

In Fast Phonics, students earn two kinds of collectible gems as they complete activities in the program: pink sound gems and blue word gems. Gem collections are sorted by Peak level, so be sure to encourage your learners to complete all 20 chapters of their gem library!  

6. Targets (Reading Eggspress Only)

Targets in Reading Eggspress are designed as a more mature element for 2nd to 6th graders and encourage students to work toward self-selected goals. To hit a Target, students must compete a certain set of tasks within the program. Early Targets help students get familiar with the different content areas, while later Targets reward students for milestones like completing a certain number of reading lessons or writing reviews on library books.

Targets motivate students to explore the different parts of Reading Eggspress by acting as a tool for students to self-monitor their own progress. Students can easily view the targets they have “hit” or the ones they are “still aiming” toward by selecting the targets icon on their dashboard.

Since there is no time frame for completing targets, you can set you own class or individual student goals to ensure your students are making progress. For example, you might make it a class goal for everyone to have completed the early “taking flight” targets within the first two or three weeks of using Reading Eggspress. Using targets to set individual student goals provides a clear roadmap of next steps as students progress.

7. Brand New Map Videos

Two new, engaging features are now live in the Reading Eggs learning area!

Overview Videos

New informational videos help maximize learning by guiding students through all the different features available in Reading Eggs. Highlighting areas like the Library, Plaza, Driving Tests, and Storylands, these short previews ensure students get the most out of their time in the program. Learners can access these videos by opening their map and clicking on Reggie.

Treasure Chests

Treasure Chests containing fun reward videos are now available in each map. These short entertainment skits offer a quick break from learning while motivating and congratulating students for a job well done. Students can unlock Treasure Chests by successfully working through their lessons.

When it comes to Reading Eggs, it’s hard not to make literacy fun. And best of all, it’s proven to work! Check out a recent case study showcasing how one Oklahoma elementary school saw significant gains in reading by using the program just 30 minutes per week.

This blog post was originally published on Monday, January 29, 2018 by McKenna Wierman and has been updated.