[Reading Eggs] Diving into Fast Phonics Features

By now, you’ve heard all about Fast Phonics, the latest Reading Eggs learning area focused on synthetic phonics instruction. Made in a fun-filled Yeti world, this learning area is designed for emergent and early pre-K–2 readers and older elementary students with gaps in their core reading knowledge.

Fast Phonics contains several exciting features. Since its release last July, new features have been added, and several more will debut later this year. So, what can you expect out of Fast Phonics? Let’s take a deep dive into the various components and see what they mean for your students!

400 Sequenced Lessons

At the core of Fast Phonics, there are 400 sequenced lessons arranged across 20 lesson “Peaks,” or maps. Within each Peak, students focus on a specific set of letters, sounds, and word families to build intentional phonics skills using an explicit and synthetic phonics approach. Students will also encounter one or more decodable books and complete an end-of-Peak quiz to demonstrate mastery of the concepts taught before moving ahead.

Lessons Area

Preview and Search for Lessons

Like Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, Fast Phonics offers a Lessons section in the teacher interface to view Peaks (Fast Phonics > Lessons). This area provides quick access to the online content and offline resources that can be used to support learning. Specifically, educators may search for a specific Peak and preview it directly or search for lessons by word or skill type. Further, a summary of each lesson’s focus sounds, words, and books is available here for reference and review. When planning for small groups or targeted intervention, this area can be a great instructional tool!

Access Printables

Who doesn’t love printables? Find high-quality, downloadable PDFs in this same area under the Resources tab for both phonics and handwriting practice. Here are two sample worksheets you can print or share with students digitally: Phonics Practice | Handwriting Practice

Fast Phonics printables can also be accessed by via the brand-new Printables Library. Student Books under the “Literacy” tab bundle existing printable worksheets from the Lessons area. In addition, decodable books can be found under the “Reading Books” tab.

Reporting Dashboard

Like the Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress learning areas, Fast Phonics now offers a highly anticipated reporting dashboard! Reporting is now available for teachers and Subscription Coordinators for use with classes and individual students. 

Educators can review metrics including: 

• Number of Peaks completed and mastered  
• Number and types of sounds and words learned 
• Number and types of books read  
• Quizzes completed and quiz scores 
• Time spent in the program, such as average time in a session and hours worked per week 
• Certificates earned  

Student Progress Management

Continue to keep an eye on your students’ progress in one place using the “Manage Progress” area in Fast Phonics.

On your teacher homepage, follow Management > Manage Progress to view, assign, or override students’ “Phonics Peak” level. You manage students individually or in groups.

Until the Fast Phonics placement test drops later this calendar year, use the printable placement test found in the Teacher Guide to identify student skill readiness, then manually adjust student placement from the Manage Progress area based on individual results.

Demo Students

When launching Fast Phonics from the teacher side, you will see a large “Start Fast Phonics” button. Upon clicking it, you will be directed to page with a list of students in your class. You can click on each student to open a new browser window as that student, viewing exactly what the student sees in the program.

At the bottom of the list, you will also find a Demo Student button, which gives you access to a completely unlocked account! Use your Demo Student to get a taste for what your students will see or to help coach them on how to navigate the program.

Yeti Shop

The Yeti Shop, currently a place for students to redeem their Yeti coins for a special, colored Yeti avatar, incentivizes learners to earn rewards through continued growth in phonics skills.

The Yeti Shop can be accessed from the student interface by clicking on the gold coin icon at the top of the screen. Set continuous learning goals with your students, and encourage them to spend their hard-earned Yeti coins to “color” their Fast Phonics experience.

Quick Links

When getting acquainted with Fast Phonics, Quick Links is a good place to start. Now available to you in the teacher interface (Quick Links > Fast Phonics), this area includes a Teacher Guide, Learning Overview, Correlation Charts, and End of Peak Certificates.

Teacher Guide

Use the Teacher Guide to learn more about the general features of Fast Phonics, including interactive activities, decodable books, videos, quizzes, rewards, and navigation of the student interface. You can also find weekly lesson plans, an overview of each of the Peaks by activity type and target skills, Reading Record Sheets, printable Placement Tests, and other printable skills assessments.

Learning Overview

Now containing all the Fast Phonics Peaks, the Learning Overview reviews Peaks 1–20 in detail. Peaks are grouped based on their distinct learning objectives, and within each group, individual Peaks are separately broken down to describe which focus sounds, new decodable words, and high-frequency words students are learning. Teachers can also see which decodable books are assigned for each Peak.

Correlation Charts

Detailed reading correlation charts help you map out foundational skills in phonics and fluency for your students based on grade level. Corresponding to Peak levels, a breakdown for kindergarten through grade 2 is available for your reference.

End of Peak Certificates

Celebrate your students’ wins with colorful, downloadable certificates recognizing their great work.

More of What’s to Come

Placement Test

As alluded to previously, a highly anticipated placement test will become available within Fast Phonics later this calendar year. To begin their Fast Phonics journey, students will take a short placement test that determines their starting level and places them on the appropriate Peak for a more individualized learning experience.

More Fast Phonics updates are to come, so be sure to check the Reading Eggs What’s New Page for the latest details. In the meantime, watch our OnDemand webinar for a more visual overview of the available features and insight into how teachers may use Fast Phonics to drive instruction.

This post was originally published September 2020 and has been updated.