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

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 lessons (or “Peaks”) by activity type and target skills, Reading Record Sheets, printable Placement Tests, and other printable skills assessments.

Currently, Book 1 of the Teacher Guide is available, focusing on Peaks 1–10. Stay tuned this school year for the release of Book 2 involving Peaks 11–20.

Learning Overview

Review the Peaks in further detail using the Learning Overview. In this area, Peaks are grouped based on their distinct learning objectives. 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.

Note: This area references up to Peak 20, though only Peaks 1–-13 have been released. Use this to plan for what’s to come later this year!

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.

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 they see in the program.

At the bottom of the list, you can 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.

New Lessons Area

Preview and Search for Lessons

Like Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, Fast Phonics now has a Lessons section in the teacher interface (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

New Feature: Managing Student Progress

Continue to keep an eye on your students’ progress in one place using the “Manage Progress” area in Reading Eggs, now featuring options for Fast Phonics!

On your teacher homepage, follow Management > Manage Progress to view, assign, or override students’ “Phonics Peak” level. You can do so for students individually or in groups. Note that you can see and modify lesson levels in both Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress from the same area.

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

New Engagement Feature: Yeti Shop Now Open

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 coin to “color” their Fast Phonics experience.

More of What’s to Come

Additional program features are on the horizon. Here’s a peek at what’s coming up next:

New Lessons

Currently, Peaks 1–13 are available in Fast Phonics. Ultimately, 20 Peaks will be available. Stay tuned as more content launches this fall and winter.

Educator Reporting

Expect a full reporting dashboard filled with detailed learner progress data! Like the Reports Dashboards for Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, the Fast Phonics dashboard will help teachers monitor classroom trends and specific learner performance.

Placement Test

As alluded to previously, a highly anticipated placement test will become available within Fast Phonics this academic 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, a sneak peek at what’s coming later this school year, and insight into how teachers may use Fast Phonics to drive instruction.