Archipelago Learning Launches Reading Eggspress
- By Mike Hohenbrink
- 11/02/11
Archipelago Learning has unveiled an expansion of its early-learning product line with the release of Reading Eggspress, a reading and comprehension program designed to serve grades 2-6.
Reading Eggspress, delivered via a software-a-a-service model, is designed to build on the existing offering of Reading Eggs. While Reading Eggs was designed for ages 4-8, the new offering "is designed to build reading and comprehension skills for more mature elementary-aged readers," according to information released by the company.
Based in an interactive virtual world, Reading Eggspress features a library with more than 600 e-books with online quizzes. Areas available for students to explore and earn learning rewards include the stadium, comprehension gym, library, apartment, and mall.
Other features of Reading Eggspress include:
- Online learning resources;
- Motivational games;
- Points that can be redeemed for various rewards such as trading cards and avatars;
- Comprehension questions to measure understanding;
- Instructional study units;
- Teaching notes and demos;
- Worksheets;
- A Teacher Toolkit that offers interactive whiteboard units;
- Interactive lessons; and
- Head-to-head competitions where students can test their knowledge.
"Reading Eggspress is designed to continue the mission we started with Reading Eggs," said Tim McEwen, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Archipelago Learning. "Once children learn how to read, it's important to keep them engaged in and enlightened by reading. This product offers teachers a way to do this by leveraging a channel that already appeals to them--social networks and virtual worlds. If we can relate the core principles we're hoping students will learn to the areas that already interest them, then we create a mutually beneficial and relatable teaching environment."
The company currently serves "approximately 14 million students in nearly 38,700 schools" and works with students in both North America and the United Kingdom, according to information provided by the company. The approximately 2,200 schools using Reading Eggs will also be able to access Reading Eggspress with their current subscriptions.
For more information on Reading Eggspress, visit studyisland.com/readingeggspress.