Review by Caryn Lix, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2017

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Reading Eggs

Name: Reading Eggs
Item: Reading Eggs
Rating: 3
Author: Caryn Lix

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A robust if dated reading resource for teachers

Subjects & skills

Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.

K–6

Common Sense says (See details)

Teachers say (4 Reviews)

Take a look inside

9 images

Complete sentences or words with age-appropriate phonics.

Mini-quizzes earn kids points and keep them reading carefully.

Choose from a wide variety of games and activities.

Sort activities by categories like Comprehension and Grammar.

Choose from a wide variety of shared reading books.

Pros: Great combination of games, activities, books, and lessons.

Cons: Subscription required; design feels out-of-step with other modern reading programs.

Bottom Line: It's definitely in need of an update, but Reading Eggs remains a comprehensive destination for teaching phonics and reading.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

There is a wealth of information and resources on Reading Eggs. Whether you want to read a "big book" to the class, have students work on individualized lessons tailored to their needs, or do a class lesson on grammar and phonics, Reading Eggs has you covered. A teacher could easily use Reading Eggs as the primary language arts curriculum. There are shared books to read as a class, lessons to download, and tons of enjoyable games and activities. Teachers could use the site as part of their reading program, exploring the treasure trove of resources to support their current instruction. Teachers can also direct struggling readers to use Reading Eggs as an at-home practice. Note that there's a robust teacher dashboard to let teachers keep track of student progress and create assignments.

What Is It?

Reading Eggs is a web-based, comprehensive phonics and reading program for children age 3 to 12. (Note that Reading Eggs also offers an iOS app.) When students log in, they can either choose to complete activities and games at their current level, or work on activities the teacher has assigned them (or the class). There are songs to sing, books to read, and games to play. Students will enjoy watching themselves grow and level up as they learn phonics skills and reading comprehension.

Is It Good for Learning?

Reading Eggs is a useful program, but it doesn't replace teacher instruction -- nor is it intended to. Many of the activities, especially for very early readers, are designed to be completed with parent or teacher assistance, making them best suited to whole-classroom activities rather than individual learning. There are, however, many great activities students will be able to complete on their own, reinforcing those skills learned in the classroom. Many of the best practices teachers already use for teaching phonics and literacy are available here in a nice, compact package.

What Reading Eggs has going for it is its comprehensiveness. Teachers could conceivably rely on this program all year round to support reading instruction. Where it falters, however, is in its design and styling, which feel not quite in pace with where learning and visual design are currently. Younger students, of course, may not necessarily care, but older students will likely find Reading Eggs a bit stale.

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Reading Eggs offers a wide variety of games, activities, songs, and books to keep kids interested.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

A teacher could build an entire reading program off this one website, although activities remain fairly traditional in presentation and design.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

The site is designed for teacher and parent support, and there are plenty of tutorials and helpful assists along the way.

Common Sense Reviewer

Caryn Lix Classroom teacher

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Teacher Reviews

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Featured review by
Vanessa S. , Classroom teacher

Classroom teacher

Whitehall Elementary School
Pittsburgh, PA

Reading Eggs challenges high flying readers and catches up struggling readers

I absolutely love Reading Eggs. It is great for students 3 years old to 13 years old. It was easy to use as part of my centers, but other students would ask to be able to go on in their free time! That is how I know they really enjoyed it! Some even wanted to stay in during recess to access it! Therefore, I started to also use it as their incentive in the classroom.

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