Searching for technology that integrates… 

With so many tools and multi-tab teaching at an all-time-high, Lauren was searching the Clever database of learning tools that had an easy integration with Clever (their school’s Learning Management System.) That’s when she discovered Read to Lead!

Motivating students with the Million Words Read Challenge…

Lauren introduced the Million Words Read Challenge to her two classes and started keeping track of student progress on the whiteboard in her classroom. After the first day of playing, students would want to play all the time – during homeroom, as an early finisher activity, for homework…. any way they could get more Read to Lead time. “The most surprising thing about implementing Read to Lead was that I didn’t feel like I was making them do it – they genuinely wanted to read, write, and understand,” Lauren said.  

Driving real-world connections and conversations… 

Lauren started using the Bullying Prevention Month lesson bundle on the Read to Lead platform that had lessons, learning games, and discussion questions around bullying prevention. “The content was relevant and meaningful – we have a lot of kid drama at our school and it was nice to also weave in those SEL skills,” Lauren shared. 

“One of the most unexpected things about the learning games was the real-world conversations that would spark in my class as students played. It really got them thinking critically and reflecting on their decisions.” 

Celebrating success together…

Lauren’s class read 1 million words together over the course of the school year and joined the Read to Lead Millionaires Club. They received student prize packs in the mail along with a gift card to host a class celebration hosted by Read to Lead’s generous donors. Thank you Lauren for your commitment to help your students build their reading comprehension and confidence, we’re inspired by your classes!

The post Building Reading Comprehension in 4th & 5th Grade appeared first on Read to Lead.

The challenge was different this year…

“Every class and every year is completely different. I knew this class was going to need something to really bring them together and keep them on track,” Gina explained. One day while scrolling Facebook she came across Read to Lead’s  Million Words Read Challenge in a Teacher Facebook Group where teachers were sharing what techniques they use to help build literacy skills with reluctant readers. Gina felt the idea of a “reading challenge” would be something worth trying. 

Implementation was easy… 

Gina created a free account, got up and running easily, and introduced the concept of the challenge to her class. After the first few learning games were played, students got hooked! “They were asking me to play every day so I threw out all my old worksheets for morning work and said, get on your Read to Lead!” 

Reading engagement and classroom culture changed for the better… 

Not only were students on task and engaged in the assignments, but they were talking with each other about why they made certain decisions. They were helping each other and having deep conversations without being prompted, they were truly engaged in the stories.

Not only were they reading and reflecting building comprehension skills, but they were also learning about different careers, how to think critically, make tough decisions, analyze information, and other life skills. The students were interested in the newest Series on the platform, Community Pharmacy, which intertwines real-life events and applications.

While they started off playing during morning work period, students wanted to reach 1 Million Words together and so Gina started building in additional time blocks for the students to play.

“The class across the hall heard about the Million Words Read Challenge because my students were so excited about it, and so we started racing each other!”

The challenge helped build Gina’s classroom culture and unite the students to reach a common goal together. “ They were inspired by the challenge and they challenged classmates to participate who were not ‘pulling their weight’, as my students put it!” 

As a former Accountant in her previous life before teaching, Gina believes the fundamentals to learning are math and reading — that everything starts there. Her accounting background also makes her extra excited for the next Read to Lead Series that is being built this summer which will be set in the career world of Finance!

Thank you Gina for your commitment to helping your students build their reading and leading skills, we’re inspired by your class!

The post Keeping Students Engaged in Reading appeared first on Read to Lead.

Making up for lost time … 

Jan Franz is a 4th Grade Teacher at Hallinan Elementary School in Oregon. Students entered her class this year at varying reading levels. “My incoming class this year was really struggling with reading comprehension. I was super frustrated. I knew I needed to find something that would both re-energize students about reading and also give them the practice they need. So one Sunday afternoon I went searching on Google and I found Read to Lead, ” Jan shared.  

Reaching each student where they are with Read to Lead 

With students at such highly varied reading levels, it was helpful to Jan that Read to Lead’s learning games are leveled and respond to the student’s performance, becoming more challenging as they show strength in an area, while giving more practice for those who are not progressing as quickly. “Everyone can go at their own pace and don’t have to feel on the spot if they don’t know an answer,” Jan explained. “My high achievers were challenged and could keep progressing, and my struggling students got the skills practice time they needed.” 

Using reporting to drive instruction…

“Our class has Chromebooks, and sometimes students will go off-page or toggle between screens. They have gotten very good at that! But Read to Lead tells you who has logged in, how far they are progressing, what questions they got right, wrong, etc., so it is very easy to see in real-time who is on task and who I should go check up on,” Jan said with a laugh. With Read to Lead’s reports, Jan can see different learning areas, how students are performing as a whole, and  each individual student’s performance too! The new Reports even recommend what games to assign next based on where students need the most skills practice. 

Jan shared that while she started with reading comprehension as her core objective, exploring different career worlds sparked students’ interests more than she would have expected. “I always tell my students, if you can read, then you can teach yourself anything,” Jan said. Making connections between literacy and career worlds was an unexpected outcome of the learning games.  “The After the Storm game led into our social studies lessons on Hurricane Katrina, and the students made that connection on their own! Students got better at math word problems because their comprehension skills had strengthened – it’s all very much related to each other. “ 

Jan shared, “We have a lot of technology tools and choices in our school, but students BEG me to play Read to Lead. And it works, it gets them engaged in reading and wanting to read – and that was really needed this year.” Jan’s class is looking forward to celebrating reaching one million words read together this spring. Thank you Jan for your commitment to helping your students build their reading and leading skills, we’re inspired by your class!

The post The Road to Building Students’ Literacy Skills Post Pandemic  appeared first on Read to Lead.

The challenge wasn’t easy… 

Lindsey Barlow, 5th Grade Reading & Social Studies teacher from Polk County Public Schools in Florida, like most teachers, found herself struggling with students who were skimming through reading course material without closely reading and comprehending. With the Florida State Assessment quickly approaching (FSA), Lindsey needed a program that would spark students’ interest, boost outcomes quickly, and encourage students to read closely.

Then she found Read to Lead… 

She came across Read to Lead on Facebook and thought the learning games and supplemental curricula could help because students wouldn’t be able to skim – they would have to actually read closely, think critically, and make complex decisions throughout the game. Lindsey started implementing Read to Lead into her Intervention and Reading blocks for about 30 minutes each day. When time allowed, she would also use the discussion prompts, debate questions, and wrap-around content provided on the platform to deepen the learning. 

Students’ interest in reading climbed the charts.

 “Students were reading so closely that after playing a game, they would ask each other what decisions they made and why – really rationalizing their choices,” Linsey shared. The students were so motivated by Read to Lead’s Million Words Read Challenge – that they would actually move ahead of the games that Lindsey would assign and would play on their own time. 

“The most surprising element of the game was that the real-world application (being in a virtual work-place setting) really helped with their vocabulary development. Even for my gifted students.”

The essay writing, highlighting, and having to summarize their learning, also helped keep students engaged throughout the game and prepare for the Florida State Assessment.

“For me, being able to see students’ progress in real-time was essential. It was also helpful that you could click on the skill and it would take you to the Standard the students were working on and how it aligns.”

Lindsey had two classes both read over 1 million words together over the course of the school year and joined the Read to Lead Millionaires Club. They will receive student prize packs in the mail along with a gift card to host a class celebration hosted by Read to Lead’s generous donors. Thank you Lindsey for your commitment to help your students build their reading comprehension and confidence, we’re inspired by your classes!

The post Teacher Spotlight: Lindsey Barlow appeared first on Read to Lead.

The 5th grade team at New Bedford Public Schools in Massachusetts was looking for a new way to engage their students in reading. Then they found the Million Words Read Challenge! 

Upping the engagement factor for 5th graders isn’t easy… 

Like many elementary teachers, the New Bedford 5th grade team was tasked with motivating their 5th graders to hone their reading and comprehension skills. After trying Freckle, Lexia, and various other reading activities they were still challenged with sparking students interests and motivation. 

Then they found Read to Lead.

The Teaching and Learning Specialist at the school saw the Million Words Read Challenge on Facebook and immediately started brainstorming with the teachers how they could use this challenge to fuel reading engagement with their 5th graders. Amanda Flanagan, 5th grade teacher said, “We felt the fact that it was a challenge, coupled with the game-based scenarios, that this could really work. We also liked that the games help fuel whole-child and social emotional skills development.” 

After just a few days, student engagement reached an all-time high…

After a few days of using Read to Lead, students in Amanda’s class were hooked.  “My 5th graders love Read to Lead so much, that they were asking to play the games during indoor recess.” Not only did their motivation to read improve, but the students started to become curious about various career paths. “Most of my students want to become a YouTube Influencer, and it is because that is all they are exposed to– when using Read to Lead, they were asking questions about what it means to be a Medical Director– questions they wouldn’t have even known to ask if they weren’t playing Read to Lead.” 

Read to Lead also allowed Amanda to differentiate instruction as needed. Some students used the Text to Speech feature, while others didn’t need it. Text to Speech enables a “read aloud” option that students can use when needed. When active, inside the game, students can opt to have the text read to them. “This is helpful because all my students are at different levels,” Amanda said. 

“My favorite moment in using Read to Lead is when a student came in on a Monday after the weekend and said “Mrs. Flanagan, I moved us from 25th to 24th on the leaderboard when I finished the last game! They were playing over the weekend because they wanted to reach Millionaire Status!” 

While the school year is coming to a close, Amanda’s class is looking forward to celebrating reaching one million words read together. Thank you Amanda for sharing your story with us – we are so inspired by your students! 

The post Teacher Spotlight: Amanda Flanagan appeared first on Read to Lead.

Jennifer Stevens, 6th Grade English Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher at Central Middle School in Cape Girardeau, MO has always been on the lookout for new classroom tools that can boost student engagement and interest in learning. One day, while reading an article on We Are Teachers, she came across Read to Lead, since then – reading has never looked the same in her class. 

The challenge was sparking students’ interest …

Like many teachers, Jennifer was looking for ways to get students interested in reading in both her Home Room Class as well as her English Language Arts Class. Jennifer shared, “I am always on the lookout for new resources and tech tools to give students different pathways to learning.” 

Then she found Read to Lead.

After some initial research, Jennifer decided to create a free Read to Lead account and give it a whirl! “I gave very little directions to my students. When it comes to technology, I just let them dive right in. They learn by doing – it was very easy to get started.” One day after school Jennifer created a class on Read to Lead, uploaded her roster, and assigned students their first game. The next day they were ready to go. 

Read to Lead was a natural extension to her existing curriculum.

Once the students started using Read to Lead, it quickly became a part of her supplemental instruction.

 “The most surprising thing about Read to Lead is that the kids actually liked it – they were reading and were engaged. That’s hard to do with 6th graders!” 

In her students’ words:

“I like that you get to make real-world decisions in the game. You’re reading passages, communicating with the characters, and making decisions like you would in a real day.” 

“Read to Lead has improved my reading. I used to get 60’s and 75’s on my Achieve3,000 quizzes, but now my scores keep getting higher and higher. The more I play Read to Lead, the better I’m doing.” 

One of Jennifer’s classes read over 1 million words together over the course of the school year and has joined the Read to Lead Millionaires Club. They have received their student prize packs in the mail along with a gift card to host a class celebration hosted by Read to Lead’s generous donors. Thank you Jennifer for your commitment to help your students build their reading and leading skills, we’re inspired by your class!

The post Teacher Spotlight: Jennifer Stevens appeared first on Read to Lead.

To say this school year has been unprecedented would be an understatement. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, Crystal Starr, a 6th-grade teacher at Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, Nebraska knew she was going to have to teach differently this year. 

The challenge wasn’t easy…

Like many teachers around the country, Crystal was teaching both on Zoom and in-person at the beginning of the year. The problem she was faced with immediately was keeping students productive and engaged for the first 15 minutes of the class where she would have to be disinfecting the tables, getting her Zoom students online, and also keeping the students that were coming into the classroom on-task. “It was 15-minutes of learning time that would go un-utilized if I didn’t find the right activity,” Crystal said.

“So I gave my students a choice – you can independently read for the first 15 minutes of class, or you can play Read to Lead. Of course, they all chose Read to Lead!” 

It was equally as important that Crystal would be able to monitor student progress and performance as well since many students were learning remotely. 

Then she found Read to Lead.

When Crystal came across Read to Lead, she learned she could easily get both her remote students and in-person students on Read to Lead at the beginning of the class while she was disinfecting tabletops and setting up the Zoom call. The students knew this was the routine of each class, were excited to play the next game, and couldn’t wait to see how many “words read” they had achieved so far on the dashboard. 

With the formative assessments embedded in each game, Crystal could monitor students’ understanding, progress, and even assess performance by Common Core Standard. 

The results were unexpected.

“The Million Words Read Challenge upped the competition in my class,” Crystal said.

With the class being so disconnected due to the pandemic, Read to Lead brought the students together for a common goal. “They wanted to see who they were competing against on the leaderboard from around the country, and it made them feel connected to something bigger, ” Crystal said. 

“The most surprising outcome of Read to Lead, is that my students were reading and talking to each other about the different decisions they were making throughout the game,” Crystal said. Students had to think critically and take the time to understand what they were reading in order to make the right decisions to progress through the game.

Two of Crystal’s  English Language Arts classes become Read to Lead Millionaires and will be receiving their student prize packs in the mail along with a gift card to host a class celebration hosted by Read to Lead’s generous donors. 

While the school year is coming to a close, many of Crystal’s students love Read to Lead so much, she often finds they are playing at home on their own time!

The post Teacher Spotlight: Crystal Starr appeared first on Read to Lead.