Our first digital tool release is Magpie Primaries, a reading foundations solution for learners four to eight years old (K-2). Students access instruction through our web app at school, in after-school tutoring programs, and at home to learn from games that were co-created with researchers, product developers, and communities across America.

We utilize Stanford University’s Rapid Online Assessment of Reading to assess learners’ reading proficiency and customize our tools for learners that:

Deliver research-based instruction through joyful games

Deliver research-based, engaging instruction through joyful games crafted by experts in early literacy, learning science and game design.

Are self-directed and individualized

Supplies self-directed and individualized learning, learner-paced with differentiation based on demonstrated mastery. It’s choice, affirmation, and agency that build reader confidence and identity.

Are comprehensive and integrated

Provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to learning that teaches the entire foundational skills sequence on technology, integrating core, intervention and assessment.

In 20+ minute sessions, learners engage year round in developmentally appropriate instructional videos and educational games to address these key subcomponents of Kindergarten literacy:

  • Phonemic Awareness

    The ability to identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of sound in a language

  • Decoding/Encoding

    Translating print to speech (decoding), or translating speech to print (encoding)

  • Word Chaining

    Connecting a series of words that each differ by one phoneme (sound) for better understanding

  • Letter Formation

    The ability to form letters of the alphabet correctly and accurately

  • Sound-Spelling Correspondences

    Understanding that every letter corresponds to a specific sound or set of specific sounds

  • Vocabulary

    Connecting newly decoded words to their meanings to move toward comprehension

  • Print Concepts

    Knowledge of the function of print, as in reading left to right or uppercase vs. lowercase

  • High-Frequency Words

    Words that most frequently occur in text, many of which are irregular

  • Meaningful Reading Experiences

    Independent reading when texts are at least 80% decodable, and shared reading when learner needs support from the narrator

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