We were honored for our School Continuity Initiative, a program we created in March 2020 when schools were forced to close, impacting the academic lives and growth of millions of children. True to our mission to help children everywhere build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning, we created this program to offer preschool through middle school students free home access to our leading digital education programs—ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, and ReadingIQ. More than 80,000 schools, school districts, and teachers contacted us within days of announcing the School Continuity Initiative, allowing us to reach more than 1.2 million children. The children who participated in the program not only continued learning while sheltered at home, but they also experienced academic gains.

We recently shared the findings of an independently funded study that analyzed how children engaged with ABCmouse during the summer of 2020. The study found that:

• Children using ABCmouse for at least 45 minutes per week across three days, and completing 15 Learning Activities, were able to increase learning and minimize the learning loss that often takes place during the summer.
• ABCmouse is especially beneficial to those who start the summer with lower skills: with regular program usage, those students were able to catch up to their higher-skilled peers by the summer’s end, closing the gap by up to 87 percent.

Here is what we heard from a few of the many parents and teachers who reached out during this time:

“My daughter loves ABCmouse!  She has become more confident and quicker with her ability to add and subtract…I’m so proud of how I’ve seen growth even since schools closed!” – Parent of ABCmouse user

“This program has really helped our children grow at a time when social distancing was enforced.” – PreK Teacher, Pennsylvania 

“Last year I had the privilege of being the Kindergarten Virtual Teacher. I was able to provide ABCmouse for families and happy to say that for my students who used the apps and consistently attended school or watched recorded sessions they were reading at or above grade level by the end of the year.” – PreK Teacher, Texas

Thank you again to the City of Glendale for this award. It is an honor to be recognized by our community for our work in helping children everywhere build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning.

The post Age of Learning Recognized by City of Glendale for Our School Continuity Initiative first appeared on Age of Learning.

Designed by Age of Learning’s team of educational experts, each episode will depict Alexander overcoming common challenges of the storytelling process with the help of his diverse group of friends. When he can’t think of the right word or metaphor, he’ll meet up with American rapper and first hip-hop ambassador to the U.S. State Department, Toni Blackman, who will freestyle a special “word of the day.”

The list of acclaimed guest stars goes on! Others—such as actor and author Maulik Pancholy of 30 Rock and former Vice President of Animated Shorts for Nickelodeon Samantha Berger—will share personal insights into different elements of the storytelling process, such as exposition, character development, or how to use hyperbole or build a sense of mystery in a story.

Host, Creator, and Executive Producer, Kwame Alexander, is an expert in his field. A New York Times bestselling author of 37 books and recipient of the 2015 Newbery Medal for his novel, The Crossover, Alexander’s passion for literature and storytelling is the perfect match for Adventure Academy—a game which teaches through harnessing the power of imagination, discovery, and play. He brings a unique and fun new approach and his expertise in and passion for this subject area helps kids embrace the art of writing and storytelling.

“I know a lot of kids will be reading and writing and learning at home this year, and that’s going to be challenging,” said Alexander. “My 11-year old struggled during the lockdown to stay engaged with her classes and assignments. I created WordPlay as a supplemental learning aid for teachers to engage their students, as an auxiliary experience for kids that is not only informative but incredibly entertaining. Intelligent entertainment. This is a master class in writing…if it was set in a carnival.”

And last but not least, each episode of WordPlay also features “The Pajama Drama Club,” a book club composed of kids that wear pajamas and act out books by performing literary songs and jokes in a theatrical-like production with a beginning, middle, and end.

Keep an eye out this September as episodes begin rolling out within Adventure Academy!

The post Award-Winning Children’s Author Helps Kids to Learn to Write Short Stories in The New WordPlay Series! first appeared on Age of Learning.

Set a Routine

First, routine is critical. Kids in their early years thrive on routine, and they most consistently get this in school. It’s important to establish a daily routine while your child is at home and to follow it. Set times for reading, math, snack time, lunch, and even free play.

Keep a Journal

Encourage your child to write down what they see, hear, think, and feel briefly each day. If your child isn’t ready to write independently, have him or her dictate their thoughts to you. Any subject is fair game, whether or not it relates to the coronavirus. You’ll be making a lot of memories together during this time, and written recordings of them will become treasures for you and your child later on in life.

Start a Pen Pal Program

Kids love to get mail. Because contact with other kids may be limited, consider starting a pen pal program with classmates, family, and other friends. They can send their letters by email or by good old-fashioned snail mail. And, not only do kids get the benefit of writing, they’ll also love practicing reading when they receive letters from their pen pals!

Tell a Shared Story

Work together to make up a fun story. Begin a with an opening like “Once upon a time, there was a hungry frog.” Then ask your child to say the next sentence. Continue taking turns adding to the story until it is finished. This is a rich literacy and language-development activity that’s bound to bring big laughs. And when you’re done, you can create illustrations that bring the story to life.

Practice Measurement 

Before kids learn about standard units of measurement, like inches, feet, pints, and gallons, they can begin to understand the concept of measurement using non-standard units. Use shoes to measure the distance across a room (How many shoes does it take to cross the room?) or pencils to measure the length of a table. Use different sizes of cups and glasses to fill a large bowl or bucket with water. Then talk about how the size or the cup or glass affects the number of times you use it to fill the bowl or bucket.

Work with Patterns

We’re most familiar with visual patterns—patterns of shapes, sizes, or colors, for example—but patterns can also involve sounds or movements. Work with your child to identify the next item in a pattern you start, or alternatively have him or her start patterns for you to continue. Here are a few examples: Visual Patterns

• Small, large, small, large
• Red, red, blue, red, red, blue
• Circle, square, triangle, circle, square, triangle

Sound Patterns

• Snap, snap, clap, snap, snap, clap
• Long sound, short sound, long sound, short sound

Motion Patterns

• Sit, stand, sit, stand
• Arms up, arms out, arms down, arms up, arms out, arms down

Sort, Count, Compare

Provide your child with a pile of objects that includes different colors, shapes, or sizes, such as buttons, paper clips, or blocks. Ask your child to sort the objects, count how many are in each group, and order the groups from fewest to most. Challenge your child to find other ways the objects could be sorted. As an edtech company, we’re excited to do what we can to help everyone make the best of this unprecedented situation. And we’re here to tell you that you can do a lot to for your children during this time. Take a deep breath, do a little prep, and good luck!

Our Digital Learning Programs

Lastly, if you’re looking for educational screen time, we are providing free access to our award-winning digital library, ReadingIQ. Use the code LOVEREADING. You can also sign up for ABCmouse and Adventure Academy, or get free access through your school district. — Joel Kupperstein, SVP Curriculum at Age of Learning

The post You’re Suddenly a Homeschooler! How To Keep Your Preschooler or Kindergartener Learning. first appeared on Age of Learning.

The post Age of Learning Offers Digital Learning Programs to Schools, Children Affected by the Coronavirus Outbreak first appeared on Age of Learning.

Adventure Academy

Our partnership with HMH brings an outstanding collection of classic, award-winning children’s titles, some of which include:

• Jumanji and The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
• Several Curious George^® titles by H.A. Rey
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood
• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Our recent nationwide survey of 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents found that lack of access to high-quality books is a major challenge for children 12 and under, and that expanding availability is critical to improving reading skills. Students with access to both a traditional and digital library are 53% more likely to be reading above grade level, and exposure to a significant variety and volume of books fosters a lifelong love of reading. Guided by these findings and our team of literacy development experts, Age of Learning continues to expand our educational programs with quality children’s literature and non-fiction.

“Increasing children’s access to books that engage, inspire, and educate is fundamental to our mission,” said Doug Dohring, founder and CEO of Age of Learning. “Partnering with HMH to bring more award-winning and classic books to ReadingIQ, ABCmouse, and Adventure Academy will provide more opportunities for children to experience the joys and benefits of reading in our educational offerings.”

Our award-winning ReadingIQ platform recently added Reading Level Assessments, developed by the assessment team here at Age of Learning, in cooperation with leading education and assessment research organization SRI International, to seamlessly match learners with books at the appropriate reading level. ReadingIQ includes three widely used book leveling systems—Accelerated Reader^®, Lexile^®, and Guided Reading—and all books in the HMH collection are assigned a reading level. Many HMH titles are also professionally voiced to support engagement and comprehension among pre-readers and developing readers.

Visit www.ReadingIQ.com, www.ABCmouse.com, and www.AdventureAcademy.com to learn more about Age of Learning’s educational programs, or download the apps via Apple’s App Store or Google Play. All programs are available for families on a low-cost subscription basis.

The post Age of Learning Announces Partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Bringing Large Collection of Award-Winning and Classic Titles to ReadingIQ, ABCmouse, and Adventure Academy first appeared on Age of Learning.

We developed Adventure Academy to address the alarmingly low levels of academic proficiency among elementary and middle school students, prioritizing the areas the National Assessment of Educational Progress has consistently shown a majority of American students are not proficient in, including reading, math, and science. Adventure Academy offers learners opportunities to explore hundreds of topics within these subjects and learn in ways that are highly engaging and effective.

“Our sole focus at Age of Learning is to help children build a strong foundation for academic success,” said Doug Dohring, founder and CEO of Age of Learning. “Our outstanding team has executed on this mission for many years, developing highly engaging and effective educational programs that early learners enjoy, and families and teachers trust. Adventure Academy allows us to now meet parents’ demands to bring learning to life for older students during the critical elementary and middle school years.”

We have brought the same curriculum-first approach to Adventure Academy that we used in creating ABCmouse, which has helped educate nearly 20 million children to date. In developing Adventure Academy, our curriculum leadership conducted an in-depth review of state, national, and international educational standards, and collaborated with practicing teachers across the U.S. to identify the highest priority curriculum topics that students have the most difficulty with in school. As a result, the Adventure Academy curriculum emphasizes key topics such as reading comprehension, vocabulary development, mathematical operations, fractions, world geography, American history, physical science, life science, earth science, and scientific inquiry.

Over the past three years, our world-class team of game designers, artists, animators, and engineers developed Adventure Academywith the quality and engaging features of a AAA game. This development process is led by creators of some of the most successful titles in the history of online gaming, including Kevin Beardslee, one of the original creators of World of Warcraft^®; and Alex Galvagni, former General Manager of leading game studio Turbine^®, creators of The Lord of the Rings Online^®, Batman: Arkham Underworld^®, Dungeons and Dragons Online^®, and Game of Thrones Conquest^®.

Adventure Academy includes these key features:

• Thousands of learning activities across hundreds of topics, including curriculum-based games, books, a wide range of other types of reading materials, educational videos, and additional interactive experiences addressing all major academic domains.
• Builds critical knowledge and skills in language arts, math, science, social studies, and more.
• Hundreds of hours of educational interaction and gameplay, with hundreds of additional hours to be added in the near future.
• Learners create avatars to explore an ever-expanding world, complete learning quests to unlock new zones, and interact with other learners.
• The same engaging experience across all platforms—smartphones, tablets, and computers—with the ability for up to three children in the same household to play simultaneously within the same parent account with individual profiles.
• Subscription-based service, fully COPPA compliant with no advertising or in-app purchases.
• Safe social elements that enable players to interact with other learners in-game, including filtered chat functionality. Parents control the level of interaction their children have with other learners through this filtered chat and can block all in-game communication, if desired.

The Adventure Academy app will be available through the Apple App Store or Google Play and can also be accessed at www.adventureacademy.com. Families can purchase an annual subscription for less than $5 per month, or a month-to-month subscription for $9.99, both including up to three separate student profiles per household.

The post Introducing Adventure Academy™, the World’s First Educational Massively Multiplayer Online Game first appeared on Age of Learning.