Reading Plus vs. LightSail

A MindPlay Company

LightSail encourages students to be a part of their own literacy journey.

Reading Plus focuses on reading speed and comprehension questions to push students through a program. If all free reading requires specific instruction first with scaffolded text afterwards, where does student choice come in?

LightSail embeds assessments and learning opportunities to help students as they read books they have chosen for themselves from their curated library. Each student’s Lexile is tracked as they read, but they are also supported in vocabulary, writing, fluency, and fosters a love of reading.

10K+ Whole Books & Audiobooks

Personalized Solutions for All Readers

Student-Authored Books & Writing Modules

Gamification & Tournaments to Support Mastery

READ NOW!

COMPARE LIGHTSAIL

Enliven curiosity & allow your students to drive their literacy journey while the platform adapts to their needs guided by the teacher.

Reading Plus uses a learn-this-lesson followed by a read-then-answer prompt for a few hundred leveled readers. With 19 reading levels, that dramatically cuts down student choice.

LightSail fosters a love of reading with tens of thousands of high-interest classic and contemporary titles, non-fiction, and audiobooks with embedded features to support grammar & vocabulary acquisition, plus incredible gamification.

Full-Text Books

Robust Digital Library

Team Reading

Literacy Circles

Reading Speed Alerts

Accelerated Reading Modes

Educator Content Builder

Personalized Book Recommendations

Text-Embedded Questions

Homework Assignments

Embedded Grammar Practice

Spelling Bee

In-Text Action Clips

Writing & Composition Modules

Vocabulary Tools

Fluency Modules

Badging

Tournaments & Personalized Gamification

Font & Text-Size Modification

Specialized Modules for SpEd & Struggling Readers

DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT...

See what others in education are saying about LightSail!

Why Students Love
LightSail

Why Teachers Love
LightSail

Why Administrators
Love LightSail

Click to Learn More!

Top 5 Reasons Experts Love LightSail!

Questions by Educators for Educators

Click to read our Expert Testimonial!

COMPARE LIGHTSAIL

READING

Full-Text Books

Adaptive, Robust Digital Library

Team Reading & Literary Circles

Reading Speed Alerts

Accelerated Reading Modes

Educator Content Builder

Personalized Book Recommendations

ADDITIONAL FEATURES & MODULES

Text-Embedded Questions

National/State Standard Alignment

Homework Assignments

Lexile Level Progress Monitoring

w/ Renaissance

Parent Portal

Built-in Rubrics

Multiple Assessment Types Assigned by Educators

Level-Set Assessment

NWEA Map Integration

SSO Integration

WRITING

Student-Authored Books

Digital Student-Authored School Libraries

Variety of Writing Modules

Citation Support

VOCABULARY & GRAMMAR

Vocabulary Tools

Vocab Mastery

in AR & Freckle

Embedded Grammar Practice

Spelling Bee

Printable Remediation Worksheets

in Freckle

FLUENCY

Oral Fluency Builder Tools

Running Record

Narration (Retelling)

Speak-Listen-Write

TELPAS Practice

GAMIFICATION

Badging

Custom Tournaments

Student Goal Setting

25K+ Curated Ed. Videos

Background Display Customization

TEACHER-CREATED ASSESSMENTS

Embed multiple-choice & short response questions within any text

Personally add questions to support specific curricular needs

Tag questions with standards to ensure mastery

All scoring kept within the platform for reports and analysis

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Content

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Grades

Genres

e-Bookstore

Custom Content Uploads

Whole Books

Non-Fiction Articles

Reading Modes

Audiobooks

Languages

Embedded Assessments

10,000+ books (differentiated reading levels)

Yes

K-12

Classic
Contemporary
High-Interest

100,000+ books available from top publishers

Content Builder import content in any language

Yes

Content Builder

Power Text & Free Reading

10,000+

English
Spanish
Chinese
Arabic

Tens of Thousands of embedded, expert-created multiple-choice & short-response questions

500+ texts & articles

2-12

Various

n/a

"Create Your Own Article"

Yes

7,000+ books

Yes

Classic
Kid-Friendly
High-Interest

n/a

Yes

n/a

7,000+

English (US & UK) Spanish Some books available in: Mandarin Arapaho Cheyenne Mvskoke (Creek) Nation Vietnamese Welsh Yavapai

15,000+ articles & news stories

Yes

2-12

n/a

Available with PRO subscription

Yes

n/a

800+ reading passages

K-12

n/a

2,500+ leveled readers
350 books in My Program

Yes

K-2

n/a

Guided Reading & Reading Express Free

Available Collection

English

Questions at the end of milestone on their map.

40,000+ books, videos, & audiobooks combined

Yes

Pre-K - 6

Contemporary
Kid-Friendly
High-Interest

n/a

Yes

Solo &
Read-to-Me

Available Collection

English
Spanish
Chinese
French

Multiple-choice questions at the end of some books for comprehension checks

3,000 reading passages

Yes

2-12

n/a

Yes

Guided Reading & Free Reading

English / Vocabulary
Spanish

Comprehension questions at the end of each passage

Alter Lines of On-Screen Text

Screen Contrast

Follow-Along Mode

Blur Mode

Highlight Follow-Along

Cover & Reveal Mode

World Bubbles (CVI)

News Ticker Mode

Spotlight & Laser Tools

Time-on-Task Gamification

Pronunciation Guide

Dyslexia-Friendly Font

Syllabification

Multimodal Support

Notetaking

Graphic Organizers

Word Prediction

Highlighting

Font & Text Size Change

Background Color

Large Print

Text-to-Speech Read Aloud

Simplified Text

Modified Text

Comprehension Questions

Varied Reading Modes

Specific Text Read-Aloud

Goal Setting

Audio Support

Multiple Choice

Tournaments

"Educational Videos (25K+ Curated)"

Badging / Awards

Goal Setting

Personalized Book Recommendations

Custom Avatars

Leaderboards

Reading Streaks

Mastery Rolls (Cloze, Grammar, & Spelling)

In-Text Action Clips

Background Display Customization

Reports available at the district administrator level provide an overview of the district, school, & class-level data. In all of the programs listed, administrators also have availability to access the Teacher- & Student-level reporting features.

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District-Level Report

Class Stats

School Stats

District Stats

Enrollment Totals

Reading Participation Averages per School

Lexile Growth Averages

Reading Stats by Teacher

Teacher Dashboard

Customizable Metrics

Reading Status per Student

Reports available at the teacher level provide information and data at the class-level to drive classroom instructional decision-making.

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Teacher-Level Report

Student Clozes

Student Lexile

Student Stats

Assessment Results

Reading Skills Data

from STAR

Class Progress/Engagement Measures

Students’ Active Reading Numbers

Reading Activity

Reports available detail individual student performance measures.

View Complete
Student Level Report

Minutes Read

Reading Inception Progress

Vocabulary Data

Student Dashboard

Class Participation

Comprehension Data

Time Spent Logged In

Books Read

Pages Read

Words Read

Parent Reports

In-School/After School Minutes

Performance Awards or Badges Earned

Reading Fidelity

Performance by Standard

in STAR & Freckle

Remediation Attempts

Number of Log-ins

Annotations Entered by Student

Book Completion vs. Abandonment

Class Chat

Teacher Chat (1-on-1)

Custom Group Chat

Educator Group Chat

Administrative Controls

Parent Portal

Share/Recommend Content

Disable Chat

Multi-Lingual User Interface

Books in Any Language

Add Questions in Any Language

Audio & Text in Any Language

Import Custom Content in Any Language

Pronunciation Read Aloud

Read Aloud in Authentic Accent

Multi-Lingual Audiobooks

Vocabulary Translation

English
Spanish
Chinese

Yes

Written & Oral

Yes

Yes, in multiple accents

Thousands available

English
Spanish

Yes

English Only

Yes

Homework Tool & Assignments

Teachers can assign in-school or homework reading assignments & monitor student progress

Adaptive Reader & Library

Adapts text to the appropriate reading level for students, reassessing every 15 days

Vocab Mastery & Word Journeys

Provides definitions, examples, & practice activities for key vocabulary words

My Data & Student Dashboard

Provides students with real-time metacognitive data on reading progress & growth, plus personalized reading recommendations

Adaptive Reader & Library

Adapts text to the appropriate level for students, including adaptive library based on student level & interest

Personalized Reader
& SpEd Scaffolding Tools

Over 60 custom scaffolds & tools to provide accommodations & modifications for students with special needs & reading challenges

LightSail Power Challenge

Adaptive placement text

Continuous Lexile Assessment

Tracks a student’s Lexile level progress with an update every 15 days

Goals & Progress

Helps students set & track reading goals

Supervised Student Work Time

Scheduled time for independent reading & activities

Scaffold Settings

Adjust reading level, vocabulary, & support for students

Word Studio

Vocabulary-building tool

Student Scoreboard

Leaderboard for tracking student progress

Informed Learning Path

Personalized learning path based on student needs & interests

Achieve 3000 Boost

Personalized intervention for struggling readers

LevelSet

Assessment tool to determine reading level

The Lexile Tracker

Tracks a student’s Lexile level over time

My Future Dashboard

Goal-setting & progress-tracking tool for students

Projects

Teachers can add books and articles to projects in MyON and assignments in Freckle

Reading Levels

Books available at multiple reading levels with corresponding quizzes

Vocabulary Practice & Real Quizzes

Students tested on matching vocabulary concepts after reading an AR-tested book

Student Dashboard

Shows minutes, books, and pages read in a given time period

Top 5 Reasons Experts LOVE LightSail!

1. DIGITAL LIBRARY

"I love the digital library. It has great options that are interesting and from top publishers. It is more robust than many schools’ traditional libraries. As an avid reader, that’s my very favorite feature. Achieve’s “library” of texts doesn’t even compare."

2. ADAPTIVE READER

"The adaptive reader is awesome. It gives access to the same text to all the kids in your class, but at the level they need. It’s instant differentiation."

3. LEXILE TOOLS w/ PERSONALIZATION

"It has all the benefits of the Lexile tracker that Achieve has, but lets you do more personalization for kids beyond just reading level. The Personalized Reader tools are awesome for Special Ed students."

4. CONTENT BUILDER

"You can use all the texts you already use and love right within LightSail. You just upload it in the Content Builder, so it combines the best of Achieve 3000 and Newsela for non-fiction articles."

5. EASE OF USE

"Honestly, it’s easy to use. There are so many features, but you don’t have to learn them all at once. You can just start with the Lexile level and you’ll fall in love with the options from there."

1. METACOGNITIVE DATA FOR STUDENTS

"More than just an educational buzzword, student ownership of [metacognitive] data turns our scholars into informed seekers who are chasing their own goals and working to improve their own skills and masteries. With every other tool, we have to hand them that data through conferences and print-outs. With Lightsail, they already have it [on their dashboard] and they have that knowledge when they come to our conferences. ..[I]t makes for a much more robust dialogue, rather than a one-sided conversation."

2 TOOLS FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS

"Lightsail has the most comprehensive set of diverse learner tools I have ever seen. More importantly, it really hands the empowerment and agency to the students to use their scaffolds. Teachers are frequently overworked and schools understaffed these days. Lightsail gives us a way to...make sure every child in our class has a personalized ladder to reading success."

3 EASE OF USE

"My biggest complaint about the Renaissance platform, in particular, is that it is several different tools with varying thoroughness in their design. In theory, the tools communicate flawlessly with each other, but, in practice, that is not always so. It negatively impacts student ownership of data and also the availability of texts.

For data, sometimes the systems do not sync up immediately and what is student-facing (the student dashboard on MyOn) does not match...the teacher-facing data reports pulled from AR/STAR.

For availability of texts, while MyON has 7,000+ books, less than half tend to have matching AR comprehension, vocabulary, and literacy skill quizzes. Take that selection and further limit it by a student’s ZPD, and the choice does get more constrained the higher up the ZPD moves. [Teachers] usually have to supplement with Sora and physical libraries.

With Lightsail, it is all one single system and all the tools work flawlessly together, giving students the most ownership and choice, while providing the most teaching and assessing capability."

4 SPELLING BEE

"Lightsail’s Spelling Bee is embedded into the literacy practice and personalized to what the student is actually reading. I tried doing this once when I only had sixty students and it was still exhausting. This does it automatically! Each student grows their ability to spell the words they are learning...in their own reading choices!"

5 WRITING

"The writing tools are amazing! The student-authored book tools are amazing and the embedded grammar practice is such a great solution to the problem of the ineffectiveness of grammar instruction in isolation. ...[F]for students to earn the ability to have their books published to the class, school, district, or even Lightsail world is such an incredible and real incentive. Can you imagine how cool that would be to share in communication with parents/guardians? - ’Hi, Mrs. S, ... I wanted to let you know your son/daughter is working on publishing their very own book!’"

WHAT DOES A READING EXPERT SAY?

Meet Dr. Kelley McConnell, a current District Administrator and former teacher, with a Master's in Instructional Technology and a Ph.D. in School Leadership. She oversees assessment, curriculum, and student data in her district, providing her with a keen understanding of the needs of students and schools from a pedagogical and technological viewpoint. As a District Administrator in a large K-12 school serving nearly 8,000 students, she has "deeply utilized a number of literacy programs, including Achieve 3000, IXL Language Arts, Newsela, and Reading Eggs."

We asked her to scrutinize LightSail in comparison to the other platforms with which she has worked. Here's her expert take:

LightSail for Schools is a highly-effective literacy program that offers a personalized learning experience to improve students' reading skills. LightSail outperforms competitors such as Achieve3000, IXL, Newsela, and Reading Eggs in terms of its robust program offerings.

Some of the advantages of LightSail for Schools include its emphasis on personalized learning, the ability to individualize instruction and the focus on building reading skills that are essential for academic success. Additionally, LightSail's comprehensive approach to literacy instruction includes a wide range of tools and resources that make it a top choice for school districts looking to improve student reading skills.

Of the many programs that I have used and explored as a district administrator,

LightSail for Schools outperforms them all.

Expert Analysis

Personalized Learning

LightSail for Schools uses an adaptive technology that tailors the reading materials to the students’ Lexile reading level and interests. This means that students are presented with content that is just right for their reading abilities, allowing them to make progress at their own pace and empowers them by allowing them to choose their own reading material from a collection of whole books.

Real-Time Assessment through Cloze Activities

The program also provides real-time data on students’ reading progress, comprehension, and vocabulary. Teachers can use this data to identify areas of strength and weakness, and then make informed decisions on how to support, accommodate, and differentiate learning for individual students.

Cloze activities are a tool designed to help students improve their reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. The Cloze feature presents students with a text that Lexile-appropriate words removed. They then choose from four options to fill in the missing word. This adapts to each student’s reading level and provides them with texts that are challenging, but still within their zone of proximal development.

By providing immediate feedback to students, it lets them know whether their answers are correct or incorrect. Incorrect answers are then sent to Vocab Mastery, where they can review definitions, synonyms, and hear the word pronounced, and then retake the missed cloze for mastery.

Extensive Full-Length Book Library

LightSail for Schools has an extensive library of texts and full-length books, many of which contain state and national standards-aligned assessment questions and tagging. The program offers a wide range of genres and formats, including both fiction and non-fiction digital and audio texts. LightSail is a great alternative to a traditional library, allowing student choice to develop their own interests as a reader.

Robust SpEd & Intervention Support Tools

LightSail’s program includes 60 different tools to customize the reading experience within their Personalized Reader. It adapts to each student’s needs with options to save in individual templates to support struggling readers.

Built-in accommodation templates can be used from day one and customized as needed.

Personalized Reader tools allow for unique customization for special education needs to include accommodations for students with dyslexia, ADHD, visual impairments, autism, and other challenges.

Embedded Literacy Skills & "Vocab Mastery"

LightSail embeds literacy skills throughout the content, so students are not just learning to read, but also developing important literacy skills naturally throughout their reading. Moving beyond the worksheet, LightSail makes the most of every reading opportunity by capitalizing on areas where students can continue to grow.

The "Vocab Mastery" module provides students with a series of interactive word games and activities that are personalized to their reading level and individual needs. The games and activities include word matching, word puzzles, and word scrambles, and are designed to help students learn new words and improve their ability to recognize and use those words in context.

One of the key benefits of the Vocab Mastery feature is that it provides immediate feedback to students, allowing students to learn from their mistakes and continue to improve their skills over time.

Engagement Features & Reporting

LightSail for Schools also has gamification elements that keep students motivated and engaged in their learning. Students earn badges, points, and rewards for completing challenges and reaching milestones, making the learning experience more enjoyable and exciting.

Additionally, parents, teachers, and administrators can easily track student progress in Lexile level, reading minutes, and assessment activity.

Adaptive Technology

One of the critical advantages of LightSail for Schools is its adaptive technology, which tailors the reading materials to the students’ reading level and interests. This feature enables students to receive content that is "just right" for their reading abilities, allowing them to make progress at their own pace.

Data-Informed Differentiation

The program features such as Clozes and Vocab Mastery provide real-time data on students’ reading progress, comprehension, and vocabulary, giving teachers the ability to make informed decisions on how to support individual students.

Whole Book Approach

Above all, the access to full-length books that are interesting, engaging, and appropriate for students is a wonderful feature in promoting the love of reading and lifelong learning.

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QUESTIONS BY EDUCATORS FOR EDUCATORS

What evidence do you have that LightSail actually works?! I see that you are not listed on evidence for ESSA...

While LightSail might not be specially called out in the ESSA evidence, the product is based in research-backed science of learning strategies. Our literacy and phonics program is built on the trusted science of reading research. The literature and research support LightSail’s product thesis of Access + Engagement + Motivation = Mastery.

Additionally, a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University School of Education showed that students who read for 30 minutes a day on LightSail show gains of 3.9x on their Lexile scores. (LightSail customers, many of whom have continued to use LightSail over a period of years with a diverse group of students, are also able to share about the positive impact of LightSail on student literacy growth in their respective districts, schools, and classes)

We have a well-stocked library in the school. Why should we dedicate more budget (which we don’t have!) to a digital library?

There are several benefits of using LightSail’s digital library over a regular library.

With LightSail’s digital library, students have access to a wide range of books, many of which may not be available in their local library. It also includes books at a range of reading levels, allowing teachers to differentiate instruction and provide targeted support for struggling readers.

The digital library can also be accessed from any location with an internet connection (students can continue reading a book even when they are offline).

Struggling readers and SpEd students particularly benefit from LightSails unique Personalized Reader, with over 60 instant accommodations and tools to help students read their way, and then save those in templates for later use.

LightSail’s digital library includes tools for progress monitoring, allowing teachers to track individual student reading progress and adjust instruction as needed, plus it includes interactive features such as embedded questions and vocabulary activities that help to engage students and deepen their understanding of the text.

LightSail’s digital library is available 24/7, making it a convenient option for students who may not have access to a physical library or who have busy schedules outside of school.

On LightSail, do I have to buy books in addition to the license fee?

No, you don’t have to buy books separately on LightSail, but the option is available for the school or for parents to purchase extra books as desired.

The platform has a digital library that provides access to thousands of books across various genres and reading levels. The license fee covers the cost of accessing this library and using the platform’s reading and assessment features.

Our School Board is very strict on which books can be used. How do you assure that students are not expose to inappropriate content?

Books can be removed from the school library with just a click. This can be done at a class or district level. Schools and districts can also work with LightSail to create their own customized libraries.

Budgets are tight this year. How are other districts using LightSail to stretch their funds?

LightSail is cross-curricular and can be used in many subject areas to support reading comprehension. Additionally, parents, community members, and donors can actually buy books from the e-Bookstore for the school - teachers can even host their own digital Book Fairs to enhance their classroom libraries!

LightSail actually functions as a full digital library, accessible to every student on any device at any time, which can provide a great savings to districts.

My education team has been using myON / Achieve 3000 for years. It sounds like your tool is pretty much the same thing...is it?

LightSail is both deeper and broader than Achieve 3000. The adaptive reader, Personalized Reader for struggling readers, customizable student accommodations, content builder, and full-length library options are unique only to LightSail and cannot be found in comparable products.

My teachers are already overwhelmed and hard-pressed for time. Will it take long to learn the program?

No - the program is very intuitively designed and easy to navigate. There is a robust training system built into every feature that provides a video overview of how to use it.

LightSail will end up saving teachers time and energy because it has so much already available for them to use. It will make the day-to-day easier for teachers.

Why should we switch to LightSail?

LightSail is the only literacy tool that is built to support a love of reading and foster lifelong independent readers without sacrificing progress monitoring and accountability measures. Your teachers, students, and parents will love this choice!

What makes LightSail different? Why should we try it?

Having access to full-length books from top publishers is worth it in itself. Additionally, for students with IEPs, LightSail has the most customizable accommodations that are personalized and unique to the needs of each individual student.

Teachers can also import content and create their own libraries - even including student-authored and teacher-authored books!

It seems like all programs allow for assessing Oral Reading Fluency. Why is yours any different?

While other programs may provide opportunity to assess oral fluency, the retelling features in LightSail’s fluency builder go above and beyond the rest. Students are able to record their own voice reading the text or summarizing the story, which teachers can then grade according to already provided rubrics.

I hear LightSail is expensive! We’re using Newsela for free.

Newsela is limited to article-based reading, and LightSail has a full library of texts and full-length novels. Additionally, LightSail has a content builder option where you can upload any of your favorite articles or texts to use within the program. LightSail’s powerful Power Text reading mode provides for rich literacy engagement that goes beyond comprehension. LightSail can do everything that Newsela can...plus so much more.

In iReady/Reading Plus/Reading AtoZ, I have instructional guides and lesson plans to help me with intervention, teaching specific ELA topics, and literacy skills. Does LightSail?

Yes! LightSail has activities, rubrics, teaching units, and instructional tools to support intervention and specific ELA/literacy tools. All of the tools and benefits of those reading programs are found within LightSail, plus many, many more rich, embedded literacy and fluency tools.

Seems like LightSail is just built for independent reading. How would I use LightSail instructionally?

LightSail is a great tool to use to differentiate instruction. LightSail allows you to assign one text to students, but have the content differentiated based on their individual reading level and needs. This makes it an ideal tool for differentiated instruction, as you can provide each student with a customized learning experience.

You can also assign quizzes or writing prompts to accompany the readings, and use the data to guide your instruction.

LightSail also has rich data on students’ reading progress and Lexile levels, which can help you to monitor their growth over time. This can inform your instructional decisions, and help you to adjust your teaching to meet the needs of each student.

How is LightSail used in the classroom? How would I use LightSail for a whole-class novel?

Teachers can set reading goals for students, and then use LightSail to track progress towards these goals. This can help motivate students to read more and improve their reading skills. Teachers can use LightSail’s built-in assessments to gauge students’ comprehension of the material. These assessments can be used to identify areas where students may need additional support.

We have 3 SpEd classes using MindPlay. Why do we also need LightSail?

The special education accommodations available in LightSail are unmatched in any other program. LightSail complements learning-to-read programs such as MindPlay by offering a fully-customizable literacy program that is individualized for every student. A few of the many features include:

Text-to-Speech to support struggling readers or students with visual impairments.
Adjusted Reading Levels to adjust the reading level of books to suit the needs of individual students.
A dictionary feature that allows students to look up the meanings of unfamiliar words, supporting students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Various visual aids such as illustrations, images, and videos support students’ comprehension of the text.
A range of text formats, including audio and interactive texts, to engage learners with diverse learning styles.
Teacher-assignment of reading materials to meet individual student needs, such as books with a lower reading level or texts that focus on specific skills.

We already do NWEA MAP / State Lexile assessments. It seems like LightSail is an unnecessary duplication. Is it?

LightSail goes far beyond assessment because it tracks students in real-time, updates student Lexile scores every 15 days, promotes a love of reading, and is an engaging literacy tool. Students can track their reading progress and see how many books they’ve read, how many words they’ve read, how much time they’ve spent reading, and track their own data, increasing metacognition. This can help students feel a sense of accomplishment and encourage them to continue reading.

One of my colleagues/I used LightSail in 2016 - it was terrible! Always crashing, software issues, books not opening. We did not renew as a result. Is this still the case?

No, my experience with LightSail has been seamless. The product works quickly and is very stable.

Our school doesn’t need a digital reading solution or digital library. Most of our students are reading well below grade level and need basic support. What could help us?

LightSail supports students who are reading below grade level and can help them improve their literacy skills. LightSail’s adaptive algorithm automatically adjusts a student’s reading level to match their reading ability, ensuring that they are always reading at an appropriate level. Additionally, LightSail offers a guided reading mode that provides support to students as they read, including definitions for challenging vocabulary words, highlighting of key ideas and themes, and prompts to help students make connections to their own experiences.

COVID created screentime and device overload. We just want real books in our students’ hands. Why would we go digital?

Books in hand are a great tool and can’t be replaced; however, LightSail is an awesome complement to a traditional library. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. Digital libraries are more cost-effective as well, providing more content to more students anytime, anywhere. The LightSail platform also supports hybrid learning.

How is LightSail used within the current Science of Reading / Structured Literacy approach?

LightSail can be used as part of a structured literacy approach to support students in developing their reading skills. LightSail provides numerous tools and resources that support structured literacy instruction, including:

Text leveling: LightSail uses a leveling system to categorize books by complexity, making it easier for teachers to select appropriate texts for their students.
Vocabulary development: LightSail offers tools for vocabulary development, including a built-in dictionary and adaptive vocabulary practice.
Comprehension: LightSail provides a range of tools to support comprehension, including embedded questions, assessments, and analytics that help teachers identify areas where students may be struggling.
Phonemic awareness: LightSail offers a range of phonemic awareness activities to help students develop their phonological processing skills.
Decoding: LightSail’s features support students in learning to decode, specifically the syllabification feature.
Fluency: LightSail supports fluency development through timed reading activities, narration, running record, speak-listen-write, and speed alerts.

By using these tools within a structured literacy approach, teachers can provide targeted instruction and support for students who may be struggling with reading. Additionally, LightSail’s analytics and reporting features can provide teachers with valuable data on student progress, which can inform instruction and intervention.

I heard that LightSail is only relevant for elementary and middle school students. What about the high school students in our district?

LightSail is absolutely relevant for high school students. It includes whole books that are appropriate for high school students, including the classics such as Treasure Island, The Scarlett Letter, and The Call of the Wild.

In addition, it supports composition skills with its various writing modules, and can support students in learning to research in a controlled environment.

It prepares students for higher education by embedding Lexile-appropriate questions in multiple-choice and short-answer format tagged with state-standards.

In addition, it encourages collaboration and critical thinking within a group setting by using its Team Reading and Literacy Circle modules, and chat features.

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