Interview with Clever Noodle founder Jacquelyn Davis

Beltway Bambinos had the chance to sit down with Jacquelyn Davis, local mom, long-time educator, and Founder of startup Clever Noodle.  Clever Noodle creates fun, highly effective learn-to-read games based on the brain science of how children learn to read.  Over 7,000 families and teachers are now using the first game, Kangaroo Cravings, in homes and classrooms across the country.  The new company reaches its first year at the end of October.  Back in December we introduced readers to Jacquelyn who had just launched Clever Noodle.

BB:  So now that thousands of families (including ours!) and teachers have Kangaroo Cravings in their hands, what are you hearing?

It’s been so heartwarming and mission-confirming to receive incredibly positive feedback from grandparents, parents and teachers about the impact they see on children’s reading with Kangaroo Cravings – and how much fun the children have while learning!  That’s our aim with everything we do.  A few testimonials can be found at the end of the interview.

BB: Tell us more about that aha moment you had to create the game, Kangaroo Cravings.

It was the beginning of the Pandemic, and our son was sent home like all other children in the country when schools closed. He was in 1st grade. Online learning frustrated him, and he was struggling mightily with reading.

His teacher assigned 220 sight words for him to memorize using flashcards. They didn’t work – and they were boring! We are a big game night family, so I looked everywhere for a reading game that was really fun and highly effective. But I couldn’t find one. There wasn’t anything based on the brain science of how children learn to read.

As a former teacher, school administrator and education nonprofit leader — and most importantly, a mom, I knew I had to do something to help. Necessity became the mother of invention. I grabbed my glue gun and a cardboard box, and got to work creating a game with our son. His teacher started using the game with other students, and when she saw it working, urged me to publish it for other children to benefit.

Since then, I tested the game across 40 classrooms with 100’s of children and when it worked for them too, I moved forward. I spent two more years researching how kids best learn to read and consulting with literacy experts. Kangaroo Cravings is now kid-tested (and loved!), teacher-approved and literacy expert-endorsed.

BB: How is Kangaroo Cravings different from other sight word games? 

Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade (sometimes 3rd grade, depending on a child’s pace) need to learn around 300 words that appear most often in early childhood literature.  This increases their reading fluency (pace and ease), makes reading more fun – and improves comprehension.  Other “sight” word products encourage children to just memorize the words, and are often based on the flashcard strategy.  Not only is this boring, whole word memorization is the wrong foundational skill to teach children. Kangaroo Cravings is the only sight word game based on the brain science of how children learn to read – and endorsed by national literacy experts.  

Here’s how it’s different:

• Instead of memorization, the game teaches the critical skill of sounding words out (decoding).  Further, unlike any other game, the words that follow the regular rules are noted in black and those that are “tricky” (don’t follow the common rules) are noted in red.  This helps children know which words they can and should sound out, and where they may need a little help from a friend or grown-up to figure out a word.  
• Instead of being stationary, the game gets kids moving (multi-sensory actions) doing silly moves to reinforce the learning and store words in their long term memory.  This movement is best practice and helps all children focus – and specifically helps children with learning differences.   
• Instead of having a small set of the critical sight words (almost all other games have between 27-60 words), our game has all 300 words children need to learn in PK – 2nd grade and has 3 levels of mastery to help parents and teachers know how to pace the learning.  It also means the game has a long life with children and covers roughly 3 years of their reading development. 
• Instead of looking like an educational reading tool, our game looks like a regular, fun game with beautiful art and fun game play.  We want children to have so much fun playing that they hardly know they are learning.  We want them to play again and again, to reinforce and expand the learning. 

BB: What has been the biggest surprise of this journey of creating an educational tabletop game? 

My son’s teacher urged me to publish Kangaroo Cravings, and the other games I made to support more children on their learn-to-read journey. I assumed there would be many fun and effective reading games for reading. But, when I looked all over, I found a lot of great stuff for math and science. But, there was nothing based on the brain science of how children learn to read and that was really fun to engage and help children with reading. That was my first big surprise.

My second was how hard it is to manufacture a product and get it to families and teachers. During the pandemic, the supply chain was wrecked and shipping prices went through the roof. I spent months trying to figure out how to bring an affordable product to kids — and not lose money on every game. We changed manufacturers and got better pricing. Then, our fulfillment partner got acquired by the largest in the world just before we were to begin shipping 7K pre-ordered games that families and teachers were patiently waiting to receive. Our data systems no longer connected; we had to manually upload all the addresses. And, there are at least 9 steps starting with manufacturing, safety testing, trucking, shipping,fulfilling, shipping to children. A lot can go wrong at every step (and much did!). I taped a poster on my wall: Persistent Optimism – and reminded myself of that multiple times every day.

BB: We included this line in the first post you made for Beltway Bambinos, ““Our literacy experts reviewed Kangaroo Cravings and we are all excited to use it in our classrooms,” noted Dr. Melissa Kim, Deputy Chancellor for DC Public Schools.” Can you tell us more about if or how DCPS will use Kangaroo Cravings? 

We tested Kangaroo Cravings in several DCPS elementary schools and with outstanding teachers and school literacy directors. Their students loved the game and they did too. They encouraged DCPS academic leaders to bring the games to all of their elementary schools to support children in kindergarten through third grade learn their 300 high-frequency, “sight” words that appear most often in early children’s literature.

DCPS plans to use the game in these ways:

• After school and recess times to enhance learning while kids are having fun 
• Whole class settings, where all the students play the game as a fun activity to increase practice with sight words
• Stations that children rotate through during a block of time 
• Small group sessions to support differentiated instruction – sometimes with a few students and a teacher for focused learning, or having a group of advanced learners play independently while a teachers supports other students
• 1:1 tutoring sessions 

BB: What do you suggest parents/guardians do to address any literacy concerns they may have with their child? 

Knowing what to do can be very stressful, as most parents do not have a background in education and often find themselves at a loss.

To start, parents should look to understand how their children are being taught to read and if the curriculum being used is based on current best practice. A lot of children struggle with reading because they have not been taught effectively. Children need explicit, structured literacy based on the Science of Reading that includes phonemic awareness and phonics. Teaching rich text to build background knowledge and vocabulary is also essential for comprehension. Unfortunately, many schools still use disproven curriculums and many elementary school teachers have not been trained to teach reading effectively. We are fortunate that DCPS has switched over to an evidence-based reading curriculum — and now is supporting teachers to build their skills to teach in different ways than many were trained.

Parents outside of DCPS can ask their schools what curriculum is used to teach reading. If they say Lucy Caulkins, Units of Study, Readers/Writers’ Workshop and/or Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Readers, urge them to reconsider and review the literature in Student Achievement Partners and EdReports that gives those curriculums a failing grade.

Second, understand that some children have other learning differences like dyslexia. If your child has trouble rhyming, remembering the alphabet, sounding out words, and seems to be behind, ask for a diagnostic assessment for dyslexia. There are early screeners that are free, see International Association of Dyslexia’s free assessments and screeners. Also, you can request that the school does an evaluation for an IEP (Individual Education Plan) for your child and shares the results.  There are online tools like Amira Learning and Learning Alley that can help. Get a basic book on phonics and start helping your child. And, ask the school to provide additional support, using structured, explicit literacy lessons.

BB: Is Kangaroo Cravings designed just for teachers and education professionals, or is there a way that parents can use it at home with their children? 

I am so glad you asked that! We can be so focused on ensuring that our games align to the Science of Reading and school curriculum, that we sometimes forget to mention that these games are designed for family-style play. Parents playing with their children. Or children of different ages, even at different reading levels, can all play together. We have actually had an overwhelmingly positive response from grandparents looking for an unplugged way to spend time with their grandkids. We get daily rave reviews from them! 

BB: Spoiler alert (maybe)– Do you have a “craving” to create more educational games?

Yes! I made dozens of games for our son – and they worked. I became obsessed with reading science and talking to experts across the country. Now, we have a National Expert Literacy Panel for Clever Noodle and highly effective reading teachers advising us. We have mapped children’s reading journeys from birth through middle grades and are aligning games accordingly. Our Kangaroo Cravings noun expansion and travel pack will soon be ready to ship to families and teachers. And, we have six other games in development — with a famous artist soon to be announced as our latest partner!

BB: How do families and teachers get a game?

Kangaroo Cravings and the expansion pack of 100 nouns are available on our website, and on Amazon. We appreciate the support from our local community and hope your child will love it as much as others do!

Also, on our website, you can donate games to schools and teachers serving low-income children.  So you don’t  have to have children in your life or at the right age-level.  Many parents buy one and give one. 

Jacquelyn’s favorite feedback so far:

Gina Sandryk, 1st grade teacher/national literacy expert

• It’s amazing to see Kangaroo Cravings’ impact on my students – they are laughing and learning.  Every teacher in America should throw away their out-dated sight word flashcards and use Kangaroo Cravings instead.  How do we make that happen?  It’s so, so much more effective – and my students love it. 

Janice S, Grandmother of 6-year old

• My grandson’s teacher sent home a list of sight words for him to learn this summer.  I’ve been trying, but he hates flashcards and won’t sit still.  He had only learned 6 words.  In 2-weeks with Kangaroo Cravings he’s learned 56, and keeps asking to play.  Thank you for sharing this game with the world.  Bless you.”

Ali Junkin, mother of 3 under 10

• Oh my gosh, you have to see this picture.  My babysitter called out sick and I had to send my 3 kids into the other room to do a work call.  When I went out to check on them, they were all cracking up playing Kangaroo Cravings.  This is what they chose to do.  Thought you might want to know.