CRYSTAL LAKE – Two schools from two very different neighborhoods met virtually Wednesday in a battle of reading comprehension.

An eighth-grade class from Hannah Beardsley Middle School in Crystal Lake and an eighth-grade class from Evergreen Academy on Chicago’s South Side used Skype and Cranium CoRE software to compete in an online educational challenge. Each class was required to read selected chapters of “Orange Houses” by Paul Griffin, then was asked questions based on the readings.

Hannah Beardsley, a mostly white school, and Evergreen, which is almost entirely Hispanic, were able to interact with one another through a webcam and answered questions with an iPad. The interactive competition created a learning environment not typically seen in many schools.