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Welcome to www.scholastic.com/sn1, the Web site for Scholastic News, Edition 2. This Web site extends and enriches the Scholastic News print magazines that your child reads in class every month.
The Internet can be a scary place for parents who want their children to broaden their knowledge and learn computer skills, but don't want them to come across inappropriate material. Our Web site is a safe site where your kids can have fun and learn. You can go on this site with your child or have your child work on it alone, knowing that all the content is not only kid-appropriate but also educational. Here are our three main features:
•Listen and Read
How It Works:
Have your child listen to their issue of Scholastic News being read as he or she follows along! For one issue of Scholastic News every month, children look at the exact photos and text for our magazine on the computer screen. They can click on each section to hear it read aloud. A vocabulary list on the bottom of the page shows all the hard-to-read words from the text above. Children can click on the words in this section to hear them pronounced.
Purpose:
One of the key points in the President's new Reading First initiative is reading fluency. A fluent reader reads with proper intonation and phrasing. Listen and Read is a great tool for fluency instruction. As the voice from the computer fluently reads the text on-screen, your child can follow along. Over repeated listenings, your child can read out loud along with the voice. Ultimately, this feature should help your child read the text independently.
The bottom of the page also has a list of difficult words that appear in the text. Your child gains extra practice with these words by hearing them pronounced in isolation.
You can sit with your child and do this feature together.
Technical Instructions:
To hear Listen and Read, you must have a computer with speakers and RealPlayer installed in your computer. If you don't have the player, you can download it FREE.
After you've clicked on a program and RealPlayer starts, listen just like you would to a tape or CD. That means you can pause the program, or fast-forward and rewind to hear segments more than once. You can minimize the player (just like you'd minimize any window on your computer) and the program will continue to play while you use your computer for other functions.
•Print a Fun Page
How It Works:
Just click on Print a Fun Page and print out the page. Then your child can do the activity.
Purpose:
Print a Fun Page is a fun way to build your child's skills in topics related to his or her Scholastic News issues. This feature also extends the topics covered in Scholastic News for those children who want to learn more.
•Vote Now!
How It Works:
Children click on their answer for the Vote Now! question. Then they are immediately taken to a bar graph comparing their answer to other children's.
Purpose:
Vote Now! allows children to make personal connections to a topic. It also encourages the higher-order thinking skill of evaluation. Children must evaluate a question and decide which answer they agree with more.
This feature also teaches children about bar graphs. These bar graphs are high-interest because they show children's opinions. Children can click on "What is a bar graph?" for a kid-friendly explanation of bar graphs.
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