Welcome to www.scholastic.com/sn1, the Web site for Scholastic News Edition 1. You can use this Web site to extend your print issues of Scholastic News every month. Below you will find:
• Tips for Using Each Feature on This Site
• More Scholastic Links
Tips for using each feature on this site:
• Listen and Read
How It Works:
Have your students listen to their issue of Scholastic News being read as they follow along! For one issue of Scholastic News every month, students look at the photos and text for our magazine on the computer screen. They can listen to it being read aloud as they follow along! When they click on the Listen and Read text or photo on the main page, a pop-up window will appear. The first section of the text will automatically be read aloud. Once the audio is finished, the student can either click "next" or choose to hear the section again. A vocabulary list at the end of the activity shows all the hard-to-read words from the issue's text. Students can click on the words to hear them pronounced.
Purpose:
Listen and Read is a great tool for fluency instruction. Fluency instruction is one of the five crucial areas of reading set forth in No Child Left Behind. You can use this feature in the same way you would use tape-assisted reading. As the voice from the computer fluently reads the text on-screen, the student follows along. Over repeated listenings, the student can read out loud along with the voice. Ultimately, this feature should help your students read the text independently.
At the end of the activity, students see a list of difficult words that appear in the text. The student gains extra practice with these words by hearing them pronounced in isolation.
This is a great feature for students who need extra help in class. Kids can do Listen and Read at the computer center, or they can do it at home, when their teacher isn't there to help them read.
Technical Instructions:
You will need the Flash plug-in to play this activity. Download the Flash plug-in for free at Macromedia.
• Print a Fun Page
How It Works:
Just click on Print a Fun Page on the bottom right of the main page. You can print out the page and photocopy it for your class.
Purpose:
Print a Fun Page is a fun way to build students' skills in topics related to their Scholastic News issues. This feature also extends the topics covered in Scholastic News for advanced students who have finished the regular activities, or for other students who could use a little extra help.
• What Do You Think?
How It Works:
Students click on the text or issue cover on the main page to vote on a question about each Scholastic News issue. A pop-up window will allow students to answer the What Do You Think? question. Then they are immediately taken to a bar graph comparing their answer to other students' answers.
Purpose:
What Do You Think? allows students to make personal connections to a topic, while encouraging the higher-order thinking skill of evaluation. Students must evaluate responses to a question and then make a choice. They bring their prior knowledge as well as their own personal experience into their evaluation process as they decide upon their answer. This feature also teaches children about bar graphs. These bar graphs are high-interest because they show students' opinions. Children can click on "What is a bar graph?" for a kid-friendly explanation of bar graphs.
• I Can Read!
How It Works:
Your students will listen to the sentence on the screen. Then they will be asked to click on a word in the sentence. If they click the right word, they will be given another sentence. If they click on the wrong word, they can try again.
Purpose:
I Can Read is a game that gives children practice with high-frequency sight words. (The game uses the words on the Dolch and Fry list.)
More Scholastic Links
Here are some great links to other areas of www.scholastic.com! They give you more information and tips for teaching this month's SN issues and other themes.
Terrific Tide Pools
Teach about life in the intertidal zone with this lesson plan from the Magic School Bus series.
Ants at Work
What's the best way to get to know ants better? The Magic School Bus kids try working with the ants. They watch the ants and figure out what they're doing. Your kids can observe ants doing some tasks by making them a temporary indoor home.
National Parks, Here We Come!
Use a map to locate states, capitals, and National Parks.
Stay Safe With Safety Helpers
Teach kids safety rules for skating and biking during the summer.
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Click here (PDF) for a printable copy of the 2006–2007 Pull-Out Planning Calendar.
