Flashlight Readers: Because of Winn-Dixie
eScholastic (800) SCHOLASTIC (Grades 3-5)

  The Flashlight Readers website is an exciting online club for kids, offering interactive, multimedia activities that promote a love of reading. Children can select a title from a list of books, and wonderful things happen: Animations, cartoon characters and videos bring the book to life. There are links to: Recommended books, Read, Review, Rate, About the Books, Reference Guide, Discussion Chamber, Wizard Challenge, Screensaver, and Buy Books. Some exciting activities include Meet the Characters and Interview the Author.
     Teacher and Parent links and lesson plans are available to help support the child's reading experience.
     In the session Because of Winn-Dixie,  students participate in activities (scrapbook, reading comprehension maze game, slideshow, chat with the author) to gain a better understanding of the plot, character, setting, theme, and writing process of this book by Kate DiCamillo. This is truly an innovative place for kids who finish a book but want MORE.

SpongeBob SquarePants Typing
Backbone Entertainment/ImaginEngine (with
The Learning Company, Nick.com, and Riverdeep LLC)
(510) 547-6101--Ages 7/up

     Learn to Type the SpongeBob Way!  This is not your grandmother's typing program!  But with everyone needing to type quickly and accurately, this should help the squirrelly middle-schoolers get into it.  While any SpongeBob fan can use this to brush-up their typing skills, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders are really entertained--and entertainment here translates to improved typing skills.
     With six arcade-style learning activities in either Game Mode or Practice Mode, lots of regular practice, and the Tournament to aim for, there's a lot to SpongeBob Typing, and we are pleased that it won a BESSIE this year.

www.nettrekker.com
Thinkronize (513) 731-4090 (K-12)

       www.nettrekker.com says it's 'the trusted search engine for schools' and it's 'more than a search engine.' One gets that idea when browsing this website! Educators will find it a comprehensive and well-designed tool, offering over 180,000 links to age- and subject-appropriate online resources, and ranking them according to usefulness (5 checkmarks being the best).
       Other features include current events, timelines, support for State Standards, lesson plans, and the ability to save a search for later use. A novel idea is the ability to create a 'famous person' list by compiling characteristics using multiple-choice selections.
       The website is appropriate for levels K-12, and subject areas include Science, Language Arts, Foreign Language, Social Studies, Mathematics, Health & Physical Ed., The Arts, Technology, Philosophy & Religion and Vocational Education. Teachers and parents should add this to their list of favorite places.