Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Digital Magazines Now Available to K-12 Schools Worldwide in Sora Reading App

In response to educators’ need for more digital content to support classroom learning, OverDrive Education now offers popular digital magazines to schools around the world via the Sora student reading app. Schools can purchase an affordable bundle of 50 always-available educational and recreational magazines for all students who use Sora. Sora is the student reading app available in more than 50,000 schools worldwide.

An award-winning app known for ebooks and audiobooks, Sora unifies a simple user experience for students, including easy issue selection and single article view. Educators can now purchase the curated collection of the most popular titles for schools includes National Geographic Kids, TIME for Kids, The Week Junior and more. Schools can choose Juvenile, Young Adult and Adult packages and remove any titles from their collection as needed. More information about the magazine titles can be found here (title availability may vary by region).

“We’re so excited to offer a range of periodicals across the grade levels,” said Susan Nakasone, Librarian at Ewa Beach Elementary in Hawaii. “Adding these to our shared collection will provide greater accessibility and choice in reading material to all our students. Our students’ nonfiction informational reading engagement just got a huge boost!”…Read More

Scholastic brings civics education to the forefront with new 2020 U.S. election website

Drawing upon 100 years of experience covering news for kids, Scholastic is launching a new free website to help students in grades 3–12 learn about the 2020 United States Presidential Election. The website features age-appropriate resources developed by the editors of Scholastic Classroom Magazines, including videos about the democratic process, quizzes, and activities, in addition to rigorously fact-checked candidate profiles and articles focused on issues that are at the center of this year’s election: pandemic response, racial justice, the economy, health care, climate change, education, immigration, and national security.

To access the Scholastic Election 2020 website, visit: www.scholastic.com/election.

Through the site, students also have the opportunity to participate in the Scholastic Student Vote, a virtual mock-election that has been running since 1940 and has allowed kids across the country to cast their votes for President of the United States online. Results will be announced in October 2020 before the national election on November 3, 2020. Since 1940, the outcome of the Scholastic Student Vote has mirrored the results of every presidential election, except three: Thomas E. Dewey vs. Harry S. Truman in 1948; John F. Kennedy vs. Richard M. Nixon in 1960; and Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton in 2016.…Read More

Scholastic News Kid Reporters

The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps is a group of talented young reporters, ages 10–14, from across the country. For more than 17 years, Scholastic News Kid Reporters have covered “news for kids, by kids.” Their stories appear online at the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website and in select issues of Scholastic classroom magazines, which reach more than 25 million students in classrooms nationwide. The Kid Reporters have made news by interviewing journalists, politicians, entertainers, authors, and sports stars. The annual selection of Kid Reporters is based on writing ability, interviewing skills, and attention to detail.

 

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Public libraries make digital magazines accessible to all

Magazine publishers are experimenting with all sorts of different ways to get you to pay for their digital products, including single issues, subscriptions, “buffets” (like Next Issue) and package deals (like Zinio’s Z-Pass), PBS reports. But if you have a library card, you may be able to get quite a few digital magazines without paying anything at all. Public libraries in cities large and small already offer their patrons digital magazines free of charge. The most common source is actually digital newsstand Zinio, which offers libraries subscriptions through the library services company Recorded Books. Digital magazines are broadening libraries’ collections and deepening patrons’ interaction with library resources, helping them read media in the format they prefer, whenever and wherever…

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