Thursday, August 7, 2008

Arizona Schools Awarded Educational Resource Grants From Sylvan Dell

Children’s book publisher Sylvan Dell has passionately pursued its mission of “bringing science and math to children through literature.” Now, they are reaching out to schools and school districts nationwide with an unprecedented educational resource grant offer, and Arizona schools have already reaped the benefits.

The grant is for a free, one-year site license, providing unlimited access to all 35 Sylvan Dell eBooks, featuring flipviewer technology with selectable English and Spanish text and audio. The license can be used on all school computers and may be placed on secure school websites, enabling students and their families to log in and have access from their homes.

Grants will be awarded to one elementary school per district and are open to every district in the United States . To facilitate submission, individual schools may submit the grant application directly. When more than one school from a single district applies, Sylvan Dell will ask the district contact to make the selection. In addition, the first 25 private schools to apply from each state will receive the grant.

The rapid response in Arizona has been impressive. So far, the following schools in the state have been awarded the Sylvan Dell Publishing educational resource grant:

Alpine Elementary, Alpine
Burke Basic School, Mesa
F.O. Holaway, Tucson
Blackwater Com. School, Coolidge
Blue Ridge Elementary, Lakeside
Byron A. Barry Elementary, Phoenix
Ironwood Elementary School, Casa Grande
Creighton Elementary School, Phoenix
West Point Elementary, Surprise
Richardson Elementary School, Tucson
Jefferson Academy, Show Low
Desert View Elementary, San Luis
Burk Elementary, Gilbert
Capps Elementary, Heber
Coyote Springs Elementary, Prescott Valley
Harmon Elementary, Queen Creek
C.I. Waggoner Elementary School, Tempe
Butterfield Elementary, Marana
Mission Charter School, Phoenix
Mohave Valley Elementary School, Mohave Valley
ACT School, Phoenix
Desert Harbor Elementary, Peoria
Arts Academy at Estrella Mountain, Tolleson
Pope John XXIII, Scottsdale
Echo Mountain Primary, Phoenix
Sanders Elementary School, Sanders
Arizona Charter Academy, Surprise
Reynolds Elementary School, Tucson
Bennett Academy, Phoenix
Palmcroft Elementary, Yuma

Sylvan Dell picture books with science, math and nature themes excite children’s imaginations through fun stories, vibrant artwork and a 3-5 page “For Creative Minds” educational section in the back of each book. But that is just the start…what really makes the books unique, is their tremendous amount of free, online educational material available for cross-curricular learning, including: 30-80 page Teaching Activities, Interactive Reading and Math Quizzes, and much more.

They have 57 authors and illustrators on the Sylvan Dell team and their 35 titles have been honored as nominees, finalists, or winners of more than 50 book awards. Sylvan Dell eBooks are wonderful for use with in-classroom projection or interactive whiteboards (Smartboards) and are ideal for Spanish language classes and ESL students at all grade levels.

The educational component has been a priority at Sylvan Dell from the beginning. “We hope that school district and school curriculum folks will take a hard look at our picture books and free online resources and appreciate that we are creating content and technologies to help them in the classroom,” says Sylvan Dell co-founder Lee German. “What we have created is a set of serious tools for teachers and parents to use to both entertain and teach their children. We don’t want to be just another picture book publisher. We want to be loved for our products and our commitment to excellence, and we want to be part of the education solution.”