February 2001 Issue

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An Online Educational Community

A newsletter that educates parents, teachers, and
students.

February 2001 Issue #19
Zigmond Snook, Editor,
mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com
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Welcome to the nineteenth issue of "An Online Educational
Community". To read past issues of our newsletter, visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive.htm or to learn
more about us, check out our website at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com

If you think a friend might be interested in reading this
newsletter, pass it along in whole or in part.

You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a
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form at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/newsletr.html

Each month we will focus on a different educational theme
and base our feature article and learning tips around that
particular theme.

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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> What’s New at INNOVA
=> Feature
=> Contest - Win a Whale
=> This Month’s Free Lesson Plans
=> More Great Education Web Sites
=> Whale Links for Whale Lovers
=> Webmaster’s Wanderings
=> Feedback

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What’s New at INNOVA
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INNOVA has entered into an agreement with Foreign Language
Limited of Seoul, Korea to develop an ESL version of INNOVA’s
A Whale of a Tale series for the Korean market. Foreign
Language Limited will have exclusive rights in Korea and
non-exclusive rights in Mainland China. Foreign Language
Limited has been distributing ELT materials for the past
twenty years in Korea. Since 1998, Foreign Language Limited
has been distributing interactive multi-media English teaching
materials, such as ELLIS - English Language Learning &
Instruction System developed by CALI, INC, USA.

The companies are currently adapting the INNOVA software to
the Korean marketplace and anticipate a 2001 release of the
adapted material.

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FEATURE
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On Becoming an Avid Reader

A child who is an avid reader seldom encounters any
difficulty within the educational milieu. So how does one
inspire a child to become an avid reader in an age when
video games, television, computers, and many other activities
compete for a child’s attention? Though such activities may
be important to the child, so too must reading be an
important component of a child’s growth.

Here are ten suggestions for inspiring your child to become
an avid reader:

Introduce your child to books at a very early age
(3-4 years old).
Read to your child daily; especially, pre-school age
children. A great time to read to your child is just
before lights out (bedtime story).
Take your child to the local library for author\guest
readings. Several times a year a library will have a
children’s author visit and share their stories with
the children.
Visit the local library, or your child’s school library,
and have the librarian\learning resources teacher suggest
books that would be appropriate for your child’s age or
grade level.
As the child(ren) get older establish a 15-30 minute
period of quiet time each evening when all members of the
family will engage in reading. The parents can read the
newspaper, a magazine, or a novel; while the child(ren)
can read their favorite book. Following each session,
each person should give a brief, oral synopsis of what
was read.
On occasions provide your child with a book that has been
made into a movie. Obtain a copy for yourself to read as
well. When you both have finished reading the book, get
some popcorn and watch the movie. After the movie is
over, discuss comparisons and\or differences between the
book and the movie.
Provide your child with a book coupon as part of a special
occasion gift (e.g. birthday, Christmas, etc.). This
allows the child to choose his own book when redeeming
the coupon at the local bookstore.
Parallel read. Read a copy of the same book that your
child is reading. Besides the enjoyment of reading the
book together, this activity encourages conversation as
you discuss various aspects of the story. For example:
What do you think will happen next? Why?
Who is your favorite character(s)? Why?
Have you read any other stories or seen shows on
television similar to this story? Explain.
Share-a-book. Take turns with your child oral reading a
page or chapter of a book. This is a great way of
spending some relaxing time, enjoying something, together.
Frequently, shower your child with praise to show how
proud you are of his\her efforts with reading.

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Contest - Win a Whale
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INNOVA Multimedia Ltd. is giving away TEN of our "A Whale of
a Tale" educational software lessons and the latest version
of LessonBuilder, a custom course creation utility, as a
FREE DOWNLOAD on our website! Visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lbuilder.htm to download
your free copy. When you download LessonBuilder you are
automatically entered in our contest to win a free CD-ROM
from our "A Whale of a Tale" series. Good Luck!

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This Month’s Free Lesson Plans
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Teachers, check out free "A Whale of a Tale" lesson plans on
our website at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lp_index.html

Surf into Science 1 - "Growth" at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/sci1a.htm encourages
children to develop some understanding of the growth cycle of
plants, compare, measure, record plant growth, and identify the
needs of plants.

Dive into Math 1 - "First, Second, Third..." at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/math1b.html encourages
children to assign ordinal values to objects or events from
first to fifth.

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More Great Education Web Sites
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Check out some of these INNOVA recommended resource sites:

FIRST LADY Laura Bush issued "A Guide for Parents: How Do I
Know a Good Early Reading Program When I See One?" &
v "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn." She has also announced her
plans to focus America’s attention on recruiting the best &
brightest to the teaching profession & ensuring that all
young children are ready to read & learn when they enter the
classroom.

The full text of the guide is also on this website, along
with the 5-page "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn":

http://www.ed.gov/inits/rrrl/guide.html

This is a quality educational site that offers free printable
theme units, word puzzles, writing forms, book report forms,
ideas, lessons and much more. Great for new teachers, student
teachers, homeschooling and teachers who like creative ways to
teach. Updated on a regular basis.

http://abcteach.com

This site accompanies the book Building a School Web Site, by
Wanda Wigglebits. Teachers and kids can use the easy-to-follow
directions and build Web pages together.

http://www.wigglebits.com

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Whale Links for Whale Lovers
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Check out these INNOVA recommended whale sites!

The Humpback Whale:
http://www.cetacea.org/humpback.htm
They discuss the different local names for the Humpback Whale, as
well as its habitat, longevity, current population, and the
influence of man on its existence.

WhaleNet:
http://whale.wheelock.edu
WhaleNet is an interactive educational project sponsored (whale,
seal, dolphin, porpoise and turtle data) by Wheelock College in
Boston, Massachusetts with support from the National Science
Foundation.

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Whale Trivia:
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Whales belong to the scientific order Cetacea. Other well-known
members of this mammalian order include dolphins, porpoises, killer
whales, sperm whales, baleen whales and narwhals. Living cetaceans
fall into two basic types: baleen, or whalebone, whales of the
suborder Mysticeti; and toothed whales of the suborder Odontoceti.

These two suborders of modern whales are distinct from one another
in the structure and function of the mouths. The mysticete group
lacks teeth; whereas most of the odontocetes have teeth that are
uniform in shape. Some odontocetes, such as the Sperm Whale, have
teeth only in the lower jaw. The most well-known of the toothed
whales, the Orca, or killer whale, has large teeth in both upper
and lower jaws.

Cetaceans tend to live in social groups and have relatively large
brains. Altogether, there are now about 75 species of cetaceans,
divided into eleven families.

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Webmaster’s Wanderings
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Coloring Pages
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/walpaper.html
INNOVA has created Wall Paper based on some of the scenes that
can be seen in our "A Whale of a Tale" software. Just download
these wall papers and place them on your desktop. You can
even rotate them so your children have a different one, day to day.

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Feedback
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If you have comments or suggestions concerning our online
newsletter or website, please direct them to
mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com

Your comments and suggestions will be published in the
feedback section of future issues.

Past Online issues can be found at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive.html

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