By By MaryClaire Foster
Precept Christian School, the home school affiliate of Mennonite Christian School, was recently rewarded the Sylvan Dell Publishing Resource Grant.
Sara Dobie, public relations representative from Sylvan Dell, said that the grant allows for recipients to access any of the 40 eBooks, which feature flipviewer technology with selectable English and Spanish text and audio, the company offers on its Web site. The grant provides a one-year license to the site valued at $599.
Debra Swartzendruber is the coordinator for Precept and said she came across the offer in an e-mail and went to the Sylvan Dell site and applied.
Precept Christian School is a coalition of 40 families who homeschool and through the grant each family will have access to the eBooks.
Swartzendruber said the books are geared towards younger children and work well for her children Kaylynn, 10, and Austin, 12. She said once they first read the eBooks the children have continually asked to use them.
The eBooks show up on the screen as a two-page spread and have the option of a person reading the books so children can follow along or they can read on their own.
Swartzendruber said each book offers from 30 to 40 pages of teacher resources, including quizzes and printable activity pages.
Kaylynn said her favorite part about using the eBooks is that they are interactive.
Austin said he enjoys the worksheets offered.
As a teacher, Swartzendruber said the books work with all teaching and learning styles and agreed with Dobie that they do work well across curriculums.
Sylvan Dell offers the grant to one school per district, with homeschool groups and public and private schools in two separate categories.
To apply for the grant, schools may visit the Sylvan Dell Web site at www.sylvandellpublishing.com.