The following special programs and supplements will be posted in PDF format during the first half of the school year and are FREE to you with your sponsored E-Star in Education subscription. All but Pigskin Geography/Jr. will be archived and available to you for the entire school year, allowing you to choose when to work them into your lesson plans. Additional programs will be available from January thru May.

All in Good Time Serial Story

This nine-chapter fictional story brings history to life in a time-traveling adventure. Eddie is a young boy who is not interested in learning history—until his teacher gives him a magical subway token that enables him to time travel back to the 1930s, where he learns that history is not just dull dates on a page, but rather the people and events that color our lives. Included is a companion teacher guide featuring vocabulary, comprehension and a news-related activity for each chapter.
Level: Grades 4-8

Build Skills for Reading

This supplement uses lively reading samples to build reading comprehension skills and show students that improved reading can be both fun and rewarding. Each story is like those found in the daily newspaper and is followed by multiple-choice comprehension questions in the style of state assessment tests. Students are then sent to the e-edition of The Star to further explore each topic and expand their reading horizons. The supplement concludes with an acitivity in which students create their own multiple-choice questions from news stories and a challenge to create a list of “best friend” books.
Level: Grades 4-12

Everyday Science

Take a scientific journey to the world of science with this 10-week series. Each week students will learn about animals, airplanes, weather and water with two science features, each containing an e-edition activity and an activity they can do at home or in the classroom.
Level: Grades 3-8

Focus on Finance

This award-winning section was updated in 2008 to help students understand what is going on with the nation’s current economic crisis. It’s also designed to give them a sound understanding of the world of finance, what areas will change most as they become adults, and how stocks, investments and interest rates work. Included are activities and questions that direct students to the e-edition for further educational opportunties.
Level: Grades 4-12

Get on Track for College

Applying to college is one of the most important—and stressful—things that high school students do. This special 24-page supplement is a step-by-step guide showing students and parents what to do from Grades 8 thru 12 to prepare for successful application to a 2-year or 4-year school. It explains the college search, the application process, and the importance of timelines and options for financial aid. It also details online resources where students can get the information they need, shows how future jobs will require education beyond high school, and offers tips on how to choose a field that will match a student’s interests and skills. A companion teacher guide is included.
Level: Grades 8-12

Math Star News

Newspapers offer extensive authentic data for teaching and learning valuable math skills. This supplement utilizes all parts of the e-edition to teach a variety of math concepts, including computation, estimation, processing data, problem solving, graphing, writing equations, understanding fractional parts, and many more. Each lesson includes national standards for mathematics.
Level: Grades 4-8

Pigskin Geography (grades 5-12) and Pigskin, Jr. (grades 2-4)

These fun and educational programs motivate students to learn U.S. geography by following NFL football teams all season in the e-edition of The Star. Weekly worksheets grow students’ knowledge of physical landmarks (states, rivers), geographic concepts (time zones, latitude/longitude) and map legends (mileage, capitals).
Level: Grades 2-12

The Constitution in the News

This dynamic supplement teaches students how the Constitution affects their lives by looking at constitutional issues and court cases that have made news in the past several years. Included are lessons on issues that affect students, such as dress codes, music downloading, and drug testing for student activities. Each page is a self-contained lesson that includes a short news story, plus discussion and writing activities that put the e-edition to use.
Level: Grades 4-12