If your students need help in areas of science and math, or if they hate the thought of plowing through maps, globes, and atlases, there are two new products that are certain to bring some fun back into these subject areas—and it just might inspire some creative collaboration between you and your science, math, or history teachers.

Grades 3–6

Cost A teacher subscription comes with one account and costs $7.95 a month or approximately $79 annually. A home subscription, supporting one parent and three children, costs $9.95 a month or $99 annually. This fall, Scholastic will offer Study Jams! for the classroom or library; stay tuned for the pricing structure.

The Big Picture Scholastic’s Study Jams! is an interactive, multimedia math and science program designed for students in grades 3-6. Through the use of videos, music, instructional tutorials, and quizzes, kids are encouraged to tackle difficult topics such as integers, number lines, photosynthesis, or gymnosperms. Aligned with state and national science and math standards, Study Jams! encourages students to engage in interactive math and science tutorials that earn them Jam Points. Students can use their points to create music mixes in the online Jam Studio. Musical creations can then be saved, downloaded, and shared.

Look & Feel Study Jams! has a Nickelodeon-style cartoon look that will draw the attention of most elementary or middle school students. Using bright, interactive videos of math and science, as well as state history content in the subject areas, the program moves users between tutorials that incorporate both cartoons and instructional content making. It’s easy to use and fun to explore.

Once users have logged in, they access the home page, which introduces them to the Crew, four middle-school students who guide users throughout the program and add interest to content areas. At the top of the page, students select the subject area from the banner or perform a keyword search for a specific topic. At the bottom, three boxed sections provide more in-depth search content including Scholastic News Online: Story of the Day, Math, Science, State History, or the Encyclopedia. A My Stuff section provides kids with information about the number of points and rewards they have earned.

The Scholastic News Online: Story of the Day link sends students to a page of current events that includes topics from Scholastic’s print classroom magazines. The Math, Science, and State History links send students to the specific subject areas for online tutorials and quizzes.

How It Works Each subject section (or tutorial) is called a Jam. By watching a video Jam content once, a student earns 10 points; a second viewing earns five points. When students take the Jam quizzes, they also earn points for questions answered correctly, with a maximum of 25 points earned for each Jam participated in during a session. Students can redeem points in the Jam Studio, where they purchase different music loops to create their own songs for downloading. Once users record their music, the points are gone; however, by watching more videos, taking quizzes, and participating in the interactive sessions- students can earn additional points.

Each subject module provides several tutorials, videos, interactive karaoke songs, and systematic explanations of a specific topic in both math or science. Within a subject module, students select the Jam that they want to review. For example, when a student selects a Jam from the Math module, each tutorial provides a step-by-step explanation of that specific concept or problem. Students can repeat the video segment as many times as needed to better their understanding, and move forward or backward to review specific steps. A Show Me button allows kids to see additional information or more details regarding a specific step within the mathematical process, making sure that every detail and step is clearly understood. Because the video segments are interactive, requiring students to make choices and click links to advance within the tutorial, they become actively involved in learning.

For Students and Teachers Students will definitely become hooked on the idea of not only creating music loops but also having the ability to save and download them in an MP3 format to share with others---yes, I even created my own loops. Study Jams! provides students with a quick and easy way to access tutorials for basic math and science concepts that might be missed through classroom instruction. Using reward points as a motivational tool, kids will quickly discover that earning those points through either the tutorial programs or the quizzes are just as much fun as recording music in the Jam Studio.

Teachers and parents will like the fact that the instructional content is directly aligned with both state and national standards in both subject areas. Through separate log-in access, teachers or parents can see which videos students have reviewed, which quizzes have been taken, and the number of points earned from these tutorials.

Report Card Although Study Jams! has not yet been released in a classroom or library version that supports multiple users, it has great potential for elementary students. The use of the cartoon video characters coupled with classroom content provides a fun way for students to learn difficult concepts in two very important subject areas. Even while we wait for a multiple-user version to be released, Study Jams! deserves an A for showing great potential to meet the needs of many users.

Grade For students in grades K–12.

Cost Rand McNally Classroom is approximately 99 cents per student, per campus. Discounts are available for larger districts. For additional information and pricing, contact Rand McNally at education@randmcnally.com.

The Big Picture Rand McNally has stepped down from the bookshelves and into the online environment through its interactive resource, Rand McNally Classroom, which makes using maps and atlases fun for the entire class. By providing online maps, globes, and geographic resources to students and teachers—along with a variety of map resources, lesson plans, classroom activities, and online games—Rand McNally Classroom keeps students interested in digging for information while reinforcing skills.

Using digital images and interactive maps, teachers can reference thematic maps, current events, discussion questions relating to map skills and geography, or introduce map-related games to students from grades K–12. Because the maps represented within the program can be synched with an interactive whiteboard (or downloaded and printed), teachers can provide students with instructional content that can change with a click of a mouse. Some of the maps include: world, continent and region, countries and territory, U.S., state, and even My School and Neighborhood maps. Additional materials include special subject maps such as earth science and history.

Look & Feel Rand McNally Classroom has an organized look that clearly showcases its major features—online maps. The home page allows searching by continent, country, or state. A box at the right allows users to perform a keyword search.

The home page is divided into three sections—the first section includes Explore Your World and includes access to continent, country, and state maps; an area with Special Topic Maps; a Games, Activities, and Skills area; and a Teacher Tools area.

The middle section contains a customized Welcome box with the school’s name below that includes links to resources dealing with Current Events and Geography information, as well as a Question and Answer section. The third section lists online atlases, a Where in the World? photograph to encourage students to guess famous locations, and a Special Traveling Teddies section for younger users (teddy bears posed in different locations around the world to encourage students to find their location and learn more about that geographic area).

During a search within any portion of the program, the left-hand section of the page acts as a consistent navigation bar and remains throughout the search; this allows users to move between various map types or work between screens without losing access to the Home page. When a map is selected for printing or downloading, a new screen pops up allowing for multiple maps to be displayed throughout instruction or use of the program.

How It Works Students and teachers have different access levels within Rand McNally Classroom, with teachers having access to everything on the site, including lesson plans, state question and answer assessment materials, and state and national standard correlations with links to the resources and lessons.

Depending upon the level of instruction, teachers can utilize a wide variety of maps. Ranging from the Primary Atlas to the Historical Atlas of the World, the program complements several subject areas through printable and interactive whiteboard access to full-color maps. Additional resources, such as the Map and Globe Skills section, offer short tutorials.

The Games and Activities segment includes interactive games such as Place the U.S. Capitals and Get the Animals Home, in which students learn what animals live in particular continents. These can be played by individuals or groups using the online resources to test their newly acquired map skills.

The Teacher’s Tool Page contains lesson plans and assessments dealing with subjects such as Human Geography, Maps & Globe Skills, Neighborhoods and Communities, State Studies, and World Geography. Under each subject area are subtopics with two lessons each. Lessons are identified in three different levels: Standard (for young being introduced to map skills), Intermediate (for basic instruction and understanding), and Advanced (for those students with a strong understanding of geography and map skills). At least two levels are included within each subtopic area-which provides teachers with a great deal of information to use for map instruction and geography skills.

Through the Content Standards link within the Teacher’s Tools zone, educators can access the 18 National Geography Standards and the specific state Correlations Search area to locate lessons and content material for each core subject area at each grade level. Because curriculum content is linked to the Correlation Search, teachers can easily locate lessons to use with the program for most every student.

For Students and Teachers Teachers and librarians who have been searching for online maps to use with large groups of students will breathe a sigh of relief once they visit Rand McNally Classroom. Regardless of the instructional level of the student, this program provides content and resources that allow teachers to move between local maps to global continents within the same site.

Elementary students (and let’s admit it…most middle and secondary students) will like the Traveling Teddies. The use of interactive map and geography games within the program encourages students to compete with friends as they learn geography skills (much like the old “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?”).

ReportCard As one of those unfortunate librarians who always had 25 print atlases to teach a class of 30 students, I find this an exciting program. With such a wide variety of resources it certainly meets the needs of every classroom or library in the K–12 environment. With the ability to utilize an interactive whiteboard for instruction, it is certain that a district-wide subscription will be necessary for most schools. On behalf of other librarians and teachers with limited access to maps, globes, or atlases, Rand McNally Classroom receives an A+.