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Amy Black
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iPad News
NEW YORK, Jan 19 - Apple Inc unveiled a new digital textbook service called iBooks 2 on Thursday, aiming to revitalize the U.S. education market and quicken the adoption of its market-leading iPad in that sector.
The consumer electronics giant has been working on digital textbooks with publishers Pearson PLC, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a trio responsible for 90 percent of textbooks sold in the United States.
The move pits the makers of the iPod and iPhone against Amazon.com Inc and other content and device makers that have made inroads into the estimated $8 billion market with their electronic textbook offerings.
At an event at New York's Guggenheim Museum, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller introduced tools to craft digital textbooks and demonstrated how authors and even teachers can create books for students.
The "value of the app is directly proportional to students having iPads," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner. "But this will lead to more schools adopting as a requirement."
REINVENTING THE TEXTBOOK
Schiller said it was time to reinvent the textbook, adding that 1.5 million iPads are in use now in education.
"It's hard not to see that the textbook is not always the ideal learning tool," he said. "It's a bit cumbersome."
IBooks 2 will be available as a free app on the iPad, starting Thursday. High school textbooks will be priced at $14.99 or less, Schiller said.
"You'll see textbooks for every subject for every level," he added.
At the event, the first since the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs, Schiller said teachers need help and Apple is trying to figure out how it can do its part.
"In general, education is in the dark ages," he said, adding that education has challenges that are "pretty profound."
Other media and technology companies have eyed the U.S. education market as ripe for some sort of upheaval. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp launched an education business two years ago and hired former New York City Education Chancellor Joel Klein to lead it.
According to Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson, Murdoch met with Jobs last year and discussed the possibility of Apple's entrance into a market Jobs estimated at $8 billion a year and believed was ripe for disruption.
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Sycamore's Mission Statement
Sycamore Valley Elementary School is a safe and caring community where all members grow and learn, nurtured by a sense of teamwork, respect, and trust. We assure basic skills, foster critical thinking and problem solving, and encourage lifelong learning for all members. We provide all learners the best education possible to prepare them to successfully meet future challenges. Our goal is for all students to be at or above standard in all academic areas. Our teachers work collaboratively with grade level partners, in teams and in cross grade level teams when planning curriculum; they design and implement academic and social programs that are consistent throughout their grade level and school. Parents are an essential component of our school. They are encouraged to be actively engaged in helping us to establish and implement our yearly goals.
Sycamore Valley's Life Skill Program
In conjunction with our Character Education curriculum, Second Steps, Sycamore Valley School also highlights a different trait, or Life Skill, every month. During the 2010-11 school year, we focused on Manners, Friendship, Personal Best and Positive Attitude. Each month we began our character work with a read aloud book on the topic, followed by a teacher directed lesson and student discussion. Every class has worked together to create their own definition of the featured Life Skill and pledged to five action steps. These pledges were displayed outside of every classroom on campus. We care about EVERYONE at our school—children, teachers, parents, administrators, staff—and together we can foster an even more friendly and caring environment.
