• What’s New – How to Write a Paragraph
• Customer Feedback – Paragraph Punch
• Recommended Resource – Think.com
• Grants for U.S. Educators

How to Write a Paragraph is a new web resource from Merit Software. The site, which has been designed for students, offers a quick and approachable overview of the paragraph-writing process. It explains paragraph-writing steps from brainstorming to publishing. Links to additional online resources are provided.

Find out more at: http://www.howtowriteaparagraph.com

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“Teachers and students use it almost everyday. Paragraph Punch is used most often to take students through the steps of the writing process,” says an educator at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA, about Merit Software’s Paragraph Punch. Students learn effective paragraph writing through interactive, guided prompts. They create paragraphs by using reasons, details, example, cause and effects, and sequence. A step-by-step approach emphasizes content and organization as well as key editing skills.

To find out more, or to try the downloadable evaluation version of Paragraph Punch, go to: http://www.meritsoftware.com/software/paragraph_punch

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Think.com is a global web-hosted application from Oracle. It is free for accredited primary and secondary schools. Think.com offers a protected online learning environment. Schools can use the site to create class or parent web pages, offer group collaboration, and provide virus-free e-mail.

Visit: http://www.think.com

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The Home Depot Foundation’s Initiative for At-Risk Youth awards grants to non-profit organizations. Grants for programmatic support relating to job-readiness may include the purchase of educational software. Grants are considered on a quarterly basis.

Go to: http://www.homedepotfoundation.org

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