HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome back to school. We hope that all of you had safe, restful and wonderful times during the holiday season with your families and friends.
As we start 2009, we certainly live in interesting times. With a major historic change in our political climate and unprecedented economic challenges, we must all draw upon our combined and collective work ethics, talents and diligence to meet these demands. Of course, with these new challenges come many new situations...... opportunities for all of us to be better than ever.
We are hopeful that the needs of our entire education system will receive much more support and attention by the new administration so that we may equip our current and future generations of children with an education that prepares them to live, work and compete in this increasingly global economy. But it's not just our children who must prepare....ALL of us must prepare!! With a volatile and competitive global workplace, we as working adults must also be prepared to enhance and pursue new skills almost continuously. Now, more than ever, "lifetime learning" has a renewed sense of urgency. The changing landscape of technology, especially the Internet, is creating far-reaching opportunities in a world where we are increasingly interconnected with virtually all aspects of our lives. We are experiencing nothing less than a wholesale paradigm shift in the manner that knowledge is created, captured, delivered and learned. We MUST have new tools and technologies as part of that new framework for education, for employment, for life. To continue to propagate the theories and practices of the past is surely a formula for failure.
The only way to respond to challenges is to meet them head-on. Premier Literacy is committed to forge full-speed ahead with industry-leading innovations that bring expanded capabilities to the world of literacy for the 21st Century. As we have done since the very beginning, in 2009, you will see Premier Literacy deliver even more ground-breaking technologies and progressive deployment options to put literacy tools within the reach of everyone. We welcome your feedback and input so that we can work with each and every one of you to help you succeed.
Respectfully,
Kenneth Grisham
President/CEO
RUN FOR LITERACY
Dr. Steve Timmer, a USA Blind Athlete and founder of Team Premier, set three world records in marathons in which he participated in 2008. He recently participated in the Disney World Marathon along with 22,000 other runners and finished in the top 8 percent overall. He plans on setting another 3-4 world records in 2009.
Co-owner and co-founder of Premier Literacy, Dr. Timmer has dedicated much of his professional life to literacy and accessibility and wanted to find a way to raise awareness of the increasing demand for digital literacy at school and in the workplace.
Visit the Run4Literacy.com website to find out more about these events and learn how you can raise funds and receive FREE literacy software for your organization.
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
PDF EQUALIZER
Now with Even MORE Functionality!
You may already be familiar with many of the amazing capabilities of PDF Equalizer to read your PDF files, add your own notes, incorporate images from the text into your notes, summarize the content of a PDF file to save you time reading the document, and convert PDF file text to MP3 audio. Now there's even more to be excited about!
Just released in version 6.0 are a host of additional study tools that let you annotate and draw in a PDF file, highlight text within your PDF, read only the highlights, convert only the highlights to MP3, and even scan a document into PDF Equalizer and save as a PDF file.
Download a FREE fully-functioning trial version of PDF Equalizer and see how it works with YOUR files!
Powerful tools to enhance your Internet experience!
TEACHER RESOURCES
If you're looking for e-books, sources of digital content, and more, check out the Educator Resources on our website. Below are just a few of the many resources available to you.
This site is geared for young students learning to read, generally Pre-K through second grade. Includes printed materials, online games, stories and songs. The Reading Teacher named Starfall.com one of "Five Internet sites too good to miss" (May 2006). In 2005 and again in 2008, Homeschool.com recognized Starfall as one of their top five educational websites.
Arcademic Skill Builders is a nonprofit web site that features online educational games offering a new approach to learning basic math, language arts, vocabulary and thinking skills. The site features game titles such as "Word Invasion", "Verb Viper" and "Grand Prix Multiplcation".
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) presents Immune Attack™, an educational video game that introduces basic concepts of human immunology to high school and entry-level college students. Designed as a supplemental learning tool, Immune Attack aims to excite students about the subject, while also illuminating general principles and detailed concepts of immunology.
This site provides access to a variety of e-books ranging from biographies, cooking, and history to literature, philosophy, and science. Books can be read online for free. PDF downloads are usually available for a fee, from 99 cents and up, depending on content and date of release. On occasion, some downloads will be offered FREE to members of WOWIO through commercial sponsorship.
NOTE: All sites included in this section should be reviewed by you prior to use. Premier Literacy's listing of a site does not constitute its endorsement of the content of these sites or of their policies or products. Please use these at your discretion.
GOOD NEWS FROM YOU
We often hear Good News about how Premier's tools have helped a variety of users. Send us your Good News about how Premier's products have helped you or someone you know, and get your name entered in a drawing for a FREE Premier To Go USB drive with 10 literacy tools pre-loaded ($299.95 retail).
This newsletter's winner of the drawing for a Premier To Go USB drive is Fred Romney from Kentucky. Congratulations!
TESTIMONIALS:
"Many individuals with learning challenges don't know how to pick out the important points of a book or document. Premier's Summarization feature is a reliable way to assist students to focus on key points."
"It was always such a pleasure to provide short stories and books for students to read on their computers. Their lives were potentially made richer through exposure to literature they otherwise would never have read. The E-Text Reader with the E-Library (1500 books and short stories) combination is a real winner!"--- Fred Romney (Kentucky)
Premier's software programs have been phenomenal in assisting students to reach their academic potential!
Our school has Premier's Accessibility Suite installed on all lab computers, and we have purchased home installation so all students can download to their personal computers as well. We have been very happy with the programs overall. It's great for LD students and for those with generally weak reading skills.