This is an interesting online news site designed for middle school students to develop their non-fiction reading skills using news articles written by their peers. All news articles are written by student journalists ages 10-14 and cover a range of current events from “The Met’s Magical Christmas Tree” to “The Beatles: Influencing the Past, Present, and Future” to election coverage. They do not cover violence or pop culture, and sensitive issues are covered in an unbiased fashion. For example, Brandon Peterson writes about Donald Trump’s “Thank You” Tour with impartial language, reporting facts not opinions. The site uses a clean interface and beautiful photos and videos, many featuring the student reporters. However, articles are not arranged by topic, so students and teachers must browse or search the site headlines. Also, unlike similar sites, adults cannot determine the reading level of the article nor find discussion questions or multiple-choice online quizzes. Nonetheless, featured articles are current and relevant to teens and tweens, important, appropriate and may have extra appeal because they are written by peer journalists which could inspire young writers.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
• Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Has a free or trial version
• Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
• Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
• Student should be able to use independently after first use
• Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
• Multiple users can save a profile
• Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
• Can play without sound and not distract others
• Students can save work between sessions
• Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
• Requires registration before using the first time
• Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
• Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
• Overall - Easy to use