Verizon Thinkfinity Provides Free Educational Resources and Activities to Keep Students Learning Through the Holiday Season

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - With the holiday season in full swing, teachers seeking entertaining, innovative resources to bring the stories of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza to life can find dozens of free lesson plans, podcasts and more at Verizon Thinkfinity’s new Holiday feature.

Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org) contains thousands of free, engaging educational resources that make learning fun. Lesson plans, in-class activities and homework help can be found quickly and searched by grade level, keyword or subject.

Among the resources available in the Verizon Thinkfinity Holiday 2010 section are:

* The Gift of Holiday Traditions: Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas. This resource from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ EDSITEment will help students understand how numerous cultures contributed to popular holiday traditions. http://edsitement.neh.gov/gift-holiday-traditions-kwanzaa-hanukkah-and-christmas-0

* Let’s Build a Snowman. In this lesson from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English’s ReadWriteThink, students use fiction and nonfiction texts, the Internet and other resources to learn how animals survive the winter. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/build-snowman-239.html

* Putting the Ice in Hockey. This lesson from the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science NetLinks will help students understand how temperature affects the motion of molecules and thus plays an important role in whether matter is a solid, liquid or gas. http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?DocID=199

“The holiday season is a magical time that presents tremendous teaching moments for parents and educators alike,” said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston. “Through Verizon Thinkfinity, anyone in reach of the Internet has easy access to fun, engaging resources to keep children learning through their winter break.”

In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation’s leading educational organizations, Thinkfinity also offers a comprehensive professional-development program that allows teachers to sign up for free online or face-to-face training to learn how to make the most of the tools available. Content for Verizon Thinkfinity is provided through a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 of the nation’s leading organizations in the fields of education and literacy: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Council for Economic Education, International Reading Association, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through Verizon Thinkfinity and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2009, the Verizon Foundation awarded $67.9 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. It also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in $26.1 million in combined contributions to nonprofits. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 5 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving more than 93 million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 195,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.