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FAQ

Photo Credit: Sage Millen, 14

The Stone Soup Creative Writing Project is currently a beta project. We have done our best with this FAQ, but we are aware that as you start using the site, questions on what to do, where to go, and how to do something are inevitably going to come up.

Our goal: a site that sings.

To accomplish that goal, we need your feedback. We do not want anyone—not a single user—to be frustrated with the site, ever. Please document stumbling blocks. Please tell us that you were looing for xyz but couldn’t find it. Or, that you found it, but not easily. Your observations, patience, and willingness to contact us about issues will enable us to pefect the website. Please write to sophia@stonesoup.com with questions you think should be addressed in the FAQ and to education@stonesoup.com with any and all suggestions for the site’s improvement. Thank you for your ideas!

  • What do these Educator pages provide?

    These pages provide an ever-evolving and constantly growing source of primarily free educational resources—curated mentor texts with discussion question, writing and art prompts, lesson plans—for instructors who teach writing.

  • What does the Stone Soup website provide as a whole?

    On the larger Stone Soup website, you and your students can browse recent and archival issues of our magazine and read recent blog posts, book reviews, and pieces written in our writing workshops as well as participate in our monthly flash contests. All of the work we publish is by kids under fourteen.

    You will get three free articles and then hit a paywall. We hope you will consider subscribing! For $250, we can grant digital access for an entire institution, but we also offer individual digital-only subscriptions for $49.99. Please reach out to us at education [at] stonesoup.com if you are interested in a free digital trial.

    Subscription comes with the perk of free submissions to the Stone Soup blog and magazine. It will also, of course, give you access to all of our content.

  • What does it cost to use these resources?

    The vast majority of the curated materials provided on the educator portion of the website is free. Please note, however, that some of the additional links provided on the educator portion of the website may route to materials on the main Stone Soup site that are only viewable with a subscription, or to outside resources that are not free.

  • What does a subscription get me?

    In short: unlimited reading and inspiration for the motivated student! When you purchase a subscription you are in effect subscribing to the print and/or digital versions of Stone Soup Magazine. The digital subscription grants online access to all of Stone Soup’s published pieces and artwork, blog posts, and other content on the main website.

    Both individual and school subscriptions are available. If you are planning to use Stone Soup in your classroom, we recommend speaking with your institution about purchasing and setting up a school subscription or site license—we use those terms interchangeably. A site license can be set up such that any student accessing the site through their school’s IP address can view all materials on the entire Stone Soup website.

    All subscriptions receive a link for free submission that your students may use to submit work.

  • How do I subscribe?

    Whether you are planning on subscribing as an individual or signing up your institution for a site license/school subscription, the process begins in the same way: Click here to be directed to the purchase page. Or, click the “Subscribe” button in the upper right.

  • Whom should I contact with technical questions? With suggestions for content?

    Please email Sophia at sophia@stonesoup.com with any technical questions regarding site license setup, website navigation, and missing or broken links, as well as suggestions for new and/or improved FAQ items.

    Please email education@stonesoup.com with recommendations for improvements to the provided curriculum materials and suggestions for additional outside resources. Please also be in touch with him if you are interested in helping Stone Soup develop further educational material.

  • How do I move around the Educator pages?

    Each subpage—Mentor Texts, Lesson Plans, Outside Resources, etc.—of the Educator section of the website has a link back to the Educator home page. In turn, content pages will have a link back to the subpage that organizes that content. You can also always use the “Back” button in the top left corner of your browser window. Another way to reach the Educator main navigation page is to click the “For Educators” button in the navigation bar near the very top of any of the site’s webpages.

    Clicking the gray and red Stone Soup logo in the top left of the Educator site will direct you to Stone Soup’s homepage (not the Educator main navigation page), and some links and content provided as further resources on the Educator portion of the website will route to posts and pages that are on Stone Soup’s main site as well. For example, clicking the “Writing Prompts” button on the “Classroom Activities” subpage will take you to the section of the Stone Soup Blog where writing prompts are posted.