New Classroom Book Collections Use Journals, Letters and Well-Known Children’s Literature to Build Fluency and Inspire Students in Grades K-8

New York, NY (February 6, 2008) -- Scholastic Classroom Books, a division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announces the release of Tim Rasinski Presents…Fabulously Famous Books for Building Fluency™. These new libraries emphasize reading with expression and oral performance using speeches, journals, letters, poetry and many other formats to improve fluency and inspire a love of reading in students in grades K-8.

Fabulously Famous Books is designed to build fluency skills such as expression, intonation and phrasing and encourage students to demonstrate oral fluency performance through engaging activities like poetry slams, reader’s theater and storytelling.

Dr. Timothy Rasinski, one of the nation's leading authorities on reading fluency, has conducted extensive research and created practical strategies to help students become accurate and fluent decoders of words. His goal with the new fluency libraries is to “share the excitement of great literature and let students use their own voices to make the passages come alive.”

New Free Web Site Helps Teachers and Parents Match the Right Book to the Right Child Based on Four Different Reading Level Systems, Interests and Previously Enjoyed Books

New York, NY (January 30, 2008) -- E-Scholastic, the online division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing and media company, announces the launch of Teacher Book Wizard™ (www.scholastic.com/bookwizard). The new Web site enables teachers, librarians and even parents to search a database of over 50,000 books to find just the right match for every child, according to reading level, interest, subject and genre. Teachers and librarians can also download free lesson plans related to specific books and purchase many titles at teacher discounted prices through Scholastic.com’s Teacher Store.

The unique BookAlike™ feature helps educators find book recommendations based on a title that their students’ already know and enjoy. They can also search for titles that are at, above or below the original book’s reading level.
Teacher Book Wizard offers other tools, including:

Scholastic News Election Reporters Learn About Life at Home and on the Campaign Trail with Children of Presidential Candidates, Ages 6-37

New York, NY (January 24, 2008) -- What are the kids of the current presidential candidates like? Emma Claire Edwards likes Webkins; Bridget McCain loves hanging out with friends; Malia and Sasha Obama can’t wait to get a dog; and Tagg Romney sometimes fights with his brothers. The Scholastic Kids Press Corps, a team of student reporters ages 10-14 who are covering the race to the White House and reporting for Scholastic News, discovered that the kids of candidates are not so different from the Kid Reporters themselves!

Scholastic Kid Reporters interviewed many of the candidates’ children and spouses to find out more about them and to learn what it’s like to have a parent running for president. Their interviews are published at Scholastic News Online (www.scholastic.com/news) and in upcoming issues of Scholastic News (for students in grades 1-6) and Junior Scholastic (grades 6-8).

Here’s a peek at what the Scholastic Kids Press Corps learned about the candidates’ kids, ages 6-37: