SCHOLASTIC.COM LAUNCHES NEW WEB-BASED EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR K-6 CLASSROOMS

--Free Interactive Games Designed to Teach, Math, Science and Grammar in both English and Spanish Now Available at www.scholastic.com/maggie--

New York, NY (February 19, 2004) -- Elementary grade teachers are constantly searching for fun and easy-to-use activities for their students. Scholastic.com, the leading web site for PreK-8 teachers, has teamed with Maggie's Earth Adventures (MEA) to provide 14 educational games that reinforce skills in math, science and grammar in both English and Spanish for students in grades K-6. “Maggie's Earth Adventures Games” are available at www.scholastic.com/maggie.
 
“Our mission is to help teachers take advantage of the Internet in ways that will improve student learning. 'Maggie's Earth Adventures Games' are not only fun and engaging, but they also have tremendous educational value,” said Donna Iucolano, President of e-Scholastic. “They are the newest addition to a broad range of free web-based content on Scholastic.com that helps teachers enhance the curriculum while leveraging the power of the Internet.”
 
“Maggie's Earth Adventures is very pleased with this partnership with Scholastic,” said Mason Bryant Howard, Executive Director of MEA. “Our goal is to bring free, high quality educational material to as many educators as possible, and we can't think of a better partner than Scholastic to help us achieve that goal.”
 
A sampling of “Maggie's Earth Adventures Games” available on Scholastic.com:
 
· Spanish - English Cycle Race - (BUILDING VOCABULARY) Students are asked to pick a cyclist and help them win a bike race by matching Spanish and English words. Every right answer gives the racer a boost.
 
· Clean Up Your Grammar / ¡Limpia tu gramática! - (GRAMMAR SKILLS) Students recycle the trash that washes up on the shore by clicking and dragging nouns and verbs to their correct recycling bin. If they make a mistake the beach becomes dirty with litter.
 
· Science Labeling / Diagramando a la Ciencia - (SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE) Students study an online diagram, such as the human respiratory system or the layers of the earth, and then test their knowledge by matching the correct labels.
 
· Around the World in 80 Seconds! / ¡Alrededor del Mundo en 80 Segundos! - (MATH SKILLS) Students solve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems at varying levels of difficulty. If the answer is correct a pilot will fly to the next destination. 
 
A comprehensive Teacher's Guide offers educators helpful lesson plans for every grade, as well as tips on how to incorporate the games into the classroom. Links to additional resources are also provided on the site.
 
Scholastic.com offers a single destination for busy educators to find free, teacher-tested and easy-to-use resources, including classroom management tools, professional development information from experts in the field and essential hands-on skill building products to support student learning throughout the year.
 
About Scholastic.com
Scholastic.com is the leading website for PreK-8 teachers, students and families. For educators on Scholastic.com, The Teacher Resource Center offers free, standards-based content that spans reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science. It includes thousands of teacher-tested lesson plans; engaging student online activities; tools for the creation of free, personalized classroom homepages; and online ordering for Book Clubs and Software Clubs. The Teacher Store at Scholastic.com is a unique online shopping experience that features an extensive, relevant selection of classroom and professional development materials at preferred teacher pricing. A robust Family area on the site facilitates home-to-school connections through sections entitled Your School-Age Child, Your Early Learner and All About Reading. For parents and families, The Scholastic Store Online offers a broad mix of merchandise carefully selected for its developmental appropriateness and kid appeal, with learning benefits endorsed by a panel of early childhood experts. Kids will be delighted to find games and activities featuring their favorite Scholastic characters on Scholastic.com, including Clifford the Big Red DogTM, Harry PotterTM and Captain UnderpantsTM.
 
About Maggie's Earth Adventures
Maggie's Earth Adventures is a comprehensive educational program for elementary and intermediate level teachers and students available at www.missmaggie.org in both English and Spanish. Based on the real life travels of an environmentalist and philanthropist, Maggie's Earth Adventures is a state-of-the-art, animated program offering free, printable classroom-ready material across all disciplines in addition to interactive activities and games like those found at the Scholastic destination. Students and teachers travel around the world to learn more about issues affecting our global community. Maggie's Earth Adventures sends out, via e-mail, integrated activity packets that highlight a variety of subjects, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Great Wall of China. Introduced in October of 2000, Maggie's Earth Adventures is a critically acclaimed, award winning site that has earned the enthusiastic support of children and respect of educators worldwide.

Contacts:
Scholastic Inc.
Teodora Ignatova
212-343-6402
 
Scholastic Inc.
Aimee Spengler Dolan
212-343-6570
 
Maggie's Earth Adventures
Mason Howard
540-687-9348