Scholastic Inc., the global children's publishing and media company and leading educational publisher, today announced the introduction of a breakthrough, scientific research-based, full year-long curriculum in English and Spanish for prekindergarten, the Scholastic Early Childhood Program Featuring Clifford™. Unique in its comprehensive, integrated approach, the program reflects the best thinking and practices of leaders in the field of early childhood education and fully addresses all areas of development - academic, social, personal and physical -- necessary for children to become successful learners when they enter school. Clifford the Big Red Dog™, the beloved canine of the best-selling books published by Scholastic and the award-winning, hit TV series on PBS Kids, is featured in the program to engage young children with the curriculum; to reinforce "Clifford's Big Ideas" fostering social/emotional growth, such as helping others and sharing; and to involve children in learning.

The Scholastic Early Childhood Program fulfills the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act's Early Reading First initiative, providing all elements of a high quality prekindergarten program as defined by the legislation -- effective curriculum, high quality professional development, and strategies for establishing strong family connections to support children's learning. The Scholastic Early Childhood Program lays the foundation for reading success with an emphasis on language and literacy that covers the Early Reading First key areas of oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge.

The Scholastic Early Childhood Program also provides daily math instruction in a carefully sequenced continuum, aligned to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards. Through whole class and small group instruction as well as independent explorations, young children acquire beginning math vocabulary and start to develop skills including operations, problem solving and higher-order thinking.

The State Board of Education in Texas has approved the Scholastic Early Childhood Program for its official list of adopted prekindergarten programs. Texas public schools will choose materials from this list for use in classrooms next fall. The Scholastic Early Childhood Program complies with the state's prekindergarten curriculum guidelines.

"Numerous studies have shown that a high quality, comprehensive prekindergarten program that promotes all aspects of young children's development has a long-term, positive impact on their performance once they begin their formal schooling. Scholastic is introducing its Early Childhood Program as part of a continuing effort to provide the support that early childhood teachers are seeking," said Francie Alexander, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Education. "The Scholastic Early Childhood Program addresses their need for a full, easy-to-follow curriculum that emphasizes early literacy and language as well as other skills and experiences that are critical for later school success, engages young learners, and facilitates family involvement in children's education. This new program makes the learning process both effective and fun with appropriate themes, research-based materials, and of course Clifford, who captures and keeps children's attention."

The Scholastic Early Childhood Program combines teacher-directed instruction with child-centered explorations and experiences to deepen learning in areas necessary for kindergarten and first grade readiness, including early reading and language, math, science, and social skills. Designed to serve as a full-year curriculum, the Scholastic Early Childhood Program components include:

• Curriculum Theme Packs (Blue Box) - Ten themes that connect children to the world around them and build from both a child-centered and teacher-directed perspective, such as Friends and School, Home and Family, Working and Playing Together, and Everything Changes. Each Theme Pack contains everything an educator needs to prepare and execute curriculum plans, including a Teacher's Guide; 2 read-aloud books to share as a class; and 1 theme "little book" and audiocassette, which provide exciting quality literature to engage children and foster language and literacy growth.
• Early Learning Kit (Yellow Box) - A rich array of content-area and foundational literacy materials such as guides and materials for teaching letters and sounds; phonics posters; phonological awareness picture cards; alphabet mini-books; songs and fingerplay book and CD; math concept cards with lessons aligned to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards; an interactive math CD-ROM; a science poster kit; and manipulatives to give young learners concrete objects for exploration, foster cooperation, and enhance learning in curriculum areas including social studies.
• Clifford's Kit for Personal and Social Development (Red Box) - Introduces children to Clifford's Ten Big Ideas that foster character development and social/emotional growth. Includes Big Ideas posters highlighting ten concepts that represent positive behaviors; the Clifford Big Ideas Library, featuring a Clifford story illustrating each Big Idea; A New Friend, a Clifford video from the award-winning television show that helps children understand special needs and how to interact in a social setting; the Fun with Clifford Bilingual Activity Book in English and Spanish, supporting the big ideas with language and math take-home sheets that children can complete with their families; Teacher's Guide; and Clifford hand puppet. Clifford's Kit is available starting December 1st as a standalone component.
• Big Book Boxes- One literature Big Book and two content-area Big Books support each program theme and enhance early literacy growth, as well as content area knowledge. In addition, one bilingual concept book generates conversation and gets children involved with language.


Teacher Resources

• Ongoing Assessment and Curriculum Development guide- Contains seven professional booklets providing the critical background each prekindergarten teacher needs on all areas of child development and learning.
• Teacher Workshops guide - A series of 12 cooperative workshop sessions designed to facilitate discussions within the teaching team. Each workshop consists of a four-step plan centered on a research-based article written by a noted expert such as Susan B. Neuman, Lilian Katz, Stanley Greenspan, and Doug Clements.
• Formal and informal assessment tools -- Enabling educators to collect critical information on each child and differentiate instruction.
• Creating Family Partnerships guide - Provides educators with multiple ways to encourage and sustain parental involvement in the classroom and their child's learning.

The program provides rich Spanish materials that capitalize on young children's capacity for language learning. These support the growing population of children whose first language is Spanish, and give English-speaking children valuable exposure to a second language. In addition, the Scholastic Early Childhood Program embeds lessons specifically for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners into the structure of the teaching plan - enabling educators to move easily and seamlessly through a lesson while addressing the particular needs of these students, a feature unique to this curriculum.

The authors of the Scholastic Early Childhood Program are at the forefront of early childhood education, including Dr. Cathy Collins Block, professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Christian University; and Ellen Booth Church, a professor at the State University of New York, educational consultant, curriculum developer and writer with many years of classroom experience as a prekindergarten and kindergarten teacher.

The Scholastic Early Childhood Program will be showcased at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in New York City, November 20-23, 2002, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center Halls B, D, and E, Scholastic Booth #1347. The Scholastic Early Childhood Program can be ordered now by calling 1-800-SCHOLASTIC, and will be available starting Spring 2003. The full program price is $2,446. Clifford's Kit for Personal and Social Development, available now, is priced at $89.95. Educators who purchase Clifford's Kit now and wish to order the other components of the Scholastic Early Childhood Program later can do so for an additional $2,360.

Scholastic Education publishes research-based core and supplementary instructional materials, holding a leadership position in reading improvement products as well as learning services that address the needs of the developing reader - from grades pre-K to high school. Its offerings for early childhood educators also include Building Language for Literacy™, a research-based program focused on guiding children through the early stages of oral language and literacy development.

About Scholastic:
Scholastic Corporation (NMS: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, textbooks, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries, and television networks; and the Company's Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.