New York,
NY (December
13,
2004) --
In this, the 4th year of the Scholastic Book Clubs
ClassroomsCare program, students in 190,000 classrooms nationwide have read 100 books in order to help children in need - setting a new record for participation. This philanthropy-based literacy campaign designed to teach children about the joys and importance of reading and giving has been embraced by more teachers each year, growing from 56,000 classrooms participating in 2001, to 63,000 in 2002, 140,000 in 2003, and now a record 190,000 with 3 more weeks to go before the deadline.
Here's how
ClassroomsCare works: For each class that reads 100 books by Friday, December 31, 2004, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate 100 books (for a total donation of up to one million new books) to disadvantaged children nationwide. Three not-for-profit partners will ensure that the books get into the hands of the hardest to reach and neediest children, many of whom have never before had a book of their own. First Book®, Reach Out and Read®, and Save the Children® will receive and distribute the donations to children in under-served communities across the United States. Yellow Transportation, a leading transportation services provider, is donating the trucking and delivery of all one million books.
“Teachers all across the country continue to embrace the
ClassroomsCare program because it not only helps get kids reading, but it empowers them to make a difference in the life of another child,” said Judy Newman, President, Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic at Home. “We congratulate the students who have completed their 100 books and look forward to adding even more classrooms to our online “Hall of Fame” of participants before the December 31st deadline.”
The
ClassroomsCare initiative is open to all classrooms nationwide through Scholastic Book Clubs catalogues and the Scholastic web site. Teachers of grades K-8 who order from Scholastic Book Clubs in September and October automatically received a free
ClassroomsCare participation kit, complete with a colorful poster to record classroom reading, as well as a take-home reproducible letter to get friends and family involved. To report that a class has reached their goal of reading 100 books, and to get their name on the
ClassroomsCare Hall of Fame at
www.scholastic.com/classroomscare, teachers can check the
ClassroomsCare box on their order form, or call 1-800-SCHOLASTIC. On the web, teachers, along with their students, can also learn more about the not-for-profit partners.
For 56 years, Scholastic Book Clubs have provided monthly catalogues offering top quality books and reading materials from all publishers to teachers in pre-school through high school. Today, Scholastic Book Clubs reach over one million teachers each month, providing the most sought-after titles at affordable prices for children in classrooms nationwide. The
ClassroomsCare campaign is available to teachers and classrooms through five of the Scholastic Book Clubs: Firefly® Book Club for pre-schoolers; SeeSaw® Book Club for kindergarten and grade 1; Lucky® Book Club for grades 2-3; Arrow® Book Club for grades 4-6; and TAB® Book Club for grades 7 and up.
About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, 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, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company's Internet site,
www.scholastic.com.