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.”

Famous books like Stone Soup, Corduroy, Charlotte’s Web, Ramona the Pest and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are connected to a research-based strategy for building students’ reading fluency, complete with information for teachers on how to use reading aloud, paired reading, recorded materials, radio reading and even “mumble reading” to get and keep students motivated to read as they improve their skills.

Each level (K-2, 3-5, 6-8) includes:

• 64 books (32 titles, 2 copies each)
• Professional Guide (authored by Dr. Rasinski)
• Teacher Resources CD (includes scripts and more!)
• Professional Paper: Guided Fluency Instruction: Moving Students to Independence

The classroom library also includes a Professional Guide, which offers practical and innovative ideas for instructions on bringing oral reading for fluency into a busy classroom, plus a section about how to conduct assessments.

Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D. is a Professor of Education in the Reading and Writing Center at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. He has been president of the College Reading Association, chairperson of the Language Experience Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association, and he has won the A.B. Herr Award from the College Reading Association for his scholarly contributions to literacy education.

For more information on Tim Rasinski Presents…Fabulously Famous Books for Building Fluency, visit scholastic.com/fabulousbooks, or call 1-800-SCHOLASTIC.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media. 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 and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.

Contacts:
Scholastic
Jennifer boggs
212-343-6619
jboggs@scholastic.com