New York, NY — May 11, 2011 — Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, today announced the release of Guided Reading Text Types and Everyday Literacy, barrier-breaking reading programs for grades K-6 co-authored by Dr. Irene Fountas and Dr. Gay Su Pinnell — two of America's leading experts on literacy and authorities on Guided Reading.

Launched at this year's International Reading Association convention in Orlando, FL, these two new programs expose students to different forms of reading and connect classroom text to a variety of real-world informational texts that provide students with new and exciting ways to access, evaluate, and use information effectively and accurately. The launch is part of an ongoing collaboration between Fountas and Pinnell and Scholastic, and is an important new addition to the company’s suite of Guided Reading programs. The new programs align with the Common Core State Standards and include guidance for teachers explaining the alignment.

Guided Reading Text Types differentiates instruction for all students through its leveled reading. The content-rich, high interest material includes:

• 100% all new titles with no overlap with other Guided Reading programs.
• A diverse set of texts that include plays, biographies, graphic novels, and free verse.
• More genres and text types than before — 80% nonfiction and 20% fiction.
• A revised and expanded 176-page teacher’s guide written by Fountas and Pinnell that includes six new sections addressing Common Core State Standards, response to intervention, and connections to everyday literacy.

Everyday Literacy complements Guided Reading Text Types with whole class instruction that links classroom content to real-world, functional texts like invitations, guidebooks, brochures, and maps — texts that differ from academic reading and that often contain highly-specialized vocabulary. Everyday Literacy uses simulated informational texts like menus and directions to improve students’ reading proficiency and enhance their conceptual knowledge. Each Everyday Literacy grade-level set includes:

• 10 different "everyday" texts (25 copies each; 250 in all).
• 10 teaching cards for each theme.
• 1 professional guide.
• An interactive whiteboard CD-Rom with 30 activities.

"To succeed in college and careers deep into the 21st Century, students need to have literacy skills that allow them to understand and think critically about a wide variety of texts – everything from persuasive essays to memoirs to maps, menus and ads," said Greg Worrell, President of the Scholastic Classroom and Library Group. "Through the brilliant research and work of Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, we have been able to create new literacy programs that expose kids to real life texts that they encounter outside the classroom, and to fiction and non-fiction formats that help them become strong readers and discover books and genres they will love for the rest of their lives."

For more information about Scholastic, visit our mediaroom at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.

Contact:

Katrina Picon Scholastic Inc. 212-343-6635 kpicon@scholastic.com

Tyler Reed Scholastic Inc. 212-343-6427 treed@scholastic.com