Contact:
Brittany Sullivan, 212-343-4848, bsullivan@scholastic.com

New York, NY – February 20, 2019 – Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, has announced a suite of digital solutions designed to support PreK–6 literacy instruction. The new research-based instructional programs Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. (Foundations in Reading, Sounds & Text) and Scholastic W.O.R.D. represent key shifts in instruction by helping students build foundational reading skills starting with letter sounds and morphological word families. Scholastic Literacy Pro, Watch & Learn Library, and the updated BookFlix, support effective independent learning and whole-class instruction during the literacy block and beyond through access to hundreds of high-quality videos and thousands of authentic texts.

To learn more about the full range of Scholastic digital solutions, visit: http://www.scholastic.com/digitalsolutions.

All Scholastic digital solutions are site-based annual subscriptions and are accessible anytime on any device. Scholastic Literacy Pro, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. and Scholastic W.O.R.D. can also be found in Scholastic Literacy, the Company’s new comprehensive literacy curriculum for K–6, launching this year. These three programs are also equipped with educator tools that provide real-time data to inform instruction in whole-class and small-group lessons, enhancing opportunities to provide personalized instruction. The full suite of digital solutions includes: 

• Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. (Foundations in Reading, Sounds & Text) An Adventure on Ooka Island (Grades PreK–2) 2018 EDDIE Award Winner: Early Elementary Literacy Skills Website
Based on educator and researcher Dr. Kay MacPhee’s more than 25 years of research linking reading difficulties to sound differentiation, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. is a game-based foundational reading program. Scholastic F.I.R.S.T.‘s highly adaptive technology takes students on an interactive reading adventure through Ooka Island, focusing first on teaching the 44 sounds of the English language, followed by a systematic introduction to progressively more complex phonetic skills—creating effortless reading, comprehension, and fluency for all students.
 
• BookFlix (Grades PreK–3) 2018 EDDIE Award Winner: Early Learning Reading Skills eBook
BookFlix is a digital literacy resource that thematically pairs storybook classics and nonfiction titles to reinforce early reading skills and develop essential real-world knowledge. Students build reading confidence and curiosity as they watch Weston Woods storybook animations, listen to read-alouds, complete comprehension activities, and explore more than 1,100 curated websites for deeper learning. New enhancements to the program include a reimagined, user-friendly design, “Meet the Illustrator” biographies, an educator resource center, and more.
 
• Watch & Learn Library (Grades PreK–3)
From the editors of Scholastic News® and Let’s Find Out®, classroom magazines for PreK–3, the new Watch & Learn Library features more than 230 curriculum aligned science, social studies, and social-emotional videos to help teachers launch lessons, build context for further learning, and introduce content-area vocabulary. The engaging and developmentally-appropriate videos feature real-world footage and are available in both English and Spanish. Closed-captioning, Think Sheets, short quizzes, and vocabulary builders help reinforce comprehension as students build their knowledge and vocabulary across key curriculum topics.
 
• Scholastic W.O.R.D. (Grades K–5)
Literacy educator and author Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert analyzed over 10,000 texts to uncover the 2,500 morphological word families that make up 90% of all texts students will encounter. Scholastic W.O.R.D. leverages Dr. Hiebert’s research to help students build a solid understanding of these core words through 10 thematic units, deepening student world knowledge and reading comprehension. Students strengthen their critical vocabulary skills as they complete game-based activities, while educators utilize the Scholastic W.O.R.D. dashboard to observe individual and class progress and identify opportunities for additional support.
 
• Scholastic Literacy Pro (Grades K–6) 2018 EDDIE Award Winner: Upper Elementary Literacy Skills Website
Scholastic Literacy Pro is a new management tool that empowers teachers to provide students with 24/7 access to over 2,000 fiction and nonfiction ebooks for purposeful independent reading, in and out of school. Educators can monitor and track student reading activities, behaviors, and achievements through real-time reporting, while providing students with a sense of ownership as they select and read paperback and ebooks that reflect their personal interests using the Scholastic Literacy Pro reading recommendation engine.

“Personalized instruction and independent reading are critical predictors of students’ academic success and because of that, it’s more important than ever to provide students with year-round access to fun and engaging instructional materials that support their journeys to becoming critical thinkers and avid readers,” said Beth Polcari, President, Scholastic Magazines Group. “With a new suite of digital resources, Scholastic is giving educators the power of purposeful, personalized learning at their fingertips combined with robust real-time data that helps transform how they approach and inform daily English language arts instruction at school and with families at home.”

For more information about Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), visit the Company’s media room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.