Scholastic and ReadingRockets.org Present Teleconference, "From Babbling to Books: Building Pre-Reading Skills"

(New York, NY) - Far too many young children come to school with poor oral language skills because they just don't know enough words. To support parents, daycare providers and preschool teachers as they help children grow and learn, Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, and ReadingRockets.org, a national multimedia service of WETA-TV in Washington, D.C., will present a teleconference on the importance of working with young children early to develop language and pre-reading skills. The live teleconference, "From Babbling to Books: Building Pre-Reading Skills," will provide research-based strategies for educators and parents that can help lay the foundation for building strong readers, including engaging young children in rich stories and having meaningful conversations with them.

Panelists include:

- Todd R. Risley, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Alaska and former professor of human development and senior scientist of the Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas. He is the co-author of Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children and Learning to Talk.

- Sharon Landesman Ramey, director of the Center for Health and Education at Georgetown University. Drs. Sharon and Craig Ramey are widely considered to have done the most extensive work to date on what permanently enhances development in young children. Their numerous studies have shown dramatic gains in learning and accomplishment as the result of nurturing care in early childhood.

- Julie Washington, professor in the department of audiology and speech language pathology at Wayne State University. Her research focus is language development and language disorders in African American children at the time of school entry and emergent literacy skills of high-risk preschoolers.

The "From Babbling to Books: Building Pre-Reading Skills" teleconference will take place live on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 from 12pm to 1pm ET. For information on how to watch the teleconference live, visit www.readingrockets.org. Beginning on April 1, the program will also be available as a webcast at no charge at www.readingrockets.org. Viewers may watch the webcast at any time, day or night.

About ReadingRockets.org

ReadingRockets.org is a national multimedia project that looks at how young children learn to read, why so many kids struggle, and what we can do about it. ReadingRockets.org produces TV programs for PBS; two ambitious Web sites (ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org); teleconferences, and webcasts. ReadingRockets.org is a service of WETA-TV, the PBS station in Washington, D.C., and is funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

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.

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