The National Geographic Society has announced that it will begin offering a new nonfiction classroom magazine this fall, National Geographic Young Explorer, written for kindergartners and 1st graders.
Each 24-page issue will focus on a single science or social studies theme. To keep pace with pupils’ reading growth during the school year, the magazine’s text will increase in difficulty with each issue, according to a recent press release from the Washington-based society’s educational products distributor, National Geographic School Publishing. Seven issues will be published per year.
Young Explorer is one of three classroom magazines published by the society. The other two, National Geographic Explorer’s Pioneer and Pathfinder editions, are written at a 2nd-to-3rd-grade and a 4th-to-6th-grade reading level, respectively. The International Paper Company Foundation and the society’s education foundation sponsor the publications as part of a campaign aimed at improving elementary school students’ literacy and their knowledge of science, social studies, and geography.
Information on ordering the magazines can be found online at www.ngschoolpub.org.
August House Publishers has launched a new multimedia series of folk tales for children under the heading Story Cove. The titles will be simultaneously released in print format in stores and libraries and as animated movies on the publisher’s Web site, www.augusthouse.com, according to a press release from the Atlanta-based company. The series also includes online activities for children, lesson plans for teachers, and in-person storytelling appearances around the country.
The first four titles, aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, feature folk stories from West Africa, the Middle East, India, and Vietnam. The company plans to publish seven books this year and eight to 12 next year. Lesson plans drawing on the books, ranging from the prekindergarten to the 3rd grade level, are available for downloading from the August House site.
August House is an independent multimedia publisher of children’s stories, folk tale anthologies, and resource books for parents and teachers.
