Scholastic
02-15-2006, 11:18 AM
Scholastic and HHS have partnered to create "Small Steps," a program designed to teach healthy eating and exercise lessons to America's 2nd-4th graders. "Small Steps" is part of a year long campaign to prevent obesity in children.
With the help of Scholastic's character "Geronomo Stilton," teachers can access free lesson plans that help students build language and math skills as they learn about health and fitness by logging on to: www.smallstep.gov/kids
AD COUNCIL AND HHS JOIN SCHOLASTIC IN TEACHING HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE HABITS TO STUDENTS NATIONWIDE
New in-school and online materials, featuring the popular literary character Geronimo Stilton(tm), teach kids that Small Steps can make a big difference to good health
SmallStep.gov offers kids the chance to win a visit by Marvel's Spider-Man(tm) to their school
Washington, DC - February 15, 2006 - As part of a year-long campaign to prevent obesity in America's children, The Advertising Council and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have forged a new collaboration with Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, to create "Small Steps," a program designed to teach healthy eating and exercise lessons to America's second through fourth graders. Teachers can access free lesson plans on www.smallstep.gov/kids that help students build language arts and math skills as they learn about health and fitness.
The "Small Steps" program has been provided to more than 115,000 classrooms nationwide and is also available online for teachers to use with their students. The in-school program includes a colorful poster, lesson plans and worksheets all designed to fit within the relevant school curriculum. To make it fun and relevant for kids, the popular literary character, Geronimo Stilton, published by Scholastic, is featured on the materials. The friendly rodent and his family guide students through lessons about eating well, being active, reaching goals and taking small steps to help their own families achieve good health.
"We know that both parents and teachers play an important role in influencing children's eating and exercise habits, which is why we are pleased to help bring the Small Steps program into the classroom," said Steve Palm, Vice President and Group Publisher at Scholastic. "This program provides teachers with teaching tools they need to engage children and inspire them to eat well, be active, and to bring their enthusiasm for healthy habits home to their families."
Also announced this week, the Ad Council and HHS are sponsoring a new contest for kids in partnership with ePrize called SmallStep Challenge, which gives kids ages 6-11 the chance to win a visit from Marvel's Spider-Man. Between February 6 and March 30, kids can log onto www.smallstep.gov to take the SmallStep Challenge and correctly answer a trivia question about healthy eating for a chance to win the grand prize - a visit by Spider-Man to their school. Three schools will be awarded visits by Spider-Man, where he will explain the benefits of healthy eating to the winner's class. In addition to the three grand prizes, the SmallStep Challenge will award weekly prizes, which include a National Basketball Association (NBA) or Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) gift pack and official basketball. Weekly prizewinners will be chosen every Monday starting on February 13 and kids can register to win the gift packs until April 30.
"With more than nine million school-age children overweight, it's important for children to see their role models advocating healthy habits so we can turn these statistics around," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. "This partnership with Marvel's Spider-Man will get the attention of young children and encourage them to learn more about healthy eating and exercise habits. By reinforcing the 'Small Steps' program in classrooms through our work with Scholastic, we are giving childhood obesity a one-two punch in our effort to knock it out completely."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. In addition to the psychological and social issues of stigmatization, overweight children are at far greater risk for numerous health consequences, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases that may reduce the length and quality of their lives.
In November 2005, HHS and the Ad Council launched a comprehensive, multimedia campaign to encourage young children to eat healthy and get active. Under the theme, "Can Your Food Do That?" the campaign aims to help children and their parents make wise food choices and increase physical activity.
Extending the "Small Steps" adult-targeted Obesity Prevention Campaign, which HHS and the Ad Council launched in 2004, the new campaign provides children with meaningful reasons to make better food choices. For example, eating healthy food can help them do the things they already love to do, only better - such as run faster, throw farther, or perform well in school.
"Getting kids interested in healthy eating and smart exercise is paramount to preventing obesity in children," said Ad Council President and CEO Peggy Conlon. "This campaign gets kids involved in making their own healthy food choices by appealing to them in ways that both amuse and motivate them. We are excited to bring the Scholastic in-school program, Spider-Man contest and other campaign components to kids, their parents and teachers."
The SmallStep Challenge, developed in partnership with the interactive promotions agency ePrize, is part of a fun and interactive website located at www.smallstep.gov, which is also available in Spanish. The "kid section" of the site contains exciting activities to help children understand that wise food choices and good eating habits can improve all of their favorite activities. The website includes features such as:
· Online games developed in partnership with Warner Brothers starring the Tazmanian Devil(tm) and other Looney Toons(tm) characters;
· Lists of ways that good food helps kids do the things they most want to do - from swinging on monkey bars to burping loudly;
· Brain exercises with quizzes about the magic of good food;
· Fun food-libs, where kids fill in the blanks to describe wild ways their food helps them;
· Web links to other cool sites;
· Public service ads developed especially for kids to view over the Internet;
· Mechanisms that kick children off the site and prompt them to get up and get moving if they stay on the site for too long.
For more information about the Childhood Obesity Prevention campaign, SmallStep Challenge contest and to learn how kids and adults can get healthy, log onto www.smallstep.gov.
Marvel, and all related characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com
# # #
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.
About ePrize
As the industry leader of interactive promotions, ePrize has developed and managed more than 2,000 campaigns in 36 countries for the world's most recognized brands. ePrize has successfully launched promotions for top advertisers including: Coca-Cola, American Express, Harrah's, General Motors, The Home Depot, Yahoo!, The Gap, Palm, Ford, Northwest Airlines, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Dell and Quicken Loans. ePrize designs and manages powerfully effective programs which create relationships between customers and brands and motivate specific consumer behavior. The company has offices in Detroit, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and London. For more information, visit www.eprize.com.
About Ad Council
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org.
With the help of Scholastic's character "Geronomo Stilton," teachers can access free lesson plans that help students build language and math skills as they learn about health and fitness by logging on to: www.smallstep.gov/kids
AD COUNCIL AND HHS JOIN SCHOLASTIC IN TEACHING HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE HABITS TO STUDENTS NATIONWIDE
New in-school and online materials, featuring the popular literary character Geronimo Stilton(tm), teach kids that Small Steps can make a big difference to good health
SmallStep.gov offers kids the chance to win a visit by Marvel's Spider-Man(tm) to their school
Washington, DC - February 15, 2006 - As part of a year-long campaign to prevent obesity in America's children, The Advertising Council and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have forged a new collaboration with Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, to create "Small Steps," a program designed to teach healthy eating and exercise lessons to America's second through fourth graders. Teachers can access free lesson plans on www.smallstep.gov/kids that help students build language arts and math skills as they learn about health and fitness.
The "Small Steps" program has been provided to more than 115,000 classrooms nationwide and is also available online for teachers to use with their students. The in-school program includes a colorful poster, lesson plans and worksheets all designed to fit within the relevant school curriculum. To make it fun and relevant for kids, the popular literary character, Geronimo Stilton, published by Scholastic, is featured on the materials. The friendly rodent and his family guide students through lessons about eating well, being active, reaching goals and taking small steps to help their own families achieve good health.
"We know that both parents and teachers play an important role in influencing children's eating and exercise habits, which is why we are pleased to help bring the Small Steps program into the classroom," said Steve Palm, Vice President and Group Publisher at Scholastic. "This program provides teachers with teaching tools they need to engage children and inspire them to eat well, be active, and to bring their enthusiasm for healthy habits home to their families."
Also announced this week, the Ad Council and HHS are sponsoring a new contest for kids in partnership with ePrize called SmallStep Challenge, which gives kids ages 6-11 the chance to win a visit from Marvel's Spider-Man. Between February 6 and March 30, kids can log onto www.smallstep.gov to take the SmallStep Challenge and correctly answer a trivia question about healthy eating for a chance to win the grand prize - a visit by Spider-Man to their school. Three schools will be awarded visits by Spider-Man, where he will explain the benefits of healthy eating to the winner's class. In addition to the three grand prizes, the SmallStep Challenge will award weekly prizes, which include a National Basketball Association (NBA) or Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) gift pack and official basketball. Weekly prizewinners will be chosen every Monday starting on February 13 and kids can register to win the gift packs until April 30.
"With more than nine million school-age children overweight, it's important for children to see their role models advocating healthy habits so we can turn these statistics around," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. "This partnership with Marvel's Spider-Man will get the attention of young children and encourage them to learn more about healthy eating and exercise habits. By reinforcing the 'Small Steps' program in classrooms through our work with Scholastic, we are giving childhood obesity a one-two punch in our effort to knock it out completely."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. In addition to the psychological and social issues of stigmatization, overweight children are at far greater risk for numerous health consequences, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases that may reduce the length and quality of their lives.
In November 2005, HHS and the Ad Council launched a comprehensive, multimedia campaign to encourage young children to eat healthy and get active. Under the theme, "Can Your Food Do That?" the campaign aims to help children and their parents make wise food choices and increase physical activity.
Extending the "Small Steps" adult-targeted Obesity Prevention Campaign, which HHS and the Ad Council launched in 2004, the new campaign provides children with meaningful reasons to make better food choices. For example, eating healthy food can help them do the things they already love to do, only better - such as run faster, throw farther, or perform well in school.
"Getting kids interested in healthy eating and smart exercise is paramount to preventing obesity in children," said Ad Council President and CEO Peggy Conlon. "This campaign gets kids involved in making their own healthy food choices by appealing to them in ways that both amuse and motivate them. We are excited to bring the Scholastic in-school program, Spider-Man contest and other campaign components to kids, their parents and teachers."
The SmallStep Challenge, developed in partnership with the interactive promotions agency ePrize, is part of a fun and interactive website located at www.smallstep.gov, which is also available in Spanish. The "kid section" of the site contains exciting activities to help children understand that wise food choices and good eating habits can improve all of their favorite activities. The website includes features such as:
· Online games developed in partnership with Warner Brothers starring the Tazmanian Devil(tm) and other Looney Toons(tm) characters;
· Lists of ways that good food helps kids do the things they most want to do - from swinging on monkey bars to burping loudly;
· Brain exercises with quizzes about the magic of good food;
· Fun food-libs, where kids fill in the blanks to describe wild ways their food helps them;
· Web links to other cool sites;
· Public service ads developed especially for kids to view over the Internet;
· Mechanisms that kick children off the site and prompt them to get up and get moving if they stay on the site for too long.
For more information about the Childhood Obesity Prevention campaign, SmallStep Challenge contest and to learn how kids and adults can get healthy, log onto www.smallstep.gov.
Marvel, and all related characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com
# # #
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.
About ePrize
As the industry leader of interactive promotions, ePrize has developed and managed more than 2,000 campaigns in 36 countries for the world's most recognized brands. ePrize has successfully launched promotions for top advertisers including: Coca-Cola, American Express, Harrah's, General Motors, The Home Depot, Yahoo!, The Gap, Palm, Ford, Northwest Airlines, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Dell and Quicken Loans. ePrize designs and manages powerfully effective programs which create relationships between customers and brands and motivate specific consumer behavior. The company has offices in Detroit, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and London. For more information, visit www.eprize.com.
About Ad Council
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org.