NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As teachers make plans for Black History Month in their classrooms in February, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) has built a robust set of free resources available on Scholastic.com to help teach students about the African American experience. Educators have access to lesson plans, student activities and plenty of content to teach a wide range of topics from the stories of the Underground Railroad and Ruby Bridges to the books that inspire today's African American leaders. These resources are a great way for teachers to dive deeper into content and help kids learn about African American history not only in February but throughout the school year.

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As teachers increasingly turn to the web for free tools and content to use in the classroom, Scholastic has continued to build out its website for teachers on Scholastic.com with more than 100,000 pages of free content and resources. For Black History Month:

• A Scholastic.com "Everything You Need" package for the classroom includes ideas for student activities, videos, teaching strategies for teachers, and articles about the iconic figures whose stories are part of the African American experience.
• A package of lessons and activities offers insight into Rosa Parks' life. Students can read about the famous day when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, the  successful boycott of the Montgomery, AL, city bus system, and the eventual Supreme Court ruling against segregation.
• Students will learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his nonviolent struggle for civil rights through photos and by creating a timeline. With the "Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline," students can sequence the important events in the Civil Rights Movement and the life of Dr. King.  
• A classroom unit called "Integrating Central High: The Melba Pattillo Story" provides tools and activities to help students relive Melba's historic experience integrating Central High in Little Rock, AK. Students can even write about how they would feel in her situation and publish it on Scholastic.com.
• An Underground Railroad online activity follows a runaway slave as he takes a terrifying journey from slavery to freedom. Each of the four "stops" on this journey explores a different curriculum theme in American History.
• Teaching ideas from Scholastic.com teacher blogger Ruth Manna explore the true story of Ruby Bridges, a hero of the civil rights movement. Six-year-old Ruby was the first black student to integrate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans in 1960. Year after year, her story of courage inspires students of all ages.
• In a collection of videos and articles from the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps, kid reporters conduct interviews with today's African American leaders from government, business, sports and entertainment.
• The You Are What You Read site for kids highlights the books that shaped the lives of prominent African American "mentor readers," including Ruby Bridges, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Whoopi Goldberg, Holly Robinson Peete,  Kevin Durant and many more.

"Black History Month is an important topic addressed in thousands of classrooms across the country every year, and it's a time when teachers across many grade levels and content areas are searching for engaging activities and reliable content for instruction," said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. "We're excited about the free resources we're offering for Black History Month this year, and hope teachers will find them useful in their classrooms."

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Francie Alexander
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SOURCE Scholastic