Weekly Reader is a weekly education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

al classroom magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 designed for children in grades Pre-K–12. It began in 1928 as My Weekly Reader.

In 2007, Weekly Reader Corporation became part of The Reader's Digest Association

The Reader's Digest Association

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest...

, based in Chappaqua, New York. Weekly Readers main office was relocated from Stamford

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, to Chappaqua at the end of May 2007. Editions cover curriculum themes in the younger grade levels and news-based, current events and curriculum themed-issues in older grade levels. The publishing company also creates workbooks, literacy centers, and picture books for younger grades.

History

Formerly My Weekly Reader, the Weekly Reader is a weekly newspaper for elementary school children. It was first published by the American Education Press of Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, which had been founded by Charles Palmer Davis in 1902 to publish Current Events, a paper for secondary school children. The first issue of My Weekly Reader appeared on September 21, 1928.

The first editor was Martha Fulton, who had been hired that summer by Preston Davis, the major owner of the Press, and Harrison Sayre, who became managing editor. Sayre, also the editor of World News, a paper for high school students, had been urged to start a paper for grade schools by teachers he had met in June 1928, while on a sales trip in Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. Martha Fulton, who was a friend of Sayre's wife, Mary, and a graduate of Wells College, enjoyed travel and adventure. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, she had been an American Red Cross

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

 worker in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. She also had "a remarkable rapport with children and had lively interests in every direction." The lead article was about the boyhoods of Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

 and Al Smith

Al Smith

Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...

. There were two shorter articles, Wings for Safety, about street crossing guards, and "Sky Medicine", which was about the healthful qualities of the sun. The most popular was a letter from Uncle Ben about a ride in a German glider on Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

. Fulton wrote all these articles. Her sister Peg was the first artist, though soon replaced by her friend Mary Sherwood Wright. Beginning with the third issue, Eleanor Johnson, director of elementary schools in York, Pennsylvania

York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...

, designed tests for the back page.

My Weekly Reader was an instant success. By December, circulation was 99,000. In 1929, a second edition was started for younger children, and their combined circulation was 376,000. By 1931, there were four editions, with a combined circulation of 1,099,000.

The secrets of its early success were the timely news articles that had a children's angle and the Uncle Ben letters describing new inventions and discoveries that excited children's imaginations. For example, the second issue's lead article, "A Village Moves to the South Pole", was about Admiral Byrd’s 75-man expedition, their sled dogs, and Paul Siple, a Boy Scout who was with him. Uncle Ben wrote about planned "Seadromes," floating airports that airplanes could use to hop across the Atlantic. The third issue, published on October 5, 1928, began with “How Mother Nature Prepares for Winter.” Uncle Ben saw his first radio television set, even though the paper itself had yet to print even a photograph—illustrations having been drawings. On October 12, he wrote about Zeppelins, and the first photographs appeared. They depicted "Mr. and Mrs. Hoover" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Grandchildren."

Harrison Sayre, who became president of the American Education Press while remaining managing editor of My Weekly Reader, gave Martha Fulton the major credit for the newspaper's popularity. In his memoirs, Sayre quoted Gertrude Wolff, another editor who shared an office with Fulton: "As I had had some editorial experience, she at times sought my advice on minor details, but the conception and execution of those first issues were hers alone. With her imagination, enthusiasm, intuitive understanding of a child's world, she sensed what would appeal to her young readers. Her very personal stamp on the new publication distinguished the succeeding issues during her years as editor."

As the new editions for upper and lower grades were added, Fulton remained the principal writer, even after her marriage in 1930 to Clarence L. Sager—a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 lawyer—and her moves to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Sayre remembered that she wrote for the papers for 12 years, adding that "men of the composing room… testify that with her square, legible, longhand copy, she never missed a deadline."

Other people who were important to the newspaper's early years were Laura E. Zirbes, a reading expert at the Ohio State University laboratory school, and Dr. Charles H. Judd of the University of Chicago, who introduced Sayre to Dr. William S. Gray, who in turn supplied Fulton with graded vocabulary lists. In 1930, Eleanor Johnson moved from York to Lakewood, Ohio

Lakewood, Ohio

Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders the city of Cleveland. The population was 52,131 at the 2010 making it the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland and Parma .Lakewood, one of Cleveland's...

, where she was assistant superintendent of schools until 1934, when she moved to Columbus and later became a managing editor.

In 1934, a fifth edition was added for the fifth and sixth grades. The price was twenty cents per semester. Circulations continued to rise, passing two million in 1942. Many people still fondly remember the papers they read as children and how they looked forward to Friday afternoons when their teachers handed out the latest ones.

In 1949, the American Education Press was sold to Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 and became American Education Publications, a division of the Wesleyan University Press. Editorial offices were moved to Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

, but printing continued to be done in Columbus, Ohio. There were then six editions, one for each elementary grade, with a total circulation of 4,269,000. Total circulation of AEP papers was 5,605,000. In 1965, Wesleyan sold American Education Publications to the Xerox Corporation

Xerox

Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

. By then, there was also a kindergarten edition. Eleanor Johnson was editor-in-chief of all editions. In later years, there were other owners, including the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company , based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, is the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S. . RJR is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc...

 and Field Publications. The Weekly Reader is now owned by the Readers Digest Association.

A pre-kindergarten

Pre-Kindergarten

Pre-kindergarten refers to the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends in the United States. It begins between the ages of 3-5 depending on the length of the program...

 edition was added in 1980. There are also curriculum-specific magazines for middle and high school students, including areas such as health, science, careers, reading, and writing.

Weekly Reader Publishing

Weekly Reader Publishing

Weekly Reader Publishing is a publisher of educational materials in the United States that has been in existence for over 100 years. It provides teaching materials to elementary and secondary schools that are used by more than 90 percent of that country's school districts.The company’s flagship...

, which began with the publication of the first Current Events on May 20, 1902, celebrated its 100th birthday in 2002.

At various times through its publishing history, the magazine has been known as My Weekly Reader. The My has come and gone over the more than 80 years that the publication has been available in schools. For the past ten years, at least, it has been simply, 'Weekly Reader.'

Polls

One of the best-known events in the magazine's history is its quadrennial "Weekly Reader Student Presidential Election Poll". The poll is an educational exercise in which Weekly Reader-subscribing teachers conduct mock elections to find their students' preference for president. Teachers tabulate the results, then send them to Weekly Reader. (Since the 2000, the surveys have been developed with, and tabulated by, the Zogby International polling organization). This survey of students in grades K through 12 began in 1956, when readers chose Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson.

The poll has now been conducted 14 times, most recently in 2008, and the students have voted for the person who became president 13 out of 14 times; the exception was in 1992, when George H.W. Bush garnered more votes than Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. Third-party candidate Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...

, whose presence on the national ballot was important during the actual election, was not on the Weekly Reader ballot that year.

Read

In 2005, Weekly Reader Publishing's literary magazine, Read, launched Word, a blog which features student writing and other literary news. It also offers interactive opportunities for reading and writing, including its "What's Your Story?" program, which features "The Weekly Writer", where students can help authors such as Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 and R. L. Stine

R. L. Stine

Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The...

finish an original story. Read magazine has pioneered "electronic issues" around literary themes, including Canterbury Tales, William Shakespeare, and Edgar Allan Poe; these interactive websites incorporate video and film, music and sound effects, rap renditions and flash animation. In the 2009-2010 school year, the company extended these "e-issues" to four other Weekly Reader publications, including Weekly Reader editions 3 and Senior (4-6 grades), Current Events and Current Science magazines.