Tired of not having enough nonfiction selections for your
class? Trying to teach comprehension
using articles? Upset about not finding
enough on your class’ diverse lexile ranges?
Are you sick of foraging through the library for nothing but outdated
nonfiction books? You can relax
now. Newsela.com is a new website that
seems like it was made with exactly these concerns in mind!
The mindboggling selection was the
first thing I noticed when I stumbled upon newsela. The articles are broken down in seven
subsections ranging from articles about money, to articles about sports, and
even one that keeps the class updated on current events. If our students are interested in it newsela.com has articles about it.
“Yeah but are they reading in their
lexile ranges?” Sound familiar? I’m sure you’ve heard it once or twice at
least as an English teacher but now we have the power to CHANGE the article’s lexile level.
Yeah, you heard that right! Each
article comes with a slide bar that allows the reader to seamlessly transition
from as high as 1250L to as low as 700L.
The final benefit of newsela.com is
the ability to sign your classes up.
(For free I might add, so nobody will make you feel bad about filling
out a purchase order.) After signing each
class up you have the ability to assign articles to your classes. When they login to the website they will have
an online folder with anything you have assigned to the class. Still not sold? Then maybe the fact that most articles come
with a comprehension quiz will get you interested. If nothing else newsela.com could be just one
more tool in your tool belt.
Happy reading,
Adam Hopkins (AMS)(PPRD)
