Have you heard of NewsELA? Probably so. I love love love this website! An area my students have difficulty with is nonfiction text. Unfortunately, I do not have the NewsELA Pro which gives you unlimited access to all the features on the site, but I am able to assign students different articles on their levels, see class-view results and see their scores on their iPads. NewsELA is a free account for teachers and students. With NewsPro, you can schedule a conference to receive quotes for your class, grade level, school and group of schools.
Students tend to have difficulty with this genre of text because it's real information, a lot of words and include information they may not be interested in. But NewsELA makes the content a bit more fun to read and learn. The passages are geared to different grade levels which makes it a lot easier to differentiate among your students as well. This helps you gain data about your students reading comprehension and abilities. That has to be one of the greatest features of the site. While students read the articles, they are able to complete short responses and a quiz when they're finished.
Students tend to have difficulty with this genre of text because it's real information, a lot of words and include information they may not be interested in. But NewsELA makes the content a bit more fun to read and learn. The passages are geared to different grade levels which makes it a lot easier to differentiate among your students as well. This helps you gain data about your students reading comprehension and abilities. That has to be one of the greatest features of the site. While students read the articles, they are able to complete short responses and a quiz when they're finished.
My students in particular enjoy this site because they are able to use their iPads and read articles independently. We just finished our Wolves unit, which they enjoyed, that allowed them to read different nonfiction articles on wolf species, issues about wolf populations and hunting. I even had fun just assigning these assignments for my students. You can assign different assignments ranging from issues about homework, using Facebook, the President and our government, healthy eating, etc.
Not only does NewsELA allow my students to read intriguing articles but it allows them to read them online. Several of my students do not have internet access, better yet computer access in their homes. So, I wouldn't assign any of these articles as homework, of course. But it gives my students the ability to learn about up and coming technology that is used world wide.
Click the picture below to be directed to the NEWSELA website.
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