9 Ways To Use Newsela With Your Students

OK, I have to admit that I'm becoming a huge Newsela fan. Here's why. It really works for my students. Newsela is a free database of free high quality non-fiction books for my students from a variety of sources. Newsela collects news articles from a variety of trusted sources including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, and more than a hundred others. Even better, each article can be customized for five different reading levels.

You can print articles or have your students read them online, where they can annotate along the way. You can also assign built-in comprehension tests or writing assignments.

All these features are free for all teacher users. Schools can also subscribe to additional content, including more than 20 types of information text to support teaching throughout the curriculum. Learn more about Newsela's paid options here. It's pretty easy to assign Newsela articles and activities in Google Classroom so you can use them as homework or class activities. I got it quickly. The site also works with other learning management systems such as Schoology, Classlink, and Canvas. Find out if your LMS works with Newsela here.

Newsela content includes documents and primary sources for ELA, social studies, and science. There are also breaking news and current events sections and even a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) collection. Here are some ways to use Newsela with your students:

1. Try the See, Think, Wonder method

Reading is more than just understanding. Good readers reflect on what they read, reflect on the content, and make their own connections. The See, Think, Wonder method helps students go deeper while reading and it works perfectly with Newsela articles. Learn more about See, Think, Wonder from The Reading Roundup.

2. Notice and Notice

Notice and Note is another way to approach close reading with news articles. Start reading articles as a group and filling out the organizer together. Then use Notice and Note to assign students articles to read on their own. BetterLesson has more on this method as well as a free printable organizer.

3. Make an article of the week

Work on close reading skills by choosing a new article to focus on each week. Spend time with the article in a different way each day and teach students to carefully read and analyze the content. Learn more about using an AdVenturas Article of the Week in Fourth.

4. Add supporting evidence to opinion pieces

Opinion writing can be a touchy subject, but teaching students how to back up their opinions with reliable evidence is more important than ever. Newsela's PRO/CON articles are a great way to help students discuss a topic and find the evidence they need when writing their opinion pieces. Learn more at Performing in Education.

5. Research background information for reading fiction

Close reading in fiction often means learning more about the time, place, or themes of a novel or short story. Newsela can help provide this information with their paired text sets, which match general fiction books with articles on current events. Students can use the annotation tools or a graphical organizer to record their finds. Find out more at BetterLesson.

6. Make a vocabulary list

Newsela's Core Subjects products (one of their paid subscription services) include Power Words that are automatically highlighted in each article according to reading level. Teachers can use these to create vocabulary lists. If you use the free version of Newsela, find your own vocabulary lists with a tool like VocabGrabber. Simply adapt your Newsela article to the appropriate reading level, copy and paste the text into VocabGrabber to get suggested words for your list. Speech Time Fun has more on how to use this cool tool.

7. Take Newsela on a quick date

Reading Speed ​​Dating is all about exchanging facts and opinions with other readers. Students prepare for this discussion strategy by reading and commenting on a news article. They then meet up with another student for a quick one-on-one, sharing what they've learned and asking questions about the topic. Visit BetterLesson for more information on the speed dating discussion strategy.

8. Combine Newsela with Pear Deck

If you're already using Pear Deck in your classroom, don't miss Newsela Daily Decks! Every school week they send you five new decks, one for each day. Ready to use right out of the box, they include interactive prompts to help engage and engage every student. Learn more about these Daily Decks from Pear Deck.

9. Give reports on current events

Since Newsela's articles are updated daily, they are ideal for keeping up to date with current events. Assign a different student to provide a current affairs report each day, or have each student provide a report each week or month. You can buy printable templates for them from Literacy in Focus or create your own.

How do you use Newsela with your students? Share your ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus 24 of the best journals for kids to add to your classroom library.

By: 9 Ways To Use Newsela With Your Students