Today I am sharing with you one of my great frustrations about 5th grade…the lack of resources. We are a curriculum-free school for reading and writing, so in August I walked into a resource-empty classroom. It has taken me months to find my ‘go-to’ websites, apps, and databases that are rigorous enough (i.e. long enough, with a 800-1000 Lexile Level) and interesting for my students. Without further ado, here are my 3 favorite websites for finding nonfiction articles that are (1) appropriate (2) rigorous and (3) interesting.
The first resource my kids LOVE is NewsELA. News ELA is a website that offers free news articles for teachers and students. With hundreds of articles {updated weekly}, articles on War & Peace, Science, Kids, Money, Law, Health, and Arts are all featured. With an account, you can view the articles online or print them out.
What do I love about NewsELA?
- Every article is available in 4-5 different Lexile Levels that you choose using the blue menu to the right on each article!!!! Regardless of the level, the students are reading the same article just at their just-right reading level! Talk about differentiating!
- Articles marked with an anchor have Common Core aligned quizzes. Each quiz is aligned to a certain ‘anchor standard’. As students take the quizzes, your Teacher Binder automatically updates with the level of quiz students took and their score on the Common Core standard assessed.
- On a computer, students have the option to highlight portions of the text! On their second read of an article, I ask students to highlight the main ideas in one color and the supporting details in a second color. As a teacher, I can see what they highlight on my dashboard. Since main idea is something we always need more practice with, this is a great informal assessment!
ThinkCERCA is the 2nd resource I now pull articles from and is very similar to NewsELA. It has a different mix of nonfiction articles and three particularly awesome features. - An audio feature that reads each article aloud to students. This is such a luxury and a perfect feature for students who receive a reader. Plus, it allows students access to an article they might not be comfortable reading independently during literacy centers (when there is no reader available)!
- Teachers also have the option to input their own “Extended Response/Short Answer” questions. These constructed response questions appear on students’ screens (iPad, moblie device, or computer), and students are given a space to respond. Student responses then appear on your Teacher Dashboard.
- Additionally, ThinkCERCA has an embedded dictionary within each article. This dictionary allows students to click on a highlighted word, hear it read aloud, and see a definition for the word. Nonfiction articles are more likely to contain content-specific vocabulary that many students struggle with, and this feature helps students gain independence and confidence while reading!
Last, but definitely not least, is ReadWorks. ReadWorks is a tried and true gem hosting fiction and nonfiction articles that center on a specific reading skill. With a ridiculous search browser, you can sort articles by keyword, Lexile Level, Domain, and Reading Skill!!!!
- ReadWorks trusts the teacher and allows the searcher to hone their survey to a specific reading skills. Point of view, cause and effect, inference, plot, main idea, vocabulary in context – these are just a few of the dozens of skills they have articles to target!
- Each article is between 3/4’s of a page and 2ish pages in length making the articles readable, analyzable-able, and discuss-able (sure, it’s a word ;)) within my 55 minute reading block!
- ReadWorks does not stop by providing single reading passages, they have also created Common Core aligned skills units that include novels to reference, teaching sequences, lesson plans, and assessments….all for FREE {no strings attached}. My favorite units are the paired text units for 5th and 6th grade. Pairing texts helps me meet with “comparing” verbage of the Common Core and teaches students they have to analyze and integrate the information their reading! Love. It.
Wow! What do you think? I hope you learned about a new resource or were encouraged to start using a resource you long-ago created a username for. 😉 So, now tell me, what are your go-to resources for finding articles to read in class?? Please share them. I am *always* looking for places to find articles! For other FREE classroom resources and freebies, sign-up here for teaching ideas to land in your inbox each month.
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Em Hutchison says
March 9, 2014 at 3:11 pmHi! Great post. Some really good resources here! Thank you! Do you think there are sites like that for the lower grades (first??) I will need to do some research on that. Thanks so much for the information 🙂
Em
Curious Firsties
Kate says
March 9, 2014 at 11:35 pmHey Em! Off hand I cannot not think of any, but if I come across some I'll definitely pass them along to you. ThinkCERCA and NewsELA would definitel not work for you, but ReadWorks should. They are awesome resources for ALL grades and skills. 🙂
Kristen says
March 9, 2014 at 3:27 pmOh my goodness Catherine!!! We are still so into Newsela in our class, thanks to you, and now you share two other incredible sites! I can't thank you enough–I'm signing up for both right now!!
Kate says
March 9, 2014 at 11:34 pmThat's awesome, Kristen! My kids love NewsELA, too. Plus, we've be testing out some new features, and they are AWESOME. I personally like the articles on NewsELA better (they are more current events based and a little more appeal to my kids), but ThinkCERA has some awesome bells and whistles (audio, dictionary, extended response). 🙂
Karen Greenberg says
March 9, 2014 at 4:12 pmI LOVE NewsELA.com and ReadWorks.org, but I have never heard of ThinkCera. Thank you for a new resource! I am on the curriculum team for my district, and we are starting to rework curriculum maps for next year, so this was perfect timing!
Kate says
March 9, 2014 at 11:32 pmYay! I am so glad to hear that Karen. I am ALWAYS look for new ELA websites. 🙂 I hope the planning goes well!
Miss Lifesaver says
March 9, 2014 at 4:46 pmThinkCERCA was a new one to me and is now bookmarked. Thanks for sharing!!
Heather says
March 9, 2014 at 7:38 pmThis is awesome – thanks so much! ReadWorks was the only one that I had heard of. I can't wait to look at the other websites more closely. 🙂
~Heather
Loose Shoelaces
Kristy @ 2peasandadog says
March 9, 2014 at 8:45 pmI am always looking for really good non-fiction articles. Thank you for finding and compiling these for us. Kristy @
The Colorful Apple says
March 9, 2014 at 9:04 pmI love using NewsELA in my classroom! I also use ReadWorks quite a bit, but I've never heard of Thinkcerca before. I'll have to check it out! It can be difficult to find non-fiction articles that meet all of the requirements.
Sara 🙂
The Colorful Apple
Kim says
March 9, 2014 at 10:01 pmI always learn something new every time I visit your blog! Thanks for sharing the sites… I have been using NewsELA, but the other two are new to me.
Thanks for your Bright Ideas, and for being such a helpful stop on the Hop!
🙂
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
Kate says
March 9, 2014 at 11:31 pmYou've made my day, Kim! It makes my heart happy that you found a new resource. I hope they making planning just a little bit easier! 🙂
Ms. Chrissy B says
March 9, 2014 at 11:00 pmThese are GREAT resources! I've been using ReadWorks, but I've never used the other two. I'm so excited to share them with my teachers!
Buzzing with Ms. B
It Happened One Day in 2nd Grade says
March 9, 2014 at 11:09 pmThis is a great resource. Thanks!
Wendy says
March 10, 2014 at 12:38 amI have use ReadWorks weekly but have never used the others. I am so excited to find some great resources! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Wendy
One Happy Teacher
Leanna says
March 10, 2014 at 3:17 amHeard about your blog from Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files. AMAZING resource 🙂 I love readworks. Definitely following you now!
Your new follower,
Leanna
A Little of LiLi
lilismilee.blogspot.com
Kate says
April 5, 2014 at 10:06 pmHi Leanna! That's awesome. Thank you so much for stopping by. 🙂 -Catherine
Mrs. Smith's Classroom says
April 6, 2014 at 9:00 pmThis post is awesome! I was just struggling with exactly this issue on Friday. Thanks so much for posting 🙂
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Jenahlee Chamberlain says
April 8, 2014 at 1:45 amThanks for sharing! As a teacher librarian I am always looking for reliable sites to use with my students and share with my teachers. Another site I really enjoy is http://wonderopolis.org/ User vote on all types of things that people are wondering about and then they answer the questions through articles, videos and images. All sorts of topics with tons of high interest for students. The Educator Sandbox also has resources for teachers as well! Check it out!
jlbrowne says
June 13, 2014 at 7:46 pmI love dogonews.com for current events nonfiction news! My students beg me to read them! They can use the ipad to read the article and I sometimes have them do context clues work with them, also. They can read the article and then there are blue words they can determine the meaning and then click on the word to check. I also have a bulletin board of these articles and I update them so my students can grab them for our nonfiction silent reading time!!
jlbrowne says
June 13, 2014 at 7:48 pmI love dogonews.com for current events nonfiction news! My students beg me to read them! They can use the ipad to read the article and I sometimes have them do context clues work with them, also. They can read the article and then there are blue words they can determine the meaning and then click on the word to check. I also have a bulletin board of these articles and I update them so my students can grab them for our nonfiction silent reading time!!
lmga says
June 21, 2014 at 4:52 amThanks for the information. I use k12reader.com sometimes, too. You might find some things you like there as well.
Amber Podobnik says
November 25, 2014 at 1:41 amRead, Write, Think is an awesome resource.
Mrs. Mata says
December 31, 2014 at 4:53 pmThank you for the amazing FREE resources. Here's another really great one I've used over the years: https://student.societyforscience.org/sciencenews-students
Happy New Year!!
jtabeek says
November 9, 2015 at 5:01 amHere's a great addition to your list!
http://www.readtennessee.org/read.aspx