ELA in a Digital Age: Online Text Sources

Check out this collection of Online Informational Text Source I have put together.  Some offer leveled text and others do not.  All are targeting students as their audience.

Consider subscribing to Tween Tribune as a teacher and setting up student accounts.  It is a “a free online educational service offered by the Smithsonian for use by K-12 grade Teachers and students. TTribune consists of daily news sites for kids, tweens, and teens, and includes text, photos, graphics, and audio and/or video materials prepared by the Smithsonian and others about current events, history, art, culture and science.”   When you set up your students, you enter their lexile level, so that they receive content at their level.  Awesome!

Give it a try using one of my sample student accounts:

User Name	Password	Lexile Level
primary-sch	cherry8677	500
intermediate-sch	kiwi7164	830
middle-sch	apple4989	1050
highschool-sch	mango0661	1200

Once logged in,

1. Check your assignment dashboard.

2. Read the assigned article(s).

3. Take the quiz and answer the critical thinking question for each assigned article.

4. Review your assignment dashboard and complete any outstanding work.

From the teacher end, quite easy to manage.  Can’t wait to see what data I get. It might get messy with many of you using the same log in, but give it a look.

       

Another interesting site for upper Elementary and Middle level teachers is Common Lit.  It is created by teachers for teachers.  Teachers identify texts that will engage students and are good for discussion. The articles are sorted by Lexile levels and text complexity and also by theme.  It is FREE!  It is a great site to check out and use to help students read, form opinions and discuss topics and themes of interest.

Other sites to Check out (if you aren’t already):

Readworks ~ this site provides text and reading passages at different levels for different themes, topics, and reading skills.

Myvocabulary ~ a great vocabulary resource for all subjects and skills.  Give it a look!

Wonderopolis ~ one of my favorite text based sites, for all ages.  Check out the Wonder of the Day and all the wonders …..

Readtheory ~ a free web tool that determines student’s individual reading level and then gives them reading passages and questions to develop reading and comprehension skills

Actively Learn ~ a website that connects, reading, higher level thinking, discussion, assessment, annotating text, and more into one web tool.  Geared to middle and high school grades.  

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Resources used for this post:

Ebener, Sarah. "Using Engaging Informational Articles in the English Classroom and Beyond." Straight Outta Kemper. N.p., 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2015. <https://ebenerblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/using-engaging-informational-articles-in-the-english-classroom-and-beyond/>.

Tucker, Catlin. "3 Websites Where You Can Find Complex Informational Text." Blended Learning & Technology in the Classroom. N.p., 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2015. <http://catlintucker.com/page/3/>.