Non-Fiction Reading Website- with leveled text!

It's conference time!  I have been meeting with parents and giving them all the good news (and a few friendly reminders), but I've had a six hour break in between my morning conferences and my evening conferences so I've been busying myself with catching up with the internet.  I've also been home twice to switch my laundry.  Everyone here thinks I'm some kind of crazy laundry lady now.  Then I had 212 unread teacher blog posts on Bloglovin'.  No joke.  After I read 212 blog posts (no I didn't), I hopped over to my email and I came across the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Is sliced bread that amazing?  Sometimes I slice my own bread and I find it to be no big deal.

Regardless, I found the greatest website.

Sometimes I like to use {ReadWorks} passages for my guided reading groups because I can locate passages by Lexile level and use them for when I ability group my students.  It's pretty nice and it's totally free.  But that's not the website I'm talking about.

Today I was reading an article from {Sophia.org} that I found {here} and it led me to this little internet gem.  If you haven't come across {Sophia} yet, you should definitely check it out.  It's another one of my favorite internet discoveries.

dah-dah-DAHHHH.  Newsela. 

 I had never heard of it before.  It is awesome- especially if you teach upper elementary or middle school students.  It takes current event (non-fiction!!!) news articles and offers them at different Lexile levels.

It reads just like a news website.  You can click on the area of interest at the top and it will take you to current event articles.  Some articles have anchor standards already on them.  If you hover over the number by the anchor it will tell you what standard that article will help to teach.  

THEN you can click on the chosen Lexile level on the right.  They range from 4th-8th grade level.  The anchor articles also have quiz questions to go with them.  The Lexile level you choose will adjust the quiz questions that are presented.  I put an example below so that you can see the difference between a 4th grade question and an 8th grade question for the same article.  

It's pretty cool because once you create an account, you have access to a classroom code.  You can assign students readings to do and have them take the quiz at home.  Or you can do it together in class, or click on the handy-dandy print button and make copies for guided reading small groups.  

I became the happiest teacher.  I love when I find high interest non-fiction for my students that can be leveled and is FREE.  Free things are my favorite.

I have another non-fiction website that I like, so stay tuned.  It might be a few days because my sister gets married this weekend and if I'm blogging when I should be dancing, then we have a serious problem.  

            

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