App review by Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Education | Updated September 2016
News-2-You

News-2-You

Draw kids into weekly news with powerful symbols and voice narration

Learning rating
See full review
Community rating
Based on 2 reviews
Privacy rating
62%| Warning Expert evaluation by Common Sense
Grades
2–6
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Social Studies
Great for
Instructional Design, Differentiation, Special Needs, Media Literacy, Evaluating Media
Price:  $199.68 per year
Platforms:  iPad
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Take a look inside

5 images
Symbols transform current events and interesting topics into kid-friendly news.
Activities that accompany each issue include themed recipes, jokes, games, and more.
Jokes with symbols stretch students to think differently about meanings and to laugh.
Many settings help customize the experience for each user.
Different reading levels vary in amount and complexity of text.

Pros: Easy-to-understand symbols and voice options maximize accessibility.

Cons: Some article content, such as that about recent movies, has a limited shelf life.

Bottom Line: Students can expand literacy skills, learn about the world, and get involved with discussion questions and activities.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Students can read the News-2-You stories alone, with their own unique voice, reading preferences, and literacy level set to their individual user account. Or teachers can read them to the entire class, repeating words, phrases, or main ideas that may be new or difficult. Discuss the articles together afterward, or allow students to work through the supplemental materials such as jokes and questions individually, according to what interests them.

The recipes can be a great idea for a classroom-wide activity, and the jokes (along with their symbolic explanations) can help spark discussions about double meanings in words and other quirks in the English language that may be difficult for some kids to conceptualize. Sudoku and other puzzles are also good individual, quiet-time classroom activities for students.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

News-2-You is a symbols-based newspaper for special-needs students available as an iPad app or on the web. Teachers might also opt to project content for whole-class instruction. News-2-You incorporates the symbols system SymbolStix (also used in the augmentative and alternative communication app Proloquo2Go), along with audio voice narration. A new edition arrives in the online library for every week of the typical U.S. school year, and it covers popular current events topics such as movies, sports, holidays, and environmental issues, many of which are aligned with Common Core standards. In addition to the articles, you'll find recipes, jokes, games, puzzles, related comprehension questions, and more. An annual license costs $199.68. With that license, teachers can download, print, and distribute copies of content.

Once you've downloaded an edition to an iPad, the first page appears with a headline and an article in symbols and words. Tap the headline and see the words highlighted and underlined as they're spoken, or press the Play tab at the bottom of the screen, and the entire page plays automatically. Tap on the right arrow to move to the next page, and so on. A list icon connects users to all options in that edition. Tap on one, and the app flips to that page. Teachers can customize News-2-You for each student, changing the voice to male or female, making it slower, faster, higher, or deeper. There are four reading levels from Simplified to Advanced.

News-2-You is a remarkable way to help kids with special needs expand literacy skills, learn about the world, and get involved in the topics with discussion questions and activities. Along with Proloquo2Go, it forms a powerhouse combo that can help all kids develop comprehension skills and express themselves. 

Social studies, current events, and other newsy tidbits are brought to life for beginning readers and students with special needs. The symbols-based and voice-supported articles allow you to make adjustments to fit a student's unique needs. Since most kids love categorizing and organizing, this symbol system provides structure and predictability to words and ideas presented in the news stories. News-2-You may seem pricey, but its content is substantial and fun. This one-of-a-kind, accessible, useful resource may also be helpful for kids who don't like reading about current events but love symbol systems.

Overall Rating
Engagement

The symbols system (the same one used in the augmentative and alternative communication app Proloquo2Go) helps make learning about news fun for most kids.

Pedagogy

As students complete the extension activities and answer discussion questions, they gain cultural awareness and deepen their understanding of each kid-friendly topic. 

Support

Great extension activities and customizable voice settings help students learn at their own pace, in their own way. The app succeeds in making news accessible and enjoyable for students with learning differences.

Common Sense reviewer
Mieke VanderBorght Researcher
See how we rate and review

Key Standards Supported

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.2.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.2.3c

    Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

  • RF.2.3d

    Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

  • RF.2.3f

    Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

  • RF.3.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.3.3c

    Decode multisyllable words.

  • RF.3.3d

    Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

  • RF.4.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.5.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.2.10

    By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

  • RI.3.10

    By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

  • RI.4.10

    By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

  • RI.5.10

    By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4–5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

  • RI.6.10

    By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

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Community Rating

(See all 2 reviews) (2 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Connelly M. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary School
Essex, United States
When A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
I truly appreciate this application's practicality and constructive use in the classroom. This is an excellent tool for teachers to use to introduce reading analysis and comprehension to any student who struggles in areas of decoding or understanding when reading texts. News-2-You helps me as a teacher better serve their needs in the classroom by giving them a chance to visually dissect images that tell the same narrative story with the same content as a written article would. In this way, my students ( ...
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Data Safety
How safe is this product?
Users can interact with trusted users and/or students.
Unclear whether this product displays personal information publicly.
Unclear whether user-created content is filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.
Data Rights
What rights do I have to the data?
Unclear whether users can create or upload content.
Processes to access and review user data are available.
Processes to modify inaccurate data are available.
Ads & Tracking
Are there advertisements or tracking?
Unclear whether data are shared for third-party advertising and/or marketing.
Traditional or contextual advertisements are not displayed.
Behavioral or targeted advertising is not displayed.

Continue reading about this tool's privacy practices, including data collection, sharing, and security.

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