Community reviews for Newsela

As a teacher librarian, this is an amazing source for "Current Events". There are usually quizzes that go along with the articles and they can see the article while taking the quiz. Most articles come with many different Lexile levels. The Lexile levels only go from 3rd grade to 12th grade. I would love if the levels went down to 2nd grade for my students with lower reading skills.

Critical reading of non-fiction text is a huge emphasis of Common Core. This website allows for differentiation of lexile levels so that ALL students can actually comprehend the material. Teachers like giving students choice in their lexile level. It allows them to take ownership of their reading.

I like the fact that students have easy access to a news site that is ad free, void of a comments section, and has the option to tailor reading level. Too often a great article will appear on a general news site, but is unsharable in its original format due to the inappropriate language and content of the visitor comments. On the flip side, it would be nice for students to have an opportunity to practice leaving and interacting with thoughtful, intelligent, and appropriate comments (similar to DogoNews). The content covers a wide variety of topics, meeting the needs of both classroom curriculum and student interest. New articles are added on a regular basis, making it possible to use Newsela as part of a regularly occurring assignment. Visitors may view up to 5 stories before the site requires login. Basic accounts are free to both teacher and student. Google Apps for Education schools will appreciate the ability to "Sign in with Google", facilitating the login process. New PRO accounts are required for most classroom management and monitoring features.