Review by Andrea Meyers, Common Sense Education | Updated April 2019
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Time for Kids

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Digital news magazine for kids can drive current events conversation

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
  • Social Studies
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
K–6
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (3 Reviews)
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Price:  Free, Paid Basic site access is free. A subscription is required to receive the print magazine and access online lesson plans and other features. Classroom rates are $4.95 per student for 10-149 students, $4.73 for 150-299 students, and $4.50 for 300-750 students.
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

8 images
The Time for Kids home page features current stories for each age group.
Students can apply to become a Kid Reporter.
Feature articles have three different Lexile levels, a Read Aloud mode, and a Spanish version.
Kid Reporters write short articles on topics of interest such as authors, books, movies, and television.
The whiteboard turns the print magazines into a visual experience.
Each magazine is shown in a full-color spread, which can be displayed on an interactive whiteboard.
An audio bar pops up at the bottom of the screen for Read Aloud.
Teachers can search for articles by topic. Each edition comes with lesson plans, teacher's guides, and quizzes to check for learning.

Pros: Interesting articles from a wide variety of topics. Some stories are written in Spanish, and some have multiple Lexile levels with audio.

Cons: Differentiation is in the early stages and not consistent across content.

Bottom Line: While some articles lack differentiation, and lessons don't always stretch higher-order thinking skills, this site is one of the best options for bringing current events into elementary classrooms.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use the free stories or purchase a class subscription and have access to all the lesson guides and extra materials. Each edition has a theme that teachers can integrate with classroom learning activities, and they can use the current edition or incorporate stories from the archives. Use the lesson plans and teacher guides as provided or to jump-start your own lesson plans. Some stories have online and print quizzes for formative assessments, or you can customize them for your students. Some of the articles have Spanish versions as well as audio and multiple Lexile levels that can be used to support learners with different needs. Design lessons that have students read individually or in groups and have collaborative discussions about the material. Motivated students can apply to the Kid Reporter program.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Time for Kids is a companion site to the Time for Kids magazine. The news stories provide good examples of journalism written (with actual authors, as opposed to some competitors) at appropriate grade levels. Some articles are written by the student Time for Kids Kid Reporters, which engages and inspires students to read and write their own news stories. Articles from the print magazine are grouped based on grade levels: K-1, 2, 3-4, and 5-6. Teachers and students can also sort news stories by topics and search for specific titles. The print magazine is also available in an interactive whiteboard version. The news stories cover topics across the educational content areas and also areas of personal interest such as sports and entertainment. Teachers will find many articles relevant to their lesson plans, and students will find articles that they enjoy reading on their own. The interactive whiteboard version makes it easy to read news stories together while students use the print version or the online articles on a shared or 1:1 mobile device. Each edition comes with lesson guides, plans, and printables that help teachers get started right away. 

The site could be improved by making it easier for teachers and students to find articles written by Time for Kids Reporters in the manner of Scholastic News Kids Press Corps. Also, the suggested learning activities could take steps to move toward the higher-order thinking skills and encourage students to write and record their own news stories. 

Information text reading is a key skill in standards, but it's just as important to teach kids news literacy skills, and foster an interest in legitimate news and reporting. Time for Kids offers a valuable, dynamic platform for both, but with some weaknesses. The reading content is sound and the teacher lesson guides and plans help students get started with reading informational texts. Unfortunately, many of the lessons and activities presume individual work and emphasize lower-order thinking skills. Of course, teachers can expand on the content by introducing collaborative conversations in which students analyze and evaluate the articles and then create their own writing products.

There's also some differentiation, with articles written in Spanish, audio versions, and multiple Lexile levels. This applies only to a few articles in each edition, however. Teachers with English language learners and students above and below grade-level reading abilities will need to take this into consideration when selecting news stories for their lessons. Beyond these limitations, the site's design is attentive to accessibility with good contrast, easy resizing, and captions for each image. 

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Students will like the TFK Kid Reporters articles written by other students their own age. The design is full of quality color images as well as engaging videos that accompany some of the articles.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

The articles support nonfiction reading instruction with timely topics. The lesson plans guide teachers through the themes and offer tips to support student reading and responses.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Teachers can print articles and find extras through the dashboard, including guides, lesson plans, and other materials. Articles are accessible with excellent contrast, and some have adjustable levels, and audio.

Common Sense Reviewer
Andrea Meyers Instructional Facilitator of Technology
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.K.4

    Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.1.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.2.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.2.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.3.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.3.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.4.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.4.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.5.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.5.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.K.7

    With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).

  • RI.K.8

    With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

  • RI.K.10

    Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

  • RI.1.7

    Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

  • RI.1.8

    Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

  • RI.1.10

    With prompting and support, read informational texts appropriately complex for grade 1.

  • RI.2.7

    Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

  • RI.2.8

    Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a 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.3.7

    Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

  • RI.3.8

    Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

  • 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.4.7

    Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

  • RI.4.8

    Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.

  • 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.5.8

    Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).

  • 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.6.7

    Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

  • 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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Teacher Reviews

(See all 3 reviews) (3 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Lynn S. , Other
Other
The Montclair Kimberley Academy
Montclair, United States
Kid-friendly current events and skill building.

The Time for Kids website (www.timeforkids.com) is a free and invaluable resource for encouraging students to read, think and talk about current events, both national and international.

The site is very well organized, including sections on current stories, mini-sites on topics of special interest (Election 2012 or the London Olympics, for example), pictures and video, and student polls.

The Homework Helper section includes tips on writing different types of papers, a grammar guide and ...

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