Are You Looking for Non-fiction Material for Students to Read?

Jazz up your lessons with some great non-fiction articles for your students to read! Check out the suggestions below to incorporate in your classroom:

• DOGOnews - the leading source for current events, news and non-fictional content for ELA, Science, and Social Studies. Thousands of news articles and original content added daily for students, teachers, and schools. Other DOGO media includes DOGObooks, DOGOmovies, IDOGO, and DOGOteachers
  
• Newsela - has an app or website to access nonfiction in any subject. Many articles are from sources like the Associated Press, Washington Post, and Scientific American. They have material in five reading levels to engage K-12 students in high-interest nonfiction, current events, primary sources, speeches, biographies, and historical news. I love how you can filter your search by choosing grade level and also by reading skills. There are 8 different reading skills that you can filter: 
     
            1) What the Text Says
            2) Central Idea
            3) People, Events & Ideas
            4) Word Meaning & Choice
            5) Text Structure
            6) Point of View/Purpose
            7) Multimedia
            8) Arguments & Claims
  
• TweenTribune - News from Smithsonian for K-12 teachers. Locate news articles and assign stories with a single click through digital devices. They have a "Monday Morning Ready" newsletter as prep for the week ahead if you want to incorporate easy weekly lesson plans. TweenTribune also has Weekly Videos that answer questions from Smithsonian experts.
  
• Kids Discover Online -  Award-winning library of science and social studies material on any device, at any time. Free sign-up to get started. Kids Discover has been around for over 25 years and now is online! Go to the Resources tab to read from their blog, or on infographics, or their Quick Reads section. Of course, there is also a Kids Discover app for devices!
  
• KidsHealth - Most visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before  birth through the teen years. Really 4 sites in one, having sections for parents, kids, teens, and educators. KidsHealth is more than just the facts about health. It provides families with perspective, advice, and comfort about a wide range of physical, emotional, and behavioral issues that affect children and teens.
  
• NASA Stories- go here to get current articles about NASA events and the current missions or launches in progress.  Check out the archived stories and all the different tab categories. There is a whole section for students, as well as a NASA Kids' Club with games to play to learn more about NASA.

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Posted in articles, current events, devices, educator, games, health, news, newspaper, non-fiction, online, parents, Reading, resources, science, skills, Smithsonian, Social Studies, students

Vocabulary and Spelling Games

Word Central is great site for students who would like to increase their vocabulary and spelling skills. They have four games available. One is called Alpha-Bot which is the spelling game. It allows you to slide the letters up or down to spell the word that is called out. What I like about this one is that it has three different levels, always great for differentiating. Robo-Bee allows you to read sentences or definitions and then select the best word. You have to be up on your antonyms, synonyms, and thinking skills for this one. Bigbot is another vocabulary one where you feed the robot by matching the correct word in the sentence. It slings the words into the mouth. This last one is my favorite! Jumble for Kids is an online version of the Jumble that you normally find in newspapers. These are great fun, so be sure to make them available for your students!

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Posted in antonyms, definitions, games, jumble, online fun, Reading, spelling, synonyms, vocabulary