Where to Find Passages and Text - Testing is Over So Let's Plan for Next Year!

Finally! Testing is over! Time to par-tay!! Or, time to start thinking about plans for next year. If you’re anything like me, you get really excited for the next school year before the current year has ended. Thinking about next year can be just as overwhelming as it is exciting, however. One task I want to get a grasp on this year involves resources for next year. I am in the process of collecting passages and text for my students to dive into as soon as the new school year begins. This post is going to be short, but I really want to share with you various places you can find quality high-interest FREE resources. These passages help you practice close reading skills, comprehension, text-dependent analysis, and other areas of ELA instruction. Check out these websites:

https://kids.usa.gov/teens/social-studies/current-events/index.shtml

This site contains many useful articles, videos, lesson plans, and blogs. 

http://tweentribune.com/ (Smithsonian)

I really like this site because each article is available in four different lexile levels – perfect to support all learners! There is also an interactive quiz available for each article. The articles focus on all sorts of topics.

http://www.dogonews.com/

This is another resource that focuses current events. This site provides articles with pictures. I have found these articles best read together on my ENO board as opposed to printing hard copies.

http://www.cnn.com/studentnews

Sometimes I get lost in this site and after 20 minutes realize I’ve been watching videos and reading articles for no apparent reason! Again, this site provides useful articles you can use in your middle school classroom.

https://newsela.com/articles/#/rule/latest (This one I had to register for)

This site is one of my favorites! This also gives the option to print articles at varying reading levels and includes a writing prompt and comprehension questions for most articles. I will warn you, once you sign up you will be bombarded with daily emails about new articles.

https://student.societyforscience.org/sciencenews-students

Much like the others, this site provides interesting articles. The difference, however, is a focus on science and not social studies or current events. My students enjoy these articles as they are high interest.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/50-ways-to-teach-current-events/?_r=0

This site gives educators ideas for implementing current events into daily instruction.

On my To-Do List:

Check out https://thinkcerca.com/  This site seems to offer a lots, but I need to do more research. I think this site allows students to work with text on the computer. Add this to my list of summer projects! 

Do you have any go-to places for free useful resources? Please share in the comments below!