Newsela is an educational platform that provides leveled cross-curricular reading materials for for k-12 students. Newsela’ s informational content is standards aligned and is meant to optimize students learning and get them excited about reading. Teachers can use it to enrich their lessons and create engaging learning experiences within and outside classroom.
Newsela provides tons of nonfiction texts (and some fiction) resourced from over 100 authority sources in the publishing realm namely: History, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, PBS NewsHour, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World History Encyclopedia, among others.
There are over 20 genres of nonfiction content that include news articles, primary sources, reference texts, essays, issue overviews, foundational texts and many more. These reading materials are published at 5 reading levels. Students can choose the level that best suits their literacy skills. Also, each “text comes with an embedded reading comprehension quiz that promotes key reading skills.” More importantly, Newsela’ s content is updated on a daily basis with fresh and timely content.
Newsela offers two account versions: a free account which comes with few basic features and a premium account that offers more features and reading materials. Paid users also have access to assignment and reporting tools. They get to “assign quizzes that are aligned with subject-specific standards to support background knowledge and skill development.” Teachers can also keep track of students progress in real time and get detailed reports about their performances. Using NWEA Map Growth reading scores, teachers will be to automatically set students reading levels. On their part, students are able to to check their progress over time.
Newsela’ s reading materials cover four main areas: ELA, Social Studies, Science, and SEL.
Newsela ELA
Find content aligned to Common Core ELA standards to “complement your ELA materials with more relevance, choice, skills practice, and more. Bring lessons to life with engaging content and standards-aligned lesson supports built for ELA classrooms.”
Newsela Social Studies
“Replace unvetted resources and fill the gaps left by outdated textbooks with vetted content that keeps up with the times and is mapped to social studies standards on arrival.”
“Integrate science and literacy according to new standards, support hands-on instruction with background knowledge and real-world connections, and engage every learner in the wonders of their world.”
Newsela Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
“Empower all teachers to incorporate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) topics and strategies into their daily lessons.”
Other interesting features provided by Newsela include Power Words embedded in articles and comes with vocabulary practice activities, subject specific quizzes and writing prompts, reading comprehension quizzes, annotations, the ability to create and share customizable assignments, access to professional learning resources in the Educator Center, and many more.
Newsela includes two interesting add-ons:
- Newsela Custom Collections: Allows school districts to design collections that are fully aligned with their district’s academic priorities and instructional needs.
- Professional Learning: Provides teachers with professional growth opportunities that include learning workshops based on school or district goals.
Newsela is integrated with various other LMS and educational platforms including: Google Classroom, Pear Deck, Schoology, NBC Learn, Canvas, Nearpod, ClassLink, and more.
