Attention!! Important Changes Coming to Newsela.com

If you use Newsela, you may have received some information regarding upcoming changes to the website. Starting during the month of July, Newsela will be changing to a subscription service. The good news is that the current events articles will still be available for free. However, the pro-con paired texts, historical documents, and primary sources will require a subscription. The cost for a teacher or a “district” subscription are fairly high, but you may want to check with Newsela if the content you use from the site is largely what will no longer be free.

All changes to the site are expected to be complete by the beginning of the 2019-20 school year.

Following are free text resources that may help to soothe the sting of the Newsela changes. All come recommended by Minnesota ABE colleagues. Some of the sites may require a quick (free) registration.

1. CommonLit

   https://www.commonlit.org/

This 3-12 GLE (CCRS Levels B-E) website was one I learned about from participants in the CCRS Implementation Cohort. The site has the following highlights:

• • CCRS alignment
  • Lexile measurements
  • informational and literary texts with audio
  • embedded comprehension questions and definitions
  • assessment and discussion questions
  • paired readings, units and teacher guides

2. Word Generation (SERP)

   http://wordgen.serpmedia.org/

Looking to engage students in debate about high-interest issues? This resource has multiple units targeting 6^th-8^th GLE. Each unit is interdisciplinary (including math) and includes work with academic language, argumentation, analytic reasoning, reading to find evidence, and argumentative writing. Additional science and social studies units are available as are units intended for 4^th-5^th GLE organized around central questions. You can print the PDFs. I like to use materials from this site with my GED students.

3. Readworks

   https://www.readworks.org/

Another highly popular website for ABE teachers including K-12 GLE nonfiction and literacy texts. The questions that accompany Readworks texts are text-dependent and generally aligned with the CCR ELA standards. Like Newsela, teachers can create classes and assign texts to students. Other highlights include

• • Lexile measurements
  • paired texts
  • skills and strategy units
  • audio

4. Reading Vine

   https://www.readingvine.com/

Another great website I found out about from a CCRS Implementation Cohort participant this year. Highlights of this K-12 GLE website include

• • Fiction and nonfiction texts
  • Lexile measurements
  • reading sets
  • questions included with selections
  • Printable PDFs with answer key

Remember that the current events articles that so many of us love to use will remain FREE on the Newsela website, but heads up that other content will no longer be free.