Have you struggled to find engaging non-fiction reading options for your upper elementary learners? It can be hard to find informational text passages that students actually want to read. Well, help is here! Believe it or not, there are actually some good FREE informational text resources online that you can start using right away. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Kid friendly articles covering current events organized in categories like science, social studies, sports, entertainment, etc. Set up great for teachers. Click on an article. Then, underneath the title click on the CCSS button. There it gives lesson plan suggestions to accompany the article broken down into different grade spans. Also, potentially difficult words in the article are clickable. If the reader doesn’t know the definition they click on the word and a dictionary entry pops right up. Helpful!
Articles with great photos of animals and the environment. They also have educational videos covering many people and places.
This site does require a login, but everything is free. There are thousands of reading passages. It is even customized to recommend reading options based on a student's interest and reading list.
This site also requires a login, but everything is still free. It offers personalized reading comprehension exercises.
Their library includes many current and high interest passages. You can easily sort by grade level. Lexile levels are listed. Passages also have assessment questions available.
STOP THE GUESSWORK!
When students are asked to answer questions about informational text, it’s important that they look to the reading to provide evidence to support their answer. All too often, students will answer without referring back to the text.
Looking for a unique way to bring non-fiction texts into your classroom? Check out these FREE color-coding non-fiction passages with questions. Students must refer back to the text to underline the proof before writing their answers in complete sentences. No more taking lucky (or not so lucky) guesses!
Happy Teaching!
