On Monday I introduced the @Hamlin Lower School staff to NewsELA. I did so with the help of NewsELA’s trainer Nicole Boyle. Truth be told, the staff was introduced to the tool by Nicole who led a quick and informative webinar that walked the entire staff through the system. What is NewsELA you ask? Well according to Sofia in first grade:
“Its like a newspaper but its written just for kids.”
Truth from the mouths of babes. In fact NewsELA is a site that reworks non-fiction text and publishes it at a variety of Lexile levels. This enables teachers to assign articles that share current content to students at a variety of reading level; thus ensuring that students have an equal opportunity to read the information with understanding. Or from their site:
Newsela is an innovative way to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that’s always relevant: daily news. It’s easy and amazing.
I loved being invited in to Ms. Burstein’s first grade classroom this morning and hearing the students read about a baby Rhino sanctuary in African.