Finding informational text for the many and varied levels of student reading abilities in any classroom can be a challenge. NewsELA is a an online news-as-literacy website that offers access to informational text taken from reputable news sources, but rewritten and Lexile levelled so an appropriate version can be chosen. NewsELA is updated weekly and features current articles in seven categories: War & Peace, Science, Health, Kids, Money, Law, and Arts.
A classroom can be created. Students join using a class code. When students register with the class code, they only need to provide their name, then create a username and password. Teachers can open an article for the class to read then click on the “Assign to” button and choose the appropriate class.
NewsELA, is the abbreviation for News English Language Arts. NewsELA recommends a reading right level for each student after they have accessed it and completed the first quiz which is presented to them according to the grade level assigned to them by their teacher. However, it gives students the opportunity to read articles a different levels; they might be able to read more complex texts on familiar topics, but lower Lexile levelled texts on topics they have not been exposed to and are not familiar with. Students can also see what the same article looks like at the next and previous levels of complexity, each version of the same articles displaying leveled text features.
Educational uses:
  • Showcase high-interest, cross-curricular informational texts to students, at their reading level
  • Assign articles to individuals as well as small groups, using the quizzes to track understanding and make further suggestions
  • Select articles for targeted instruction on specific reading strategies, including effective annotexting

Getting Started

  1. Navigate to the NewsELA website.
  2. Locate articles of interest and change the Lexile.
  3. Create or have colleagues sign up for a free teacher account and create a class.
  4. Sign up students. The video tutorial for registering students may be helpful.
  5.  Assign an article and have students annotext. The video tutorial for assigning articles may be helpful.