Today I have 7 websites for reading passages that SLPs need to know about to share with you. If you work with students in upper elementary or middle school, then you may be working on reading comprehension goals with them. I’ve researched 7 different websites that are beneficial when needing reading passages to use with students.
#1 Newsela
Newsela houses real-world, leveled and standards-aligned content. There are passages for ELA, science, social studies and even social-emotional learning. In addition, it has resources for English Language Learners. There are over 10,000 texts to choose from across 20 genres. Newsela offers differentiation of passages at 5 different levels. One of the best parts is that you can join for free!
#2 Readworks
Readworks is a website with FREE reading passages for you to use! You can search by grade or lexile level. Content is available for grades K-12. In addition, there are questions that accompany each reading passage. Question types consist of multiple choice, short answer, explicit and inferential. There is also vocabulary practice included in the question sets. Readworks gives you choices of what kind of content you want to use with students. The choices offered are:
in addition, Readworks has an option called “StepReads” which is basically a less complex version of the original passage. They also have audio versions of the passages so students can listen along to the text. Finally, there are options for students in special education and English Language Learners.
#3 Commonlit
Commonlit is one of my favorite websites to use for finding reading passages. It was created by teachers for teachers and you can create an account for FREE. The passages align with Common Core State Standards and are research-based. You assign passages to your students digitally. There is ELA Curriculum for grades 6-10 as well as supplemental passages for grades 3-12. The website lets you analyze student performance using their online data.
#4 Read Theory
Read Theory is another FREE website that hosts personalized reading comprehension exercises for K-12 as well as ESL students. This program is best used to create individual profiles for your students, however. This way the program will keep track of their progress. Read Theory has worksheets to choose from for 1st grade-12 grade. Additionally, it has worksheets for adult learners, students in special education and ESL. There are typically about 10 worksheets per grade level. You can choose if you just want to print the passage, the passage with questions or the passage, questions and answers.
#5 Tween Tribune
Tween Tribune is a website with articles created for upper elementary and teens. This website was actually created by the Smithsonian. It houses tons of articles based on history and current events. Tween Tribune makes it easy to find an interesting topic to read about. Search about current world news, national news or sports. All passages are organized by Lexile level as well. This site is neat because you make an account for your class and then it encourages students to post comments about what they read. All comments have to be approved by the teacher before they are posted. They are also invited to take quizzes after the passage and the quiz results are automatically emailed to the teacher.
#6 Wonderopolis
This website is another one of my favorites because it is so neat! Wonderopolis encourages students to post questions about what they are wondering. The website then takes all the thousands of questions and compiles lessons about the topic. For example, you might wonder, “Why are flamingos pink?” Students can click on a short 1-4 minute Youtube video with the explanation. Then, there is an entire passage for students to read with hi-lighted vocabulary words to look for throughout (called Wonder Words). Each passage lists the Common Core State Standards that were covered and also has a comprehension quiz at the end. Finally, there are always 3 extension learning activities at the end that you can try at home. Students really love this website because all of the topics are so interesting! Again, this website is totally FREE!
#7 Scholastic Action
Scholastic Action is one of the few that requires a subscription in order to use the materials. However, I have found that it comes with great lesson plans that are highly relevant to SLP goals so it may be worth the cost. Scholastic Action offers ready to go teaching kits with print or digital magazines. Each magazine includes 3 levels of differentiation for students with age appropriate stories. It also allows students to use text to speech audio on the digital version. Finally, each kit has videos that accompany the magazine and leveled ELA activities.
Do you have a favorite website for reading passages?
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