Most teachers are familiar with Newsela. Another alternative current event website for high schools is Student News Daily. This is a non-profit organization which is provides daily news articles followed by comprehension and critical thinking questions. Another website with categories for K-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12 is Smithsonian TweenTribune. 

Student News Daily

There are six categories of articles.

Daily News

With each daily article there is a section for “background” and “resources.” This includes video clips, maps, etc.

Tuesday World Events

Tuesdays feature three international articles.

Wednesday

Wednesdays feature an article which exemplifies bias in reporting.

Thursday

Editorials are the topic for Thursday. Students are asked to write and explain their opinion.

Fridays

There are two features on Friday. An editorial cartoon is published on Fridays. There is also a 10 question objective test related to the five articles of the week.

Extras

Additional articles to get students thinking.

Sign up and you can receive answers by email for all of the above by 6 AM each day.

A chart is available from the website showing how the Student News Daily fulfills the common core standards.

The site also contains Archives of each of the types of resources listed above.

Check out https://www.studentnewsdaily.com.

Smithsonian:  Tween Tribune

Much like Newsela, Smithsonian TweenTribune offers articles at multiple lexile levels. Daily there are articles with a quiz testing vocabulary, reading comprehension and critical thinking.

When a teacher registers they can set up a classroom and share articles. When a teacher approves student comments, they can be seen by other classmates (or if the teacher selects they can be public to students at other schools).

Content in Spanish is also available.

Many of the articles are human-interest stories and not necessarily the same topics you would see in the newspaper of the day.

The teacher resource section can filter by topic (history, art/music, language arts and literature, math, science, social studies, world studies, STEM, engineering, and technology). These can be sorted by grade level and common core standard.

Articles, photos, videos, and audio files are included.

Quiz scores are delivered to the teacher.

Check out tweentribune.com and see how it might fit into your class!

**********************************************************

Interested in daily articles based on a day in history?  Check out resources available from my TPT Store.

Product Description Questions for each passage appear in standardized test format, helping students to prepare for high-stakes testing. Each passage contains these types of questions
 Main idea
 Vocabulary
 Organizational patterns
 Inference
 SummarizingNonfiction passages are based on events which occurred on this day in history. Although the topic was selected to correspond to a historical event, the passage is completely stand-alone and appropriate for any day of the year. Mix and match by purchasing the topics you want or save with monthly bundles and give your students daily opportunities to develop background knowledge and improve their comprehension.Nonfiction passages are based on events which occurred on this day in history. Although the topic was selected to correspond to a historical event, the passage is completely stand-alone and appropriate for any day of the year. Mix and match by purchasing the topics you want or save with monthly bundles and give your students daily opportunities to develop background knowledge and improve their comprehension.
October 1, Watergate Scandal
October 2, Gandhi
October 3, Berlin Wall
October 4, Henrietta Lacks
October 5, Steve Jobs
October 6, Bomb Shelter and Cuban Missile Crisis
October 8, Department of Homeland Security
October 9, Washington Monument
October 10, Susan B Anthony
October 11, Hillary Clinton
October 12, Christopher Columbus
October 13, Margaret Thatcher
October 15, Thomas Edison
October 16, John Brown
October 17, Mother Teresa
October 18, Alaska Purchase
October 19, Surrender at Yorktown
October 20, Calico Jack
October 22, Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey
October 23, New Orleans Mint
October 24, Black Thursday and Great Depression
October 25, China and the United Nations
October 26, Patriot Act
October 27, New York City Subway
October 29, Genghis Kahn
October 30, Anne Frank
October 31, Halloween History and Around the World
This covers every school day for October this year, Passages will be added to cover the October days next year.Passages have been evaluated using a minimum of 5 different readability formulas. The first passage is the most challenging, with an average reading level of 9th-10th grade. The second passage has an average readability of 8th grade. The third passage averages a 6th-7th grade level. With teacher introduction and background information, the passages have been used successfully with younger readers.

One subject for the class with differentiated passages allows the teacher to discuss, develop background knowledge, show a video clip or engage the full class yet provide for individual differences.

Students and teachers using multiple passages can assess student progress. Diagnostic charting shows teachers and students patterns of errors with main idea, vocabulary, organizational patterns, inference, and summarization. Compiling data is easy and motivating with student completed charts.

Included in the lesson:
➢ A nonfiction passage written at three different grade levels for each topic listed above
➢ Questions over each passage for each level.
➢ An answer key for each passage
➢ A chart to monitor progress and collect data in the five assessed areas (main idea, vocabulary, organizational patterns, inference, and summarizing)

SaveSave

SaveSave