Reading in the Content Areas
TeachersFirst offers this collection of web resources well suited to teach reading in the content areas, especially in science and social studies classes, but in almost ANY subject area. See "In the classroom" ideas and strategies for teaching reading across the curriculum and find texts to use on the computer, in print, or in interactive whiteboard/projector. Sometimes using web-based texts can be more engaging, and often these are more up-to-date. Practice with these resources is certain to help student mastery of informational texts.
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Vocab-u-lous! - Education World
Grades
7 to 12Be aware: this site has several advertisements, some pop-up.
tag(s): sound (74), sounds (40), vocabulary (248)
In the Classroom
Just try to take the dictionaries away from your students when you project a Vocab-u-lous activity sheet on your whiteboard (or projector) or hand them the printable version of the worksheet. These are useful for SAT preparation and other tests that assess vocabulary, as well as building a strong vocabulary necessary for better reading comprehension and oral and written communication. When using this activity with a class set of computers, provide a link from your class web page to a reputable online dictionary. For additional practice, provide this link on your class website for students to access at home.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Explore the Cosmos - The Planetary Society
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (87), nasa (36), planets (124), space (242)
In the Classroom
Make this site a link on your class web page during a unit on space or all year round. Gifted students and those with a passion for space will find endless discoveries. Include this site as a research source when assigning projects about space or the planets. If you have more able students in upper elementary or middle school, use this site as a differentiated alternative for them to research at a higher level. Inspire students to read in content areas by sharing space-related "current events" articles from this site. These selections would work well on interactive whiteboards for practice using highlighters to find main idea, context clues, and other comprehension skills. No whiteboard? No problem! Use your projector and eMargin, to highlight and annotate as a class. If you assign portions of the site to the entire class, you may need to assign "reading buddies" for weaker readers and they can use eMargin together. Challenge students to narrate space image galleries (search for the blog entry on the "New Flickr collection of historical NASA photos") or design and explain their own devices for space exploration on Thinglink.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Just Free Books - justfreebooks.info
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): audio books (43), book lists (160), ebooks (48), literature (211), reading lists (76), search engines (42)
In the Classroom
Offer this site to students who wish to use digital devices to read. Keep in mind that many of the selections are older, in the public domain due to the expiration of copyright. ENL/ESL and SPED students may benefit from being able to hear or see books in a different way. Use the texts you find as language to analyze or manipulate on your interactive whiteboard to teach reading comprehension skills, parts of speech, transition words, vocabulary study, and writing style. Allow students to copy/paste text into the whiteboard software so they can "work with words" from literary works instead of worksheets.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Physics To Go - APS, AAPT, and NSF-NSDL
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): experiments (63), motion (55), photography (134)
In the Classroom
Use this site to encourage your students to read about science outside of the classroom. Share the link on your website or class wiki. Start by assigning an article to students and have them highlight and annotate important information and questions they have and discuss it in class or on a blog. Have students use a digital tool like Hypothesis, reviewed here, for highlighting and annotating. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Weebly, reviewed here. Or, if you are teaching a unit on something specific, such as Earthquakes, once students have learned essential vocabulary, have them read the issue and follow the links on the page. Have students discuss in class what they have learned. Then, have small groups create "Top Five Facts" to summarize what they have learned. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain the "Top Five Facts" the group wishes to share with the class. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here. Reading teachers can also use the articles on this site for reading comprehension practice with nonfiction selections.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mr Nussbaum's Language Arts - Greg Nussbaum
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): alphabet (46), alphabetical order (8), presidents (150), spelling (94)
In the Classroom
This site works well for classrooms with individual spelling lists, as students can input their own lists to create printables and online activities for spelling practice. Watch the animated biographies on your interactive whiteboard as part of your President's Day activities. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Share the link to the site on your classroom website or blog so students can access it from home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Educational Resources for Chanukah - Jacob Richman
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Make this treasury a starting point for multicultural study of holidays around the world or for a more in depth study of Jewish traditions. Assign student groups to learn about specific aspects of the holiday and share their findings on a class wiki holiday guide. Not familar with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. With younger students, share specific links on a projector or interactive whiteboard and give students a chance to share and compare their own holiday traditions with the ones mentioned. Use a tool like Padlet, reviewed here, to keep track of the comparisons. You could even use some of these resources in upper elementary or middle school as reading comprehension exercises during the holiday season: write a summary or formulate a statement of a text-based site's main idea.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Study English - Australia Network
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): grammar (140)
In the Classroom
Use this site with ESL/ELL learners as designed. Share the lessons on your interactive whiteboard or projector. If individual computers are available, have students view the lessons independently (with headsets) and create multimedia projects to demonstrate what they have learned. Have students create an interactive online poster using Genial.ly, reviewed here. Better yet, if students get used to the video and exercise formats, have them produce similar videos teaching a few lessons about their home cultures! Share the videos using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Special ed teachers and those seeking combination video/text lessons to use to teach listening/reading comprehension may find these lessons valuable, as well.
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Reading in the Content Areas - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): context clues (5), main idea (8), reading comprehension (145), summarizing (25)
In the Classroom
Mark this collection as a MUST have for teaching reading to students struggling to apply more than decoding skills. Pay special attention to some of the "In the classroom" tips for unexpected ways to use these sites to teach reading along with other subjects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Unit on Chinese Mythology - University of the Pacific
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): china (80), chinese (37), reading comprehension (145)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and classroom activities on this site! This lesson plan would be great for a Philosophy, History, or Chinese language class. Be sure to bookmark the site as a favorite for easy reference later.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Print Friendly - printfriendly
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this when technology access is low or you want to print an activity for students to do when you are not there to supervise the technology use. Create in class reading from blogs or other websites that are appropriate for your classroom. Make a pdf that can be opened on your interactive whiteboard without all the ads and clutter of the web page so students can annotate, highlight, and even practice reading comprehension skills such as "main idea." List this link on your class website for families to try at home! Use it to share articles with parents, as well--as long as you model proper behavior by giving credit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Microbes - Microbes.info
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): bacteria (19), medicine (55), noregistration (78)
In the Classroom
During discussion of the Kingdom Monera, learn more about bacteria and our health with these articles which many will find informative and interesting. Consider creating blog posts or newsletter articles that can be shared between classes. Identify the common misconceptions of the role of bacteria in our lives. Create a class bacteria wiki. Learn more about wikis at TeachersFirst. Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. These text articles can also be copied easily to your interactive whiteboard software for practice with science notetaking, main idea, summarizing, and more as part of content area reading practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Visual Thesaurus Vocab Grabber - Thinkmap,Inc.
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): maps (222), reading comprehension (145), synonyms (15), vocabulary (248), writing (308)
In the Classroom
Teachers and students can use the VocabGrabber on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or individual computers to highlight vocabulary specific to a literary work or curricular subject area, to improve reading comprehension by choosing key concepts and literary terms, and to build background knowledge for a given text. As an added benefit, have students click on the VocabGrabber when typing their own assignments such as a poem or an essay, to avoid repeating the same word. They simply type in a word and generate a list of synonyms and more descriptive words. VocabGrabber enables students to see how words are used in context, instead of memorizing word lists. Additionally, VocabGrabber is extremely helpful for students preparing for standardized tests. Be sure to include this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class for further practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Life and Voyages of Henry Hudson - Ian Chadwick
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Have the students make a cumulative map of all Hudson's voyages together in order for them to get a chance to become intimately familiar with the map making process. Try a site such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location on a map where each story takes place. Have each cooperative learning group focus on a different exploration. Compare their creations with the online map which has all four voyages combined. Assign students in a group each a few pages of an imagined journal Henry might have written on each voyage. The most interesting part will be to imagine what happened to him after people no longer heard from him! Use this site as the starting point for individual research papers. Encourage students to find other resources that contribute to their knowledge of Henry Hudson. Have students write a talk Hudson might give if he suddenly woke up today (like Rip Van Winkle). Or make it more Web 2.0 and have students write blog entries. The text passages on this site are also ideal for reading comprehension practice. Project them on an interactive whiteboard for practice in main idea, summarizing, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bad Science - Alistair B. Fraser
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): weather (173)
In the Classroom
Students could be assigned different false science statements to research and design their own science news articles comparing fact and fiction. Why not make this a multimedia project and have students complete a podcast, online poster, or narrated photo! For podcasts, try podOmatic, reviewed here. To create an online poster use a site such as Padlet, reviewed here. Challenge cooperative learning groups to find a photo related to their topic (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then label the photo by adding voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Vesteezy, reviewed here. A class could also be assigned a specific false science fact to research and participate in a class blog or message board discussion via the class web page or wiki site. Students could also use the fiction as the basis for their own "Myth busters" episodes. Reading teachers looking for passages to use in reading comprehension practice, such as finding main idea and supporting details will find these non-fiction passages informative and interesting for their students. Make a temporary copy of one of the explanations to display in your interactive whiteboard software as students highlight key ideas and separate out supporting details using the whiteboard tools. Your science teachers will LOVE you for it!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dummies.com - John Wiley & Sons
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): sequencing (18), writing (308)
In the Classroom
Be sure to tell your students that they are NOT the "dummies" referred to in this site! Then go beyond the obvious use of this site as a reference to use it to teach informational writing, reading comprehension, or any curriculum content. Share text-based articles on a projector or interactive whiteboard and have students analyze the keywords and structure of sequential direction-writing or informational writing before they try it on their own. Use the pens and highlighters to note transitions and other ways of organizing directions, including formatting. Use articles to teach basic comprehension skills by copy/pasting sections and having students drag them into the correct sequence on the whiteboard to form logical directions. In science or social studies classes, enhance learning by having students view models on this site, then work in groups to write their own how-to wiki on curriculum topics such as "How to tell a fungus from a bacterium," "How to solve simultaneous equations," or "How to form a government." Use FlexClip, . If you have access to video equipment, have students write scripts and produce video versions of their how-to instructions and post them on a site such as TeacherTube.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science News Explores - Society for Science and the Public
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): agriculture (53), animals (271), computers (115), dinosaurs (48), engineering (137), environment (252), news (224), nutrition (138), weather (173)
In the Classroom
Use Science News for Kids as a great reading and reporting assignment. Weaker readers will need a reading buddy for some of the more challenging article. Classes in lower grades will want to read the articles together. A quick check on one article using Juicy Studio's Readability test, reviewed here, provided an approximate grade level of 6.5. Check articles before assigning to elementary students. Students can find an article of interest to read, summarize, and report to the class as part of a Science in My World unit or regular science current events activity. Have students create commercials about their topics. Video and share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here. Students can use these news articles to find additional relevant information on the internet. Students may find these topics to be great independent study topics. Teach reading comprehension using these factual articles on your interactive whiteboard, asking students to highlight key words and generate a "main idea" sentence using them. Articles offer ideal practice for informational reading questions on high-stakes reading tests.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Find a Book - lexile.com
Grades
1 to 12One disadvantage of the site is that you can only enter a keyword when you get to the third step. After a book list based on interests appears, then you can search by keyword to make the search zero in on specifics. When teachers or students select books for a reading list, they can then click to see the complete list of books they have selected. Clicking on a book title leads to another screen, but it does not contain a book summary; instead, it has a list of other keywords for the book along with other book data.
tag(s): book lists (160), independent reading (80), reading lists (76)
In the Classroom
This site is great for teachers searching for books at specific lexile levels. Learning support and ESL/ELL teachers can find books to accompany units in content area classes but on the correct lexile level. Students can also use the site by entering their grade levels and what kind of readers they are. Use this site to differentiate the learning experience for all levels of students. Rather than having students complete traditional book reports, why not have them complete a multimedia project? Provide some choices such as a podcast, using PodoMatic (reviewed here), interactive venn diagram comparing characters (reviewed here), or online book using Bookemon (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Starfall - Starfall Education
Grades
K to 3This site includes advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (127), phonics (52), reading comprehension (145)
In the Classroom
This website could be used for an entire class using your interactive whiteboard or projector. You could also set up a learning center for use during your L.A. block. Use this site to differentiate reading levels for your students. Be certain to save this site in your class favorites and list this site on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ESL Bits - Skip Reske
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): reading comprehension (145), test prep (70)
In the Classroom
Since the subtitle for this page is "Reading Comprehension and Test Preparation," recommend this site to ENL and ELL students preparing for standardized tests. Save it in your favorites on class computers, and provide the link on your class website so students can access it both in the classroom and out. The activities would also work well on an interactive whiteboard.Share the "Signs" link with your students. Challenge students to create their own signs, similar to those used at this site. Have cooperative learning groups create interactive posters featuring their signs using a tool such as PicLits - reviewed here. Share the "PicLits" on an interactive whiteboard or projector.
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St. Patrick's Day Theme Unit - edhelper.com
Grades
K to 8tag(s): critical thinking (168), holidays (274), st patricks day (10)
In the Classroom
Use an interactive whiteboard or projector and challenge your students with this St. Patrick's Day fun! Or, if you have computer stations in your classroom you could have students rotate through some of the activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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