One of the geekiest things that I get excited about as a teacher is finding new texts for my students to use! I feel like I struck gold when I find an appropriate text for the skill I'm teaching in my mini lessons that week. I pretty much stock pile and meticulously label both fiction and nonfiction texts for future use!
I love differentiating for my kiddos and making sure that they are reading texts that challenge them and are also developmentally appropriate. But I sometimes struggled to manage multiple different texts being read in my class. The amazingly talented special education resource teacher in my building suggested a sneaky trick last year, and I've been obsessed with using it ever since!
Her solution? Have my struggling readers pre-read a lower lexile version of the same text. Then, when we read the on grade level text as a whole class, my struggling readers are already familiar with the topic and are ready to be challenged with complex vocabulary and sentence structure.
My struggling readers get a confidence boost, because comprehension is not as difficult in this second read and they are reading the same text as the rest of the class. Because, lets face it, my big kids are TOTALLY aware of who is reading what text and who is reading something different!
Want to try this out in your own class?
Below are a list of sources I go to for free leveled texts!
{fabulous nonfiction articles PLUS multiple choice and written response questions!}
{brief nonfiction articles available in 3 levels of difficulty}
{great for middle schoolers- choose a themed topic & focus question}
{short stories organized by lexile level. my favorite is Fly Away Home}
{technically not free, but my PTA pays for my subscription & it's an invaluable resource!}
Do you have recommendations of text sources?! I'd LOVE to hear about them :)
XO Emily
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