Where to Find Informational Text (Option 1)

Try Scholastic News to Find Informational Text

Children generally have vivid imaginations that make reading fiction fun and engaging for them. But how can you bring that same amount of excitement to non-fiction? In this 3-Minute Problem Solver, Monica Burns shares one of her favorite tools for finding informational text.

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In the brief video above, Monica outlines how Scholastic News brings informational text to life for students. These texts include how-to articles, directions, and other non-fiction texts. Scholastic News articles are all geared towards kids and are written in a way that speaks to younger readers. There is even a “news for kids, by kids” section where students can apply to be a kid reporter. Every article focuses on high-interest topics. These topics range from the Hamilton: An American Musical, to getting to know the candidates in the upcoming election.

So what are some interactive ways you can use these texts in your classroom?

1. Current Event Assignments – Have your students choose an article that interests them and then write a short response. These responses can focus on the relevance of the article and the student’s opinion.
2. Engage in a Friendly Classroom Debate – Present an article to your class and then divide them into teams. The students can debate their side with the teacher acting as the moderator. Try it out with this article.
3. Use an Article as a Writing Prompt – Choose an article that will get your students' creative juices flowing. Then have them write a short story or poem inspired by that article. For example, this article discusses the NASA spacecraft, Juno’s, exploration of the planet, Jupiter. Challenge your students to write a story about what they think it will find there.

What are some other ways to get students interested in non-fiction? How do you get them excited about current events? Let us know in the comments below!

About Our “Where to Find Informational Text (Option 1)” Presenter:
Monica Burns is an Education Consultant, EdTech Blogger, and Apple Distinguished Educator. Monica works with teachers to make technology integration exciting and accessible at all grade levels. She has conducted well over 40 unique training sessions for SimpleK12, click here to take a look at more videos from Monica.

About the Author:
Carolina Fransen is the EdTech Apps and Tools Editor at SimpleK12.com. She writes regularly about the use of educational technology in K-12 classrooms, and she loves investigating teaching jobs in some of her favorite locales. If you have an app, tool, website, or service that you think we should know about, please send your information or tip to editor@simplek12.com.