Reading Comprehension (7-9)

Literature

Fiction

  1. A Book and A Hug – https://abookandahug.com/ – Explore distant lands and read stories from around the globe with the cool interactive map. Write reviews of your favorite books. Lots of information for educators as well.
  2. American Literature – https://americanliterature.com/ – There isn’t a lot of messaging or resources here… just links to books for all ages. There are short stories and novels from all different genres. Some poetry has also been included. Worth checking out if you are looking for classic stories.
  3. Audio Book Cloud – https://www.audiobookcloud.com/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f – Database of streaming audio books with a children’s section. Contact your local public library to see if there is free access through a library membership. Recommended for students grade 3 and up.
  4. Biblionasium – https://www.biblionasium.com/ – A place where childern can set up a virtual bookshelf, complete a reading log, review and share books with others. It is for grades 2 – 8.
  5. Bookopolis – https://bookopolis.com/ – Students can browse and discover books that interest them. Teachers can comment on the reading logs, reports, reviews and track student reading by group or by individual. There is a separate login for students, parents and teachers.
  6. Bookshare – https://www.bookshare.org/ – A digital library service that provides eBooks for individuals with reading barriers (e.g. dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, etc). This website is free for U.S. citizens and some low-income countries but there is a yearly fee for other countries.
  7. Children’s Storybooks Online – http://www.magickeys.com/books/ – Simple website with illustrated children’s storgbooks for all ages available online.
  8. CliffsNotes – https://www.cliffsnotes.com/ – It is the original (and most widely imitated) study guide. The study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you’re studying, it can ease homework headaches and help score high on exams.
  9. CommonLit – https://www.commonlit.org/ – Provides teachers with all the resources needed to set students up for success; built on a foundation of over 2,000 high-quality free reading passages starting in grade 3 and complimented by interim assessments, growth-oriented data and teacher development.
  10. Crash Course – https://thecrashcourse.com/courses/literature and https://thecrashcourse.com/courses/medialiteracy – Crash Course transforms the traditional textbook model by presenting information in a fast-paced format, enhancing the learning experience. It has changed attitudes towards education by creating a community of learners who are looking for more than just help passing a test.
  11. Dreamscape – https://www.playdreamscape.com/ – Available to all students, educators, parents, and administrators at no cost, ensuring all students have the right to access quality education. As students progress in the game, Dreamscape’s adaptive algorithms deliver passages and skill-based questions to students, personalized to their level of reading skill, keeping them motivated in their Zone of Proximal Development.
  12. East of the Web – http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/childrenindex.html – Designed for K-8 students, this site offers hundreds of stories your students can read online, and many of these include reading comprehension worksheets you can print and use in class.
  13. EL Education – https://eleducation.org/ – There is a library and tools to use towards your language arts curriculum for K-8 students. They even have some pre-built units for the various elements of language arts. Not everything is free, though. If you want to gain access to over 1,000 resources, save (resources, collections, and PD packs) to your own folders or create new folders and share with others, you will have to purchase the premium membership.
  14. eNotes – https://www.enotes.com/ – This website will help you with any book or any question. The summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers.
  15. Free Children Stories – https://www.freechildrenstories.com/ – Founded in 2008, this website operates on the principle that children’s development is paramount so their mission is to offer meaningful storytelling to everyone.
  16. FunBrain (Books) – https://www.funbrain.com/books – Since 1997, this website has been enthusiastically used by students, teachers, librarians and parents as a free education tool. It has been created for children from preschool to grade 8. Beyond the fun, interactive games that develop skills in math, reading and literacy, this website also provides children with a variety of popular books and comics (including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amelia Writes Again and Brewster Rocket.
  17. Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/ – It is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Their mission is to help people find and share books they love. Visitors can see what books their friends are reading, keep track of books read and a wishlist or even check out book recommendations.
  18. Guidebooks – https://learnzillion.com/p/guidebooks/ – Guidebooks centers around the texts students love. It connects across multiple genres, creating a web of meaning critical to the development of reading and writing skills. Each Guidebooks lesson supports whole class and small group instruction and supports teachers in moving to strategic instruction.
  19. Guys Read – http://www.guysread.com/ – A web-based literacy program for boys. Their mission is to help boys become self-motivated and lifelong readers. It offers a list of books recommended by children’s author Jon Sczieska, and other visitors to the website.  Note: It is currently under reconstruction after 15 years of service.
  20. Harry Potter Reading Club – http://hpread.scholastic.com/ – This website will allow teachers or parents to start their own Harry Potter Reading Club and even provides a free starter kit along with access to discussion guides, monthly activities and more. Recommended for grade 3 and up.
  21. International Children’s Digitial Library – http://en.childrenslibrary.org/ – Discover books from around the world. Although there are no read aloud books, students can read independently during “Read to Self” or free time. This can also be a good choice for extension activities when learning about different regions of the world.
  22. Khan Academy (ELA) – https://www.khanacademy.org/ela – Courses are currently being created for grades up to grade 9. Topics are broken down into sections including: building knowledge, close reading, vocabulary knowledge and reading for understanding. There is a grammar section at the bottom of the page (before choosing the appropriate grade).
  23. Librivox – https://librivox.org/ – A non-commercial, non-profit and ad-free project that is powered by volunteers. It donates its recordings to the public domain and maintains a loose and open structure.
  24. Lit2Go – https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ – An online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom.
  25. Magic Blox – https://magicblox.com/ – With a large and growing collection of eBooks for children ages 1 to 13 years old, children get to enjoy new books all the time from award-winning authors and publishers from around the world.  In addition to titles from traditional publishers, students can discover new stories from authors they’ve never heard of or try out new languages they’ve never seen.
  26. Mr. Nussbaum Learning & Fun – https://mrnussbaum.com/lang-arts – This approach to literacy education strongly believes that students need to not only learn the basic principles of reading but also employ those principles in everyday tasks. Students put their skills to use as they scour real scholarly materials, research concepts and actively read in pursuit of a final goal. It’s this practical approach that helps students connect theory with practice in a meaningful way.
  27. Project Gutenberg – https://www.gutenberg.org/ – This is a library with over 60,000 free e-books from countries all over the world. There is a particular focus on classics that are no longer used in schools but are still considered literary masterpieces.
  28. Reading Eggs – https://www.3plearning.com/software/reading-eggs/ – Find a book that speaks to every student in a library of over 2500+ titles. Create personal learning literacy experiences. Assign fun and meaningful homework. Find and use time-saving resources for students up to age 13. Available worldwide excluding USA and Canada.
  29. Reading Horizons Elevate – https://www.readinghorizons.com/reading-curriculum/reading-intervention/overview – When older learners have reading difficulties, it is often because they have gaps in the foundational decoding skills needed for fluent reading. This program helps older learners fill these gaps with assessment-driven explicit phonics instruction based on the principles of reading science.
  30. Read Theory – https://www.readtheory.org/ – Offers online and downloadable reading activities for all ages or ability levels. The program adapts to individual ability levels and provides necessary skill-building exercises for students from K-12 and ESL. Recommended for teachers with no budget.
  31. Read to Me International – https://www.readtomeintl.org/ – Similar to Storyline Online, this website features popular children’s books that are read by famous performers. There are activity guides with ideas, discussion questions and lesson plans available as well.
  32. Read Works – https://www.readworks.org/ – Choose from thousands of nonfiction & fiction passages with supports designed to improve comprehension three different ways: Stepreads, eBooks and Audio. There are differentiation options, Article-a-day sets and Paired Texts activities for students from K-12.
  33. Renaissance Accelerated Reader – https://www.renaissance.com/products/accelerated-reader/ – Individual reading recommendations use students’ interests and reading levels to suggest “just-right” titles—or students can self-select from over 200,000 choices! Reading quizzes monitor comprehension, while literacy skills and vocabulary quizzes extend student learning and build skills mastery. Detailed reports provide insights into students’ progress.
  34. Sparknotes – https://www.sparknotes.com/ – Sometimes you don’t understand your teacher, your textbooks make no sense, and you have to read sixteen chapters by tomorrow. SparkNotes is a resource you can turn to when you’re “confuzzled”. It will help you understand books, write papers, and study for tests. It is clear and concise and doesn’t leave out important info.
  35. Storynory – https://www.storynory.com/ – Featuring a collection of original, fairy tale and classic children’s stories, students can follow along with the story as it is read to them with the included text. Other features include the ability to download the audio to your computer, listening to “catch phrase” explanations, translating text into different languages (great for ELL students) and more.
  36. Storytime from Space – https://storytimefromspace.com/ – Within each unit you will find science background information for educators, science activities and cross-content activities (such as Language Arts, Social Studies, Physical Ed. etc.) that help support the STEM concepts.
  37. Teaching Books – https://www.teachingbooks.net/ – A database of resources for children’s and young adult books and their authors and illustrators. The resource collection includes short movies, audio book readings, book discussion guides, and more. The basic option is free for students and adults but educators will need to purchase a license after the free trial period.
  38. TeenBookCloud – https://www.tumblebookcloud.com/ – An online collection of ebooks, enhanced novels, graphic novels, videos and audio books, which offers students and adults of all reading levels access to an amazing range of content.
  39. The Literature Network – http://www.online-literature.com/ – A searchable online literature for the student, educator, or enthusiast.  It currently has over 3500 full books and over 4400 short stories or poems by over 260 authors. The quotations database has over 8500 quotes and the quiz system features over 340 quizzes.
  40. Tumble Book Library – https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f – This is a paid subscription service for schools and public libraries. However, many public libraries offer free access to this service with a library membership so it is a good idea to check with your local library.

Non-Fiction

  1. Classroom Connection – https://www.classroomconnection.ca/ – A collection of publications and resources dealing with issues important to students and educators. Most of the resource sections are free.
  2. DOGOnews – https://www.dogonews.com/ – A great reading resource offering a variety of non-fiction content covering current events, sports, science and more. Each article is kid-friendly with links to definitions of words that students may find complicated. It is searchable by grade level or category and articles are free to view. Premium access, at cost, is available for teachers interested in worksheets, activities and more that can accompany articles.
  3. The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/gnmeducationcentre/resources-for-teachers – Tips and suggestions for grade 4-12 teachers covering news media, plus information about how the news is made. Printable sheets with information on news report writing, types of news stories and newspaper and web terminology. Resource material from the GNM Archive including photography, cartoons and coverage of significant past events. Plus, so much more.
  4. Kids Post – https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/ – In the Lifestyle section of The Washington Post is “Kids Post” with interesting articles geared at children of all ages. Read special reports with kid-friendly language, browse the section on crafts and recipes or visit the Readers Corner.
  5. Newsela – https://newsela.com – Non-fiction content comes from the real world, about people and topics students relate to; it is provided at 5 reading levels, so the differentiation is built-in. The PRO version features more, at a cost.
  6. Newsround – https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround – BBC created a kid-friendly news area that provides articles and video clips about current affairs, mental wellbeing, space, sports and more. It even has quizzes.
  7. PBS NewsHour Extra – https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/ – Using the PBS NewsHour platform, this is strictly aimed at students in grades 6-12 with daily news lessons and articles. Use the classroom resources to teach students the importance of becoming smart news consumers.
  8. Readorium – https://readorium.com/ – It teaches reading comprehension to students in grades 3 through 8 using science text that automatically adapts to each child’s level, as they progress. Parents and teachers can get as involved as they want with progress reports and supplemental resources. Note: It looks like it is currently only available to U.S. residents.
  9. Scholastic Kids Press – https://kpcnotebook.scholastic.com/ – Scholastic Kids Press is a group of talented “Kid Reporters” (aged 10–14) from across the country and around the world. This young journalists cover politics, entertainment, the environment, sports and more in their hometowns as well as the national stage. 
  10. Science News for Students – https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/ – Articles are posted daily and provide educators a readability score (based on grade level). Many articles have “Classroom Questions” to save time from creating your own.  Use it to supplement units in science, math and language arts. Many articles contain “Power Words” and their definitions (which you can review in advance) so kids can better understand the text. Buttons on each reading allow you to post the resource to Google Classroom, so you can assign readings for homework.
  11. Smithsonian TweenTribune – https://www.tweentribune.com/category/tween78/ – A great introduction to reading non-fictionliterature by providing news articles for students. It is regularly updated from the Associated Press and each article includes comprehension and vocabulary-based quizzes with adjustable Lexile levels. A critical-thinking challenge question ends each article.
  12. Sports Illustrated Kids – https://www.sikids.com/ – It is a very simplistic website with non-fiction sports articles about the latest news in sports with kid-friendly language.
  13. StoryCorps – https://storycorps.org/ – StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. It has been done to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, it is creating an invaluable archive for future generations.
  14. Teaching Kids News – http://teachingkidsnews.com/ – Great news website for students from grades 2 – 8. Started by a third grade teacher in Toronto with the goal of teaching students about what’s going on in the world in a kid-friendly way. The site is updated weekly and crafted by a team of professional journalists and educators. There is an archive of over 900 articles and resources searchable by year, category and grade level.
  15. The Week Junior – https://theweekjunior.com/ – A news and current events magazine for middle schoolers – one way for students to work on reading non-fiction material.
  16. Youngzine – https://youngzine.org/ – A one-of-a-kind Web site where children can learn about current news and events shaping their world — in a simple, engaging and interactive manner. It provides a safe and private blog environment for classrooms with a constructive, creative and controlled way for teachers to create classroom assignments and foster discussions on current events.