We love Smithsonian. This institute has done so much in education! Recently I found an excellent non fiction reading program from Smithsonian. It is called Smithsonian Tribune. It collects appropriate news stories that will interest kids and deliver these stories on the website or the free apps, and invite kids take quizzes or post comments. All readings are leveled by Lexile score. The content includes passages, photos, graphics, and audio and/or video materials about current events, history, art, culture and science. It is a great tool for reading comprehension, as well as staying informed on what is going on in the world.
Kids can read the stories without an account. However they won’t get quiz questions until they sign in. Sign in is free. But the process has to be initiated by a teacher or a parent.
Here is how it works:
First, a teacher or a parent signs up an account on Smithsonian Tribune website. After you sign up, you will receive an email with your user name and password.
Next, parent or teacher can set up classrooms. You can have more than one classrooms based on student level. This makes it easier for you to assign readings to students. If you have kids in middle school and kindergarten, you can assign different articles to different groups based on the reading levels.
Each article has Lexile level scores. Some articles can be used for multiple levels. Although kids from different levels will read the same article, the tests they receive will be different.
After parent or teacher set up the classroom and put student names in each classroom, each student is given a user name and password. It is suggested to use kids first name only, and never use the complete names.
Now kids can sign in either on the website or the free apps. There is an app for each of age groups: Junior (Grade K-4), Tween (grade 5-8), Teen (grade 9-12), plus Spanish.
New articles are posted every weekday. Kids quiz scores are automatically sent to teacher or parent’s email. To post the comments, kids must have teacher or parent’s approval.
This is a great non fiction close reading program. All articles are reviewed by Smithsonian experts, so they are safe and high quality. The added bonus, all are free!
If you would like to check it out or purchase it, please use the App Store link provided below. The cost is the same to you, but iGameMom gets a small percentage. Thanks for your support! Note: The link works for all countries.
Looking for more free reading programs for kids? Check out 10 Free Reading Programs Continuously Offer Free Books for Kids. These programs are not just free apps, they are programs offering free books daily, weekly, and monthly.
You may also like 9 Free Online Non Fiction Reading Resources for Kids.
