Are you looking for engaging reading activities to use with your students? Do your students struggle with actively thinking about the text as they read? These engaging Newsela reading activities using the See, Think, Wonder strategy are guaranteed to be effective with your intermediate elementary students.
What is Newsela?
Newsela is definitely my #1 go-to resource to find engaging nonfiction content for students! This FREE website offers high-interest articles about current topics. But the best part is that you can differentiate the content for your students. It offers the same article at multiple Lexile levels, which means all students can access the same content at their individual reading levels (starting at 2nd-grade level). This is extremely beneficial for students who are below grade level as it can be hard to find engaging content at the lower reading levels. Not only that, nonfiction reading is a skill that needs to be developed with students but it can be challenging to find high-interest articles – thankfully Newsela has a wealth of them available!
The articles all include comprehension questions that you can use with students. There is a paid version of Newsela which allows teachers to assign articles and comprehension questions; however, there’s so much you can do with the free version. Keep reading to learn about the engaging Newsela reading activities you can implement with your students.
How to use Newsela Articles for See Think Wonder
To introduce the text, I use an image or Youtube video to build students’ background knowledge. Since the content on Newsela focuses on pop culture trends and other viral content, it is easy to find pictures and videos to supplement the articles. These obviously increase motivation, build background knowledge, and improve engagement. This along with the fact that the text is high-interest for students makes Newsela’s articles perfect to use with the See, Think, Wonder strategy.
Students begin by discussing or recording their thinking about the image or video using the See, Think, Wonder structure. They will naturally begin to make predictions, inferences, and connections to help them better understand the content. By taking the time to build background knowledge first, students will be better equipped to comprehend the Newsela article.
After building background knowledge through an image or video, you can introduce the article. Your first several times using See, Think, Wonder with text will require a lot of teacher modeling. You’ll want to show students how to highlight and annotate the text to show their thinking. You may want to come up with specific symbols to represent See, Think, and Wonder.
With enough modeling and practice, students will begin independently using these thinking strategies while reading. You can provide them with additional articles to practice annotating the text. Another option is to provide a graphic organizer for them to record their thinking. This type of authentic reading activity encourages critical thinking at a much deeper level than answering questions about what they read.
Teacher Tips:
- This takes time!! You’ll need to provide lots of modeling and practice for students to begin to implement this type of thinking independently.
- You can break these activities up over multiple days. I typically build background knowledge on day 1 and then read the article with students the next day.
- It helps to break the article down into paragraphs or sections rather than trying to analyze it all at once!
- The “See” part when using an article refers to the text evidence. They can highlight a word or phrase that stands out to them. Students can then explain or record their thinking based on that part of the text.
- Find out more See, Think, Wonder Examples you can easily implement with your students!
Newsela Reading Activities
As previously mentioned, Newsela offers a wealth of high-interest articles. In fact, it can be a bit overwhelming. In order to make it easier for you to begin using these with students right away, I’m sharing some of my students’ favorite articles. I’ve also provided links to the corresponding YouTube videos I use to build background knowledge prior to reading.
A Dog Mayor
Find out how a dog in California was elected as Mayor of one small town! Students will also learn about the mayor’s daily duties and responsibilities!
Lego Animal Sculptures
Kids LOVE legos, so they’re guaranteed to love this article! Sean Kenney uses thousands of legos to build animal sculptures. Students will learn how and why he creates this type of art.
Giant Trolls Made of Trash
Thomas Dambo makes huge troll sculptures completely from recycled wood. His creations are sure to spark students’ imaginations!
Instruments Made from Ice
Tim Linhart is an American ice sculptor who makes instruments completely out of ice. And yes, the instruments actually work!!
Other Engaging Articles
These are a few of the other articles I’ve used with my students that were highly engaging!
- Should Cell Phones Be Allowed in Schools?
- Fortnite Debate
- Teen Greets His Brother in a New Costume Everyday
- Thanksgiving Time Machine
- Wacky Valentine’s Day Bouquets
Students love these engaging pictures!
Are you ready to start using these Newsela Reading Activities with your students? Be sure to download the FREE anchor chart and a graphic organizer to help you get started using the See, Think, Wonder Strategy with your students!
Want to Learn More?
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I would love to see an example of what a student annotated article may look like using this strategy!
What a great suggestion!! I am going to start this with some of my groups next week, so I am happy to save some samples to upload!