Thursday, July 26, 2012

What's the Word on Weekly Reader and Scholastic News + FREEBIE!!

Happy Thursday Friends!,
Before I get started, I posted my Back to School 650 Follower Giveaway yesterday!! Click on the picture to head over & enter if you haven't already! You don't want to miss out. There's 6 gift cards up for grabs & 6 winners!! :)

Also...I'm extending my Christmas in July sale in my lil' ol' TPT store since TPT was down for most of the day yesterday. You can get 20% off of all of my products until midnight, so head on over & go shopping!! :) Click HERE to go to my store.
Now on to my topic for today!
I wanted to talk about one of my favorite classroom resources today: Weekly Reader & Scholastic News.
  Weekly Reader Grade 1
How many of you have used Weekly Reader or Scholastic News in your classroom?
Weekly Reader and Scholastic News is a year long program where they provide you with a reader for every week of the school year. My students love this because they are all nonfiction. There is something about nonfiction reading that my students can't seem to get enough of at this age.
You can order it by grade level. On average it's about $4.29/student. It sounds a bit steep, but I can vouch for my students last year & tell you that they absolutely loved it. Every Friday for morning work, my students would read the Weekly Reader independently. Then, there is a little Q & A section  for them to complete. Later on in the morning, we would go over the Weekly Reader together and discuss it.
I love this because....
a) It gets my students reading about topics of interests, even those students who struggle with reading.
b) It aligns to Common Core Standards!!
c) It increases reading vocabulary and comprehension.
d) It helps them use their analytical skills.
This year, I decided to go with Scholastic News instead of Weekly Reader, because I liked how they had an interactive activity on each page for students to complete. Here's an example of an issue:
I decided for this year to extend it even further. I am going to have them complete a sheet where they have to write down 2 important things that they learned from the Scholastic News & draw a picture. Click below on the sheet if this is something that you would be interested in having. It is free in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Click on either picture to download it!

Have a Thrilling Thursday!,

12 comments:

  1. I use Scholastic News all the time in my classroom! I have my students work in partners on it and it's interesting to listen to the conversations they have about the different topics. Thanks for the freebie!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  2. I got something in the mail as a new teacher and they said they're combining Weekly Reader & Scholastic together! Have you heard about this??? I've never used either, but we tried to use Scholastic in my internship - the kids hated it though because it was busy work (I wouldn't blame them...) and they never got any sort of feedback on it. I would absolutely love to use it in my future classroom though!

    Sara
    Miss V's Busy Bees
    I'm having a 2-0-0 follower giveaway - come on by!

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  3. I used Weekly Reader last year and loved it. The kiddos really liked when I used the Digital on-line version. They enjoyed the videos and songs. This year I'm trying Scholastic News. I feel like it has more to it and it was the one the 2nd grade teacher used. I like the idea of having the kiddos respond to it. I used mine on Fridays too. It was something fun and different the kids got to look forward to doing.

    Heather
    The Busy Busy Hive

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  4. I heard that WR is actually not coming back this year. It's merging with Scholastic News. I love WR so was sad to hear this. I've never tried Scholastic News but may this year. Thanks for the freebie! I will definitely be using it if our school gets SN this year.

    Marlene

    I Heart Teaching Elementary

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  5. What a great post! We actually used TIME for Kids last year to enhance our social studies curriculum, and it was great. I have posted my first Donors Choose Project to see if I can get some help funding them for my class. :-)

    Molly

    Psyched to be in 2nd!

    My DonorsChoose Giving Page

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  6. I have used Weekly Readers but I'm excited to try out Scholastic News.
    Thanks for sharing your awesome sheets.
    Michele

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  7. Hmm I haven't used either, but they look great! I will have to look into them this year :) Thanks for sharing the freebie to go with them!

    Jennifer @ Herding Kats In Kindergarten

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  8. I use the Scholastic readers and I love them. (the ones with Clifford) Thanks for sharing about this freebie! It's great!

    Erica
    Sprinkles to Kindergarten
    erica_crowder0612@yahoo.com

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  9. Oh, Lisa! What a great idea! Thanks! I love using my Weekly Reader and this really stregthens the home/school connection as well when parents can actually read/see what kids have learned.

    In my school, we do this "Ducky" program and get them for free. It does require kids to fill in addresses at home (which I HATE!) but it wasn't run by me and I did reap the benefits so YEA! For every certain amount returned, you get free copies/class sets. When kids return the forms, they get to pick a rubber duckie CUTE necklace. They pick from various ones. My secretary was so into it and made it so much fun for the kids. The company send a few BLINGY ducks that the administration gets. However, the class that brought in most forms got to have the Bling Bling Duck for the day. VERY cute! You may want to check into the program.

    Again, thanks for this! I'll be using it!

    Firstgradebloomabilities

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  10. I ordered Scholastic News last year and really enjoyed it. The only problem I had was getting money from every student, so I ended up paying a lot out of pocket. My class did like them and I used it for my newspaper literacy center. Scholastic has a two page printable with each issue, which is really nice!

    Mrs. T
    Teaching Mrs.T

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  11. Interesting! We have used Weekly Reader for several years... but the merge is news to me! My students loved the interactive component of WR, so I hope that Scholastic News continues with that part. I love your response sheet-- thanks for sharing!

    Kate
    EduKate and Inspire

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  12. I teach 6th graders and they loved the Scholastic News. The biggest way I held them accountable (and stressed complete responses to questions) was using the Scholastic News Skill Sheets on the website that come with each issue. I'd print out the Big Idea (they had to summarize each article in complete sentences, siting evidence) and Quiz Whiz to see if they really read the issues or just skimmed. There are typically 5 or 6 different skill sheets each issue from which to choose. http://sni.scholastic.com/

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