Seek Magazines with Short Nonfiction Passages
Students juggle many tasts on the state assessment. Not only are there multiple choice and open-ended questions that follow the reading selections, but students must also write to an extended-response prompt. This requires students to read and comprehend, and also to think and support their ideas with specific text references.
One way to help students with this type of crunch-time reading and writing is to give them more opportunities in class to read shorter pieces (short stories, short biographies, nonfiction passages on content-area topics, poems on content-area topics, etc.) However, much of the reading done during the school day in language arts includes long chapters and novels, or week-long basal stories. Students need exposure to short, informational, on-demand reading.
Some of my favorite resources for this type of text include subscriptions to Ladybug (K-2 readers), Spider (Grades 3-5), Cricket (Grades 6-8), or Cicada (Grades 9-12).
What I love is that these publications offer the short passages on various topics and in a variety of genres. For example, there are biographies and content-area poems and imaginary narratives and nonfiction and sci-fi. Click on the titles below for an excerpt from Cricket magazine so you have an idea of what you might expect.
Here is a thorough list of additional publications for this same kind of text:http://www.cricketmag.com/CKT-CRICKET-Magazine-for-Kids-ages-9-14
American Girl – for girls ages 8-12
Appleseeds – an adventure exploration magazine for ages 6-9
Ask – science magazine for ages 6-9
Baseball Youth – partnered with the Major League Baseball Association
BMX Plus! – for BMXers of all ages
Boy’s Life – official Boys’ Scout magazine
Boy’s Quest – for boys ages 6-14
Calliope – world history for ages 9-14
Chickadee – for ages 6-9
Chirp – for ages 3-6
Click – science and exploration magazine for ages 3-6
Cobblestone – historical adventure magazine
Creative Kids – magazine created by and for kids ages 8-14
Dig – archaeological exploration for children
Discovery Girls – for tweens, by tweens – no models used
Faces – world cultures for ages 9-14
GamePro – for video gamers ages 9 and up
Highlights for Children – the “fun with a purpose” magazine for kids
Hopscotch for Girls – for elementary and middle school aged girls
Humpty Dumpty – for ages 5-7
Inside Cheerleading – for cheerleaders middle school age and up
Inside Gymnastics – for gymnasts, coaches, and fans
Jack and Jill – for ages 6-12
Junior Baseball – for players 7 through high school
Kids Discover – each issue deals with a single nonfiction topic for ages 7-12
Ladybug – for ages 3-6
Muse – science, history, and art all in one for ages 9-14
National Geographic Kids – for school-aged children
National Geographic Little Kids – for young children
Owl – for ages 9-12
Ranger Rick – wildlife for children
Skateboarding – for any age skateboarder
Spider – for ages 6-9
Sports Illustrated for Kids – for ages 9 and up
Young Rider – for horseback riders ages 9 and up
Your Big Backyard – for ages 3-7
Zoobies – for the youngest animal enthusiasts
Zoobooks – for ages 6-12
Zootles – for ages 2-6
