Newsela launches expanded Novel and Book Studies Collection

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Newsela, the leading K-12 instructional content platform used by over 40 million students and 3.3 million teachers, launched an expanded Novel and Book Studies Collection that features curated, leveled content to support over 120 of the most commonly taught books, novels, and drama. Educators can choose from classics like "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer and "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis, to more contemporary pieces like "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai and "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio.

The collection, available as part of Newsela ELA, supports elementary, middle, and high school English Language Arts instruction and includes author biographies, reference materials, speeches, book reviews, and modern retellings, all intended to build background knowledge, make thematic connections, and extend learning in a compelling and engaging way. All of Newsela's nonfiction content is reproduced at five reading levels, helping teachers differentiate instruction and make learning accessible for all students. Texts are accompanied by state standards-aligned quizzes and writing prompts to infuse skills practice into the lesson.

"The pandemic exacerbated existing disparities in student learning. Research shows that building background knowledge is key to increasing reading comprehension and helping fill learning gaps," said Jennifer Coogan, Chief Content Officer. "For example, it can be challenging for students to understand classics like The Great Gatsby and fully enjoy it without foundational knowledge and context about the Jazz Age and Prohibition. We designed our Novel and Book Studies collection so educators can teach at grade level, while providing students the individual support they need, ensuring growth and not compromising on rigor."

Newsela's foundation lies in creating authentic student learning engagement as the key to improved academic outcomes. With the Novel and Book Studies collection, teachers can pair George Orwell's "1984" with an article that discusses concerns about surveillance with Amazon Alexa, drawing present-day connections. The collection also brings more representative content into instruction, with curated resources for popular 21st century novels and books by a diverse range of authors creating relevance for today's learners.

"With Newsela, I can select articles that are related to the topics discussed in the novel, sometimes there are articles about the author and other times I use it to connect the text to real-world experiences for the students," said Zoretta Sanders-Howard, Secondary Instructional Support Coach in Little Rock, AR. "These are great resources that can help teachers hook students and get them interested in reading different types of stories that they may not have encountered on their own."

This collection is just one of many within the Newsela ELA product, which gives teachers extensive content and instructional resources purpose-built to meet ELA instructional goals. Newsela also offers products in Social Studies, Science, and SEL. For more information about Newsela visit Newsela.com.

ABOUT NEWSELA

Newsela takes authentic, real world content from trusted sources and makes it instruction ready for K-12 classrooms. Each text is published at five reading levels, so content is accessible to every learner. Today, over 3.3 million teachers and 40 million students have registered with Newsela for content that's personalized to student interests, accessible to everyone, aligned to instructional standards, and attached to activities and reporting that hold teachers accountable for instruction and students accountable for their work. With over 15,000 texts on our platform and 10 new texts published every day across 20+ genres, Newsela enables educators to go deep on any subject they choose.

SOURCE Newsela