This resource currently contains 10 reading comprehension articles (more are added all the time) for students in grades 8 and up. Tackle literacy and science by having your students read and answer questions from a scientific article.

Each article highlights and explains key concepts for students’ understanding at a level they can comprehend. Each reading includes Reading Comprehension questions and answers that test students’ concept understanding (directly from the paper), thinking, and connecting, along with optional Extension Questions that challenge students to perform additional work and research outside the paper.

The following readings are included in the bundle

• The Northern and Southern Lights

• The Limitations of Space Travel

• Why is the Sky Blue? An application of light waves

• Stars - The Element Factories of the Universe

• Solar and Lunar Eclipses

• How Weather Works

• Planets

• Climate Change

• Greenhouse Effect

• How the Dinosaurs Died

No prep, no formatting, no issues. Simply download, print (or upload to your class site), and you’re all set!

-------------------------------------

The Problem You Face - Not having the time to properly teach scientific literacy (disciplinary literacy) or improve your student's reading comprehension and analysis skills.

The Solution

These fully editable, NO PREP reading comprehension articles are composed of relevant, applicable, and engaging reading activities that can be used to:

• introduce your topic

• improve your students' reading comprehension and scientific literacy skills

• improve your students' analysis skills

• provide an extension activity to students who move at a faster pace

• provide extra credit to students in need

• measure your students' literacy skills

Furthermore, these resources work very well as emergency substitute plans as they will keep your students on task and focused while you are away.

Each resource will take your students between 50-75 minutes to complete and includes some open-ended questions. An answer key is also included for your reference.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Praise For My Reading Comprehension Resources:

"Perfect for informational text reading standards! Thanks!"

"I teach middle school science and need to include informational text in my classroom. These readings are great for independent reading for my grade level and upper-level readers. The articles address CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.1 (Citing specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.) and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10 (By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.). The leveled questions allow you to subtly assign the questions to different ability students working in a group.

Topics are relevant to the students and current. Graphics draw the students into the article.

I'm going to have one printed and waiting in for my substitute folder too!

THANKS!"

"Thanks for putting together a wonderful resource."

"I teach Special Education high school science in Maryland in a special school for children with learning disabilities/Autism. I liked the readings and I think students could relate to the topics. I know these are too high a reading level for most of my students and I would read it out loud and highlight the important information together. I would not be able to use the higher order thinking questions (which I like) with these kids. For my high students (very few of these in my school :), I really like these especially how you noted where you got the information which if they were inclined, they could go back to the original source. I like that you have scaffolded the questions and I would only be able to use these with a handful of students, but I think in a regular high school classroom (I spent many years in regular ed) these are spot on. Thank you for sharing."

--------------------------------------------------

Each summary is rich with age-appropriate content (grades 8 and up) and is 2.5-3 pages long (13-font). Following each is a list of 8-13 questions along with the answer key, which will help guide your student's understanding.

How this product will help your students:

- Improve their scientific and disciplinary literacy skills

- Improve their reading comprehension and scientific knowledge

- Give them insights into important scientific concepts

- Provide an extension activity for your faster-moving/more gifted students

How this product will help you:

- Allow you to meet the NGSS, TEKS, and Common Core Standards

- Provide you with a concise introduction to your topic

- Provide you with an engaging and easy-to-leave substitute plan that will keep your students engaged and on task

- Prove you a means of measuring your students' literacy skills

We don't spend enough time teaching scientific literacy to our students. This is either because we don't have the resources to do so effectively or we don't have the time. However, teaching our students to become scientifically literate is vital if we want them to succeed in life. We need them to know about the world they live in and about the issues they face. Even issues as simple as the common cold are misunderstood and can lead to the misuse of antibacterial drugs eventually rendering them ineffective.

It can be used as a tool in your teaching arsenal on a regular basis, an extension activity for your faster learners, left for a substitute in an emergency or planned absence or as an extra bit of information for a topic.

For free resources, useful teaching tips, and tools, please visit my blog - TeachScienceWithFergy.com

If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email - devon@teachwithfergy.com