Finding Text in ANY Content Area
Updated with new Databases in MackinVIA!
AISD Literacy Initiative: "Throughout, Inside, Beyond"
Click here to access the Literacy Plan website.
Traditional Ways of Finding Text
- Textbooks (often not-so-engaging)
- Print magazines
- Classroom/ Campus/ Public Libraries
Have you checked your DIGITAL library lately?
How to Access The Library Digital Resources:
Comics Plus
Comics Plus is a NEW purchase by the district. When school starts, students will be able to access it through MackinVIA (through the cloud). Until it is set up, there is a trial account to check it out: https://austinisdhigh.comicsplus.app. (You will need to set up a free account.)
Common Lit
Commonlit offers multiple texts in history, government, economics, and science in thematic sets; all are lexiled and have multiple choice questions, discussion questions, and writing prompts. You can even track student progress in answering the questions!
MackinVIA
MackinVIA is like a digital library! MackinVIA works as a way to check out e-books for students straight onto their devices or onto a classroom laptop/desktop for a limited amount of time. For login info, click here, or just go into the Portal. You can find the MackinVIA icon under Education in the AISD cloud.
Tumble Teen Book Cloud
This is a NEW purchase by the district! Use the portal to access MackinVIA, then select EBOOKS in order to access this tool. The TeenBookCloud Collection has about 1000 titles, including 372 ebooks, 155 Enhanced Ebooks, 120 audio books, 120 national geographic videos, and 74 graphic novels! Plus, there are hundreds of TumbleQuizzes and other Teacher Resources.
RocketList - BirdBrain Science or History
RocketLit (formally Birdbrain Science or History) will let you read and assign articles and questions at elementary, middle, and high school levels of text. The texts are funny, engaging, and full of visuals and cover a wide variety of topics! You will need to sign up to use it, but the first 2-3 months are free. (If you like it and use it often, the pricing is very affordable (starting at $5/month).
Research with EBSCO
Texts, primary source documents, and more - accessible through the AISD Cloud under Education. (Click on Ebsco and Searchasaurus)
NewsELA
Newsela.com offers texts at 5 reading levels AND texts in Spanish! You can create a free account to access texts and accompanying quizzes.
ReadWorks
ReadWorks.org offers expository and literary texts, includes target grade level, Lexile reading level, and content area(s). Each text is followed by several questions.
Discovery Education
Texts, videos, primary source documents, lesson plans, and more- accessible through the AISD Cloud under Classroom Resources.
Even More Resources
Online text resources such as Kelly Gallagher's Article of the Week, Time for Kids online, Discover Magazine, Archives.gov,http://walkinginmathland.weebly.com/ and Times - Image of the Week (great for inferential thinking)
See the Sites!
Take a few minutes to explore the sites and find a few articles you can use in your classroom.
*Also don't forget about your school librarian! If you want multiple books on a certain subject or topic to augment student learning, ask them to bring you a cart on the topic!
This is great for students who finish class work early - let them read to deepen their understanding!