Independent Reading Challenge
Encourage independent reading with a new student-led, monthly reading challenge. Students can read articles across different engaging topics, and complete activities to earn tokens and monthly reading badges.
General FAQs
Are teachers and students able to see all content that is included in the reading challenge?
The topics within the challenge are divided by subject - ELA, social studies, science, and SEL. Teachers and students have access to the topics that align with their license(s).
How many articles are included each month?
Each subject has three engaging topics students can explore, with nine articles per topic. The total amount of articles is dependent on the students’ license.
Where can I find the reading challenge?
You can find the monthly reading challenge on both teachers' and students' homepage, as well as https://newsela.com/challenges/
Who has access to the monthly reading challenge?
Users with Newsela ELA, Newsela Social Studies, Newsela Science, and Newsela SEL all have access to the monthly reading challenge.
The Teacher Experience
How can teachers see what content students are reading?
Teachers can visit the challenge page to view student progress. They can also visit their binder and click on an individual students’ Reading Summary to view the content they are reading on Newsela.
Can I assign the reading challenge to my students?
Teachers can not assign the reading challenge but should encourage student participation.
The Student Experience
How do students complete the challenge?
Students must read the specified number of articles and complete the associated quiz and/or Power Words activity to earn credit towards their monthly reading challenge badge.
Students in lower grade bands must read five articles and complete the quiz and/or power words activity to complete the challenge.
Students in upper grade bands must read nine articles and complete the quiz and/or power words activity to complete the challenge.
What do students get when they complete the challenge?
Students will earn a badge that will appear on their monthly reading challenge dashboard.
Do students have to read articles from the same topic?
No! Students can read any articles across the topics that are included in the challenge.
How do students earn tokens?
Students earn tokens by completing any quiz or Power Words activity associated with an article in the reading challenge.
What can students get with the tokens they earn?
We are currently exploring different ways students can redeem their tokens. For now, students will continue to accrue tokens to redeem in the future.