Using Google and Google Classrooms for Teachers
Teachers can sign in, sync classes, and roster students using Google and Google Classrooms. Use this Getting Started Guide to walk you through the steps and FAQs of using Newsela with Google Classroom.
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Signing in
Go to newsela.com.
Click Sign In.
Click Google.
Enter your School/District Google credentials.
If you’ve accessed Newsela before with this email, you will be taken right to the Newsela homepage.
Signing in for the first time
Newsela will ask you a few questions about your role and your school:
If you are a teacher or administrator please select I’m an Educator for full access to your subscription. (Selecting “I’m a student”’ will restrict access to features and content . If you are an educator who signed up as a student in error, please contact us.)
Click Google.
Enter your School/District Google credentials.
Make sure to use your school email address. This helps us connect you to the correct school.
Once you respond to the questions, you’ll receive a verification email from Newsela. If you don’t receive a verification email, contact us.
Syncing Classes and Rosters from Google Classroom
If you have classes and students set up in Google Classroom, you can import those classes and rosters into Newsela.
Go to your Class Directory by clicking your name in the upper right-hand corner, selecting Settings, then clicking the Class Directory tab from the settings menu.
Click Sync with Google.
Select the classes you want to import, choose a grade level and subject for each, then click Sync Selected Classes.
You may need to wait for the sync to complete.
To confirm that your students are in your class, go to your Student Directory where next to each student their respective class will be listed, or go to your Class Directory where under you can click into the specific class' page in which you'll see a list of all the students currently in the class under the "Students" tab. The student roster in Newsela should correspond to the student roster in Google Classroom.
Imported students will see your class on their settings page.
Assigning in Google Classroom
Teachers have the ability to attach Newsela articles to assignments, materials, and discussion board posts in Google Classroom.
Find the article that you would like to assign.
Create an assignment in Newsela, by clicking the assign button and following the prompts.
Once your assignment has been created, click the Share icon underneath the information.
Choose Google Classroom from the drop-down menu.
This will open Google Classroom in a new tab. On this page, choose the class to which you would like to assign the article.
Once the class is selected, you can create an assignment, ask your students a question about the article, make an announcement, or create other material.
Click Go in the bottom right of the page.
This will take you to the assignment creation page where you can create an assignment. You can select one or more classes from the Classes dropdown menu at the top-left.
After the assignment is created, a message that the assignment has been posted to your class will appear. Click the View button to view your class stream where you will see the assignment posted to your classroom.
Click the Classwork tab at the top of the page to see the created assignment including the embedded Newsela article.
Assignments created in Google or in Newsela only exist on that platform. We recommend creating an assignment in Newsela that corresponds to the assignment created in Google classroom to simplify grading and reporting. You can learn more about creating assignments here.
When students click on the article in Google classroom, they will be taken to Newsela. Students must be signed into both Newsela and Google Classroom to be directed to the article you share.
Adding a Newsela content link directly within Google Classroom
Newsela content can be searched and added into Google Classroom Instructional Activities directly from Google Classroom if you use Google Chrome. When you select Newsela content from within Google Classroom, no Newsela assignment is created. Students will be linked to the article, and complete the work as independent reading, unless you also assign the article in Newsela.
The Google extension can also be added to students’ browsers to allow them to search and add content links directly into discussion board post or anywhere the “Add Link” option is available in Google Classroom.
Enabling the Newsela Search and Assign Extension for Google Classroom
To enable this feature,
Open or Download the Google Chrome browser
Navigate to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/newsela-google-classroom/mhpdeoicbejhlhbljpaadliigmifdajh?hl=en&authuser=0
Locate the Newsela Google Classroom Extension and select “Add to Chrome.”
If installed properly, you should see a Newsela icon listed as an installed browser extension in your Chrome Extensions page (chrome://extensions/ in your url bar).
To ensure that the Newsela icon is easily accessible, click on the puzzle icon to show the list of installed extensions and select the pin next to the Newsela icon.
Searching and Adding an article
Create a Google Classroom instructional object.
Select “Add,” then “Link” to include a link.
Select the Newsela icon to launch the content search experience.
Enter a search term to Search for content.
Click any filter option to Filter search results.
Click a card to Preview article content and activities.
Click “Close” to return to the search results.
Click “Add” to add a link to Newsela content into the Google assignment from the browse or search results page.
Add this content as a Newsela Assignment to be able to view and grade it in Assignments.