CommonLit: Free Online Library of Texts

Studying is a challenging process and sometimes finding the right material for the classroom can be difficult. Obviously, the relevant books can be easily found at the libraries, both physical and online ones and can help you to write perfect essay. However, who has the time to read all available books in order to find the specifically required short passage?

• 

Michelle Brown, the founder and CEO of CommonLit, has decided that it is the time to simplify the studying process for students and teachers. She created an award-winning free online library of the best reading passages. The library offers a collection of the instructional materials in different genres for grades from 3 to 12. It appears to be both student and teacher friendly platform with an easy-to-find-format. CommonLit is all about supporting the literacy development of the students by providing them with an easy access to valuable resources.

Browsing

The interface of the website looks great and it is very easy to navigate. You can search and filter the huge collection of fiction and non-fiction texts by grade, theme, genre, and devices. You can also find the required information by choosing the related book, and the list of thematically relevant publications will appear for your consideration. Besides English texts, you have an option to access literary resources in Spanish.

Sources

The high-quality publications come from many different sources, such as classic works, professional publications, journal articles and writings donated by various authors.

Beneficial Features 

• The website allows a reader to choose a font size for more comfortable reading and easier navigation.
• Footnotes and glossary are helpful for students who are not familiar with certain key terms in the article.
• Each text is supplemented with the background information and a brief summary, which can help students decide what to focus on.
• Every publication has text-related question answering which will help students contemplate on what they have read and come up with their own conclusion.
• If you have read the article and think that you need to study the subject further, there is such an option as paired texts. The relevant material was preliminary hand-selected according to the topic discussed in the article. Publications can be paired with different aspects, such as, for example, theme or used literary device.
• Here is another helpful feature aimed to improve the understanding of the subject by the student. Besides just reading the article, it is possible to get a better grasp of the topic with the help of audio and video clips. The multimedia experience can take the learning process to a new higher level.
• The teachers have an option to track students learning progress, analyze their performance and adjust the teaching program accordingly.
• Studying is not about the involvement of a student and teacher only. Parents can also take an active part in helping the child reach his academic goals. Due to this, CommonLit provides a parent guide with the texts so that learning at home could strengthen the knowledge gained at the classroom.
• CommonLit is convinced that teachers shouldn’t have to pay so the company promised that the service will always remain free.

If you have not yet discovered the beauty of CommonLit, you must check it out. The library regularly adds new exciting features and there’s still a lot of interesting stuff to come in future. If you care about academic performance, using CommonLit resources is a must.