The Chrome browser is so dynamic that I’m often amazed at its functionality and how it can help the many students who are now reading on digital devices. If you have students who need a better reading experience or struggle with reading comprehension, then there are some apps and extensions that will help them. And many of these will be perfect for differentiating learning!
Reading Comprehension
Newsela – This is one of my favorite Chrome apps that I always feature in my trainings. Newsela features current event articles covering many subjects, each written at five different Lexile levels. With this extension, students can read the same material at an appropriate level for themselves.
TLDR: Summarize Anything – The TLDR extension creates a short summary of any web article without leaving the original page. This will help students discern the most important ideas in the article they are reading.
Word Cloud Website Preview – I love word clouds, so this is another favorite of mine! This extension can turn any content from the web into a word cloud. The word cloud can then be reviewed to summarize the content on the page or to help decipher key words used.
Readability
ATbar – This Chrome extension provides you with a toolbar that has many features including color overlays for web pages, a dictionary, text to speech, word prediction, and more.
BeeLine Reader – Bee Line Reader is another one of my most beloved extensions, so much so that I wrote a blog entry about it here. It creates a more readable version of a website by removing all of the ads and other extra distracting items. In addition, a color gradient can be applied to the page in order to guide the eye from one line to the next.
MagicScroll Web Reader – This extension turns web pages into a flippable ebook. Its unique scrolling system lets you scroll web pages without moving them. This makes it easier to read long articles without being distracted.
Mercury Reader – If your students are easily distracted, then they might want to get Mercury Reader. It makes any website easier to read by removing ads and distractions. You can also adjust the font size and color scheme of the new text.
This list is just a few of the many Chrome extensions and apps that help with readability and reading comprehension. We will be sharing many more in our upcoming monthly Get Your Google On webinars, so make sure you register for them today.
If you discovered other app and extensions that work with the Chrome browser to help students with reading, please share in the Comments section below.
This blog was updated with new content and resources on October 15, 2017.
