Students navigate an endless stream of information and misinformation online, and AI has only muddied the waters further. To make sense of it all, news literacy is not optional – it’s an essential skill that students will depend on throughout their lives. News literacy empowers students to make informed decisions with immediate and lasting impact — from health to friendships to civics and beyond.
With our free, standards-aligned lessons, activities, infographics and professional learning you can help students recognize different types of information, identify misinformation, understand AI and more.
Your first stop: Checkology®
Save prep time with Checkology. Aligned to standards and proven to work, this browser-based digital learning platform contains 250+ quizzes, posters, classroom slides and interactive lessons.
After creating your FREE account, search “starter pack” in Checkology to find all the resources included on this page.
Already using Checkology? Jump straight to the resources or professional learning opportunities.
Quick guides to get started
Step 1: Get ready
Learn how to get set up on Checkology, access resources and assign lessons. Download these one-page guides.
(For educators with Checkology accounts: Skip to Step 2!)
👉For administrators:
Bring Checkology to Your District
👉For educators:
Checkology Quick Start Guide
Step 2: Find resources that fit your needs
Explore our News Literacy Starter Pack, a curated collection of classroom-ready teaching tools designed to help you incorporate news literacy into your curriculum. Save it for future planning or share it with colleagues!
ℹ️ Need help getting your district set up on Clever? Complete this form and we’ll reach out to your district administrator(s).
Resources
Start with our popular and newest resources, organized to help you jump right in with teaching foundational news literacy concepts from the first week of school and throughout the year. Register for a free Checkology account to access everything shown below.
Planning must-haves:
Framework for Teaching News Literacy [instructional support] — Plan news literacy instruction, whether individually or in collaboration with colleagues, with this comprehensive tool.
Grade band expectations for news literacy [instructional support] — Guide students through new concepts with specific learning indicators for K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.
“News Matters” unit plan [lesson plan] — Dive into news literacy with students in grades 3-6, using this dynamic, three-week unit plan developed in partnership with TIME for Kids.
How to teach news literacy in polarizing times [infographic] — Learn eight strategies to help you teach the most important stories and issues of the day while navigating social and political differences to make classroom conversations worthwhile.
NEW this year!
The Information Ecosystem Depends on News [infographic/poster] — This wall poster uses the rich analogy of an ecosystem to help students understand today’s information landscape. The poster comes with supplementary materials, including a reading guide and student handout.
Is it news? [lesson/unit plan] — In this activity tied to the Information Ecosystem Depends on News poster, students consider the role of news in today’s online environment.
Tutorial: Reverse Image Search — This is one of several tutorials from Checkology’s Check Center that walks students through useful fact-checking tools.
What to teach when classroom time is limited:
The Sift® [weekly newsletter] — Subscribe to receive bell ringers and activities in your inbox each week of the school year, starting in September!
Daily Do Now [instructional slides] — Try these easy-to-use activities and discussion-starters from The Sift.
What to teach when you want to help students distinguish real news from ads, opinions and more — and avoid misinformation:
InfoZones [interactive lesson] — Teach students how they can learn to categorize information into one of six “zones,” including news, opinion and advertising.
Is it Legit? [interactive activity] — Learn five steps for evaluating news sources for signs of credibility, and how to recognize red flags that signal a source should be avoided.
Five types of misinformation [infographic/poster] — Help students identify and define five types of misinformation.
What to teach when your district asks you to address artificial intelligence:
AI or not? [lesson plan] — Use this lesson plan, slides and quiz to teach about the impact of generative AI technology on the information landscape.
“Introduction to Algorithms” [interactive lesson] — Help students understand the world of algorithms and AI and weigh the civic and social impact of these technologies.
6 things to know about AI [infographic/poster] — Get an overview of how AI technology works and gain key news literacy takeaways to keep in mind as these tools evolve.
Bonus links
Visit our resource hub to discover even more tools for teaching about AI, including RumorGuard® posts and slides, and our explainer videos from social media.
Access our YouTube playlist of short social media videos designed to help students sharpen their critical thinking around AI.
Visit our resource hub to find even more printable, adaptable tools for teaching news literacy skills without adding to screentime.
Events
Join us for these free educator events aimed at helping you supercharge your news literacy curriculum and boost students’ understanding of quality journalism, the spread of misinformation, the impact of AI technologies and more.
📅 Tuesday, July 21
11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT
Navigating Information, Misinformation and AI: Where Do We Start?
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Join us for an interactive webinar that will introduce the fundamentals of news literacy and explore practical ways to incorporate it into your curriculum as you kick off the school year. This event is presented as part of Share My Lesson’s 2026 Summer of Learning.
📅 Thursday, Aug. 13
12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT
News Literacy for Every Classroom: An Integrated Approach
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Discover ways to embed news literacy into your discipline to help students make informed decisions, during this edWebinar. You’ll get a walkthrough of NLP’s Framework for Teaching News Literacy and Grade Band Expectations, along with practical tips and strategies for incorporating relevant topics and lessons into your curricula — without starting from scratch.
📅 Tuesday, Aug. 18
6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
Start strong with news literacy: Checkology®
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Just getting started with Checkology or looking for a refresher? This 30-minute session will walk you through the quick steps to get you there and introduce the wide range of resources available on the platform, including posters, infographics, lesson plans and instructional supports.
📅 Tuesday, Aug. 25
4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
Start strong with news literacy: The Sift®
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Get a close look at The Sift, the News Literacy Project’s weekly newsletter for educators, during this 30-minute webinar. You’ll learn about The Sift’s free weekly Daily Do Now and RumorGuard® teaching slides and receive insights into how to incorporate these quick-hit resources into your plans.
Extra support
Let’s make this school year your strongest one yet.
Want help planning your news literacy instruction? We’re here for you. For general questions, email info@newslit.org. For Checkology implementation questions, particularly around using Clever to access Checkology, email checkologyhelp@newslit.org.
ℹ️ Need help getting your district set up on Clever? Complete this form and we’ll reach out to your district administrator(s).