It’s the opposite of boring! Short, high-interest, high-quality nonfiction by award-winning authors, free and ready to use in your classroom. I am one of the authors. Go to www.nonfictionminute.com for a new piece of writing every school day, with an audio clip of the author reading his or her work. Some of the “Minutes” are fascinating, some are funny, some are amazing, and all are page-turners (except there’s no page to turn). They are quick, riveting reads for intermediate grades and up, covering a wide range of real world subjects. Have your students you’re your own children) read them, listen to them — or both. It’s manna from cyberheaven, and it’s totally free.

Here are a few of the rave reviews we’ve gotten from teachers who realize that The Nonfiction Minute is a boon to anyone who wants to teach the standards, improve skills and excite children about learning.:

• “Wow is all I can say. I loved the stories and I know my struggling readers will too.”
• “These sound bites are delightful. They add information and satisfying detail to topics that should be of interest to all. Thank you on behalf of children and quality learning.”
• “This is specatacular! I love it!!”
• “I love The Nonfiction Minute! I am using it with my own child as well as my students. . . Keep it up! It’s really cool!
• “I’ve just discovered this nifty site… AWESOME! I am always looking for interesting non-fiction sources to suit my quirky students. I struck gold with you guys!”

The Nonfiction Minute is free, and not just free for the first month, with your credit card charged after that. But we do have expenses, we need to make improvements to the website, and we’d like to get paid just an itsy bit for our writing output – isn’t that what it means to be a professional? We do not want to accept advertising, but we have a number possible funding sources. What will convince them? Numbers. High numbers of hits, that is. We’re averaging a little over 2,000 per day – pretty good, considering that we’re less than six months old – but not quite high enough to get the money bags to start pouring in our direction.

So . . . every visit you make to The Nonfiction Minute provides you with teachable moments for memorable learning AND provides us with a chance to keep those “Minutes” going your way. If you like them, visit often and please help spread the word in your school and social networks.