News-O-Matic is a service that offers daily news stories for elementary school students. Along with the news stories News-O-Matic provides videos, games, and quizzes to help students learn about the world. The latest update to the News-O-Matic iPad app introduced an option to quickly switch between an English and a Spanish version of the app.
News-O-Matic does a good job of offering students a number of options for learning about the topic of a chosen news article. When students choose articles from the News-O-Matic homescreen they are taken directly to that article where they can then read the article as is or choose to have it read aloud to them. A menu to the right of each article contains access to additional features like a summary of key facts, tools for highlighting sections of the article, and slideshows and videos related to the topic of the chosen article.
News-O-Matic is a subscription service. The app is free to install and use for accessing some articles. A subscription is required in order to unlock all of the app’s features.
