The Common Core State Standards place a special emphasis on reading informational text. Teachers often proclaim how excited students are to learn about the world around them. Whether it’s the latest news from Mars or information about a typhoon that struck last week, kids want to know all about it.  How can we harness that enthusiasm for nonfiction to help students become great readers? How can we make sure kids are engaged and inspired as they work to master the standards? In the edWeb.net Real World Literacy and the Common Core community’s latest webinar, presenters Suzanne Zimbler and Jaime Joyce of TIME For Kids shared five engaging activities for meeting the Common Core State Standards in grades 2–8.  They shared sample texts and tools that can be used immediately to build standards-based literacy skills. View the webinar to learn more about how these real-world reading skills are critical across the curriculum.