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Wacky Ways to Learn Parts of Speech!

February 1st, 2012

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, August 22, 2007 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Wacky Tales

Age Range:  7-12 (and fun for all!)

Houghton Mifflin (the education textbook publisher) sponsors this website that helps kids learn parts of speech – nouns, adverbs, adjectives, verbs, etc.  Using interactive stories called “Wacky Web Tales” they offer an online version of the classic car game, Mad Libs.

When you get to the site you’ll see a menu of Wacky Web Tales titles. Click on any one and a new page opens that reveals the story title and a form. The form requires you to type in parts of speech (such as a singular noun, adjective, or present tense verb). The words you enter will be used to create a Wacky Web Tale — simply click on the “See Your Wacky Web Tale” button at the bottom of the form.

If you are unsure what an adverb (or any other part of speech called for on the form) is – just click on the “Parts of Speech Help” button for some quick definitions.

Because you don’t know how the parts of speech you filled in on the form will be used in the story – the resulting Wacky Web Tale can be pretty funny. :)

This is a painless way to learn, reinforce, or remediate parts of speech.

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Shakespeare for Kids!

January 25th, 2012

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 24, 2012 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Shakespeare for Kids

Age Range: 9 and up (with parental supervision)

The Folger Shakespeare Library offers this fun website that introduces kids to Shakespeare through fun games and activities.  When you get to the site you’ll see an icon menu that includes:

*Words, Words, Words – Unscramble letters to reveal words from Shakespeare’s plays, learn new vocabulary by discovering the meaning of “Weird Words” in Shakespeare’s works. Try creating Shakespearean insults or compliments. Learn some common idioms that originated in Shakespeare’s plays. Print out scripts for plays and perform scenes at home.

*Fun Facts – Learn trivia about Shakespeare’s life and times.

*Games & Coloring Puzzles – Enjoy playing interactive mazes, crosswords, and word searches based on Shakespeare’s plays.  You can color and do jigsaw puzzles too!

*Shakespeare Challenges – Answer trivia questions about Shakespeare’s plays, or read a quote and try to guess which character said it.

*Who Am I? – Use clues to identify characters from Shakespeare’s plays.

Want to have a little more in-depth fun?  For historical perspective, be sure to click on the links to “Discover Our Collection” and “Queen Elizabeth.”

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Seriously Fun Spelling Bee for Grades 3-12!

January 11th, 2012

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 11, 2012 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee
 
Age Range: 8-18 (Grades 3-12, approximately, with parental supervision)

Bookmark this one – it’s a goodie! A Maryland ClickScholar suggested this website that is sponsored by fee-based online Thesaurus service. It offers a free interactive spelling bee that helps students use spelling rules and deductive reasoning skills to assess their spelling ability, learn to spell new words, and acquire new vocabulary.

When you get to the site, you can start to play right away. You’ll hear an audio recording of a random word and see the definition printed on the screen. Simply use the information to guess at the spelling and type in the word.

If you misspell the word, you can guess again. After your second guess, you’ll see “hints” appear on the screen. After three incorrect guesses, you can press the “I Surrender” button to reveal the correct spelling.

The spelling difficulty of this online game will adapt to your skill level automatically based on the number of words you get right or wrong. The more you get right, the harder the words get. The more you get wrong, the easier the words get.

This website also offers a free lesson plan based on the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee for grades 3-12. 

The Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee is fun challenge – and if you love words it can be addictive! It’s a great way to improve spelling skills and expand your knowledge of English vocabulary.

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New Year’s Story & Activities

December 21st, 2011

Hi! It’s Wednesday, December 21, 2011 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

This is the last ClickSchooling review of 2011. ClickSchooling will take a holiday break from Thursday, December 22, 2011 through Monday, January 2, 2012. 

ClickSchooling messages will resume on Tuesday, January 3, 2012. Happy Holidays!  :)

Recommended Website
Activity Village: New Year for Kids!

Age Range: 5-12 (approximately, with parental supervision)

This ad-supported website offers a selection of fun Language Arts activities and free printables to celebrate the New Year. There are a few “for a fee” activities sprinkled among the freebies. So when you get to the site, to get right to the free Language Arts activities just scroll down the center of the page and look for the links to:

*New Year Worksheets – Includes printable pages of New Year story starters.

*New Year Puzzles & Mazes – Includes New Year themed word search puzzles and word games

*New Year Stories – Make your own booklet of Hans Christian Andersen’s Christmas and New Year story, The Little Match Girl. Includes the printable story and coloring pages.

You’ll also find links to New Year crafts, coloring pages, and jigsaw puzzles.

 

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Latin/Greek Root Word Holiday Puzzles!

December 7th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, December 7, 2011 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
MyVocabulary.com: Holiday Tradition Puzzles

Age Range: 6 and up (grades 1-12 approximately, with adult supervision)

This website offers a variety of language arts activities for elementary, middle, and high school students to improve vocabulary, writing, and conversation including holiday-themed Latin/Greek root-word puzzles, trivia, crosswords, and scavenger hunts.

When you get to the site, you’ll see the first vocabulary puzzle for “Christmas/Holiday Traditions” that you must solve using the Latin/Greek root words and vocabulary words. Full instructions are included. Then, scroll down the page to find similar puzzles for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan.

Don’t miss these other holiday vocabulary activities:

*Christmas Crossword Puzzle

*Christmas Trivia Lists - There are 9 fun trivia lists that you can print out and play offline. (Great for long holiday road trips too!) Topics include naming:

  • 14 objects that the Grinch stole at Christmas
  • Holiday Songs with the word “Christmas” in the title
  • Songs that were #1 on the Billboard Charts on Christmas Day
  • Santa’s 8 reindeer from the poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”
  • 12 gifts of Christmas (from the Christmas carol)

*Christmas Traditions: 24 Scavenger Hunt Ideas - On this page you’ll find a Christmas/Holiday word list from A to Z.  Scroll down the page to find a list of 24 objects you might look for on a Scavenger Hunt using the vocabulary from the word list.
 

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The Bubonic Plague & Nursery Rhymes

November 30th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, November 30, 2011 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Nursery Rhymes – Lyrics, Origins & History!

Age Range: All (with parental supervision)

This website offers the fascinating and surprising history of nursery rhymes. Did someone actually put their baby on a tree top? Why sing about Jack and Jill getting hurt? Did horses really attempt to reassemble Humpty Dumpty? Did someone named Peter actually eat a pumpkin and then lock his wife inside the shell?

On this informative, ad-supported website, read about all your old favorites, and perhaps discover a few new ones. As a bonus, you’ll learn surprising things about the history of England and its neighboring countries too.

For example, did you know that the Bubonic Plague and its symptoms were parodied in “Ring around the Rosy”? Or that “Boston” was named after someone called Saint Botolph? 

Many of the featured rhymes have more than one history, which just makes them all the more fun. You get to pick which one you’d like to believe! (Some of them are so old, it’s difficult to be certain of their true origin.)

NOTE:  Because this is an ad-supported site, parents (as always) should preview the site to determine suitability of content and supervise all Internet use. Some of the ads look like part of the site but aren’t. To be sure, depending on your browser settings, you may be able to mouse over the links and see the URL’s before clicking on them. For example, “Trial by Trivia” is not part of this site; it’s hosted elsewhere.

 

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