Hi!  It’s Wednesday, February 10, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Here are some websites that will inspire your kids to learn to write a letter…

Recommended Website:
Suite101.com: Valentine Letter Writing

Age Range: 4-14 (There are 3 websites included in this review; age range varies.)

This website offers a free lesson plan for classroom teachers on how to teach letter writing to students using Valentine’s Day as inspiration. It includes a basic outline of the traditional letter format, along with suggestions for brainstorming what to write about and who the recipient should be. (It suggests sending “love” letters to parents, siblings, and grandparents.)

You’ll notice that the article refers to the free ”Valentine Remailing” program offered by the post office in Loveland, Colorado. If you send your pre-addressed and stamped valentines to the post office in Loveland, Colorado they will mail them with a “Loveland” postmark. Cards and letters were due by February 9th to guarantee delivery by Valentine’s Day. Don’t despair! Your Valentine may enjoy a love-letter postmarked “Loveland” – even if it is a little late. This remailing program is available year-round. Learn more at the Loveland website.

Oh! There’s more! Loveland also offers a free “Email Valentine Remailing” program – and it’s not too late to send your sweetie an eValentine with a “LoveWithLoveland.com” email address. Get the instructions and send an eValentine today!

These things may inspire your students to write a letter. If they need a little more information on how to write a proper letter here’s a website that provides free step-by-step instruction for grades PreK-6:

Teach Your Child How To Write A Letter

Hi! It’s Wednesday, February 3, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!
 
Recommended Website:
Merriam Webster: Spell It!

I’ve always maintained that some people are born with a “spelling gene” and some are not. Interestingly, current brain research supports the idea that some brains are hard-wired for spelling. They just “get it”. For that segment of the population, spelling is fun! It’s a joy! Words and their root forms and origins are fascinating.

For students of all ages who excel at spelling, this website (sponsored by the Scripps National Spelling Bee in cooperation with Merriam-Webster) offers free spelling exercises that are interesting and challenging. It’s a little slice of heaven for those with spelling in their DNA.
 
When you get to the website, you’ll see a brief introduction and a menu titled “Words From” that include:

• Latin
• Arabic
• Asian Languages
• French
• Eponyms
• German
• Slavic Languages
• Dutch
• Old English
• New World Languages
• Japanese
• Greek
• Italian
• Spanish

Click on any one and a new page opens with a brief explanation and a list of “Study Words.” Click on a “study word” and a new page opens in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary with audio pronunciations. You’ll find the word’s function (part of speech), etymology, definition, and synonyms.

Some words have a “dialog bubble” that contains a spelling tip for that word.

Click on “Challenge Words” to find an assortment of more difficult spelling words.

There is a function that allows you to print out the spelling words to practice offline too.  

Now for the fun part – click on “Now You Try” to participate in an interactive exercise to challenge your knowledge of words, parts of words, word roots, and knowledge of spelling rules and exceptions. Wordsmiths and spellers will gleefully spend hours here testing their skills.

You’ll also see “Words You Need to Know.” As explained at the website, “These words appear frequently in student essays, and every writer should become familiar with them.”

This site’s main purpose is to provide visitors with the official list of study words for the 2010 spelling bees. However, it stands alone as a terrific and challenging educational tool for those who love words and spelling.

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 27, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
LoudLit.org

Age Range: 4-104 (As always, parents should preview content to determine suitability.)

Once again, I have a Maryland ClickScholar to thank for this recommendation. LoudLit.org pairs great literature with high quality audio performances that you can read and listen to online or download to your MP3 player for free.

When you get to the site you’ll see the new and featured literature selections along with a menu of novels, poetry, children’s stories, historical literature, and short stories that include titles such as:

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Scarlett Letter
• Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Briar Rose
• The Little Match Girl
• The Gettysburg Address
• The Gift of the Magi
• The Pit and the Pendulum

As explained at the website, “by putting the text and audio together, readers can learn spelling, punctuation and paragraph structure by listening and reading masterpieces of the written word.”

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Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 20, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchoolng!

Recommended Website:
Maggie’s Earth Adventures

Age Range: 5-12 (Grades K-8, approximately)

This website offers lesson plans and interactive games in a variety of subject areas including five free grammar games that help kids learn about nouns, verbs, prefixes, suffixes, word endings, rhyming words, and how to edit written work. I am focusing on the Langauge Arts games for this review. The website’s objective is to educate children on environmental issues to protect and build a sustainable future for our planet. All of the games are themed around this objective.

When you get to the website you’ll see the words, “Sign Up Here for Free Activities.”  If you click on that, a new page opens where you can register (free) to receive the cross-curricular Maggie’s Earth Adventures Weekly Activity Packet with lessons and games that will be delivered to your email inbox.

Below that, you’ll see a note about the recent earthquake in Haiti, and information on how to get the current week’s Activity Packet with ideas to help your students understand and work through the tragedy.

Then, look at the menu on the left side of the screen and click on “Games.” Because the games are in flash, you will have to click through several “intro” screens (yes, it’s annoying) to get to the games page. Click on “Kids Start Here” on one screen, and another page opens featuring National Geographic’s “GeoSpy” game. Below it, click on the words, “Click here for more cool games from Maggie.” That will take you to a “Game Menu” page.  Run your cursor over the icon menu under “Language Arts” and click on the game you want to play such as:

• Clean Up Your Grammar – In this game a virtual beach is littered with bad grammar – help clean up nouns and verbs.
• Edit Dan’s Copy – Edit Dan’s work for errors in capitalization and punctuation.
• Short Circuit – Match prefixes and suffixes with their meanings to prevent a computer short circuit.
• Fish ‘Em Up – Catch word endings by determining if you have to double the consonant or change the y for the correct spelling.
• Super Match – Find words that rhyme.

These games stand on their own as fun practice work for learning parts of speech, spelling rules, and other language arts skills. They are enhanced if you use the free lesson plans available by registering to get the free Weekly Activity Packs (WAP).  By using the WAP, students will see the connectedness and relevance of language arts, math, science, geography,and social sciences to environmental issues.

I wouldn’t classify this site as particularly user-friendly when it comes to navigation.  However, whatever you click on will lead to an educational topic or activity that will engage your kids. If you have a hard time finding the language arts games, I discovered that Scholastic partners with Maggie’s Earth Adventures and offers the games in a much more accessible way at the Scholastic website.
Just remember you can’t sign up for the activity packs from the Scholastic website.

 By the way, the games are available in Spanish as well!

Enjoy!

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Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 13, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Literature Network
http://www.online-literature.com/author_index.php

Age Range: 11-18 (About Middle & High School)

This ad-supported website provides free biographies and literature including stories, books, and articles by a variety of authors from Aesop to Zola. You’ll find a searchable collection of prominent works, along with fun quizzes that test your biographical knowledge of your favorite authors.

When you get to the site, you’ll see an alphabetical list of authors names including:

• Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)
• Jane Austen (Pride & Prejudice)
• James M. Barrie (Peter Pan)
• Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
• F. Scott Fizgerald (The Great Gatsby)
• Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows)
• Homer (The Odyssey)
• Herman Melville (Moby Dick)
• Beatrix Potter (The Tale of Peter Rabbit)
• William Shakespeare
• Henry David Thoreau (Walden)
• Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
• Jules Vern (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea)

Click on any name and a new page opens with the author’s biography, a collection of their works (many that you can read online), and a challenging interactive quiz.

In some cases, visitors to the site have posted comments and it wasn’t clear if they are moderated.  Therefore, parents are cautioned (as always) to preview the site.

Enjoy!