Archive for the ‘Language Arts’ category

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Free Vocabulary Lessons & Activities

April 28th, 2010

Hi! It’s Wednesday, April 28, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
MyVocabulary.com

Age Range: 8-16 (grades 4-10, approximately)

MyVocabulary.com offers a variety of free, interactive vocabulary development and enrichment activities including lesson plans, word searches, crossword puzzles, and quizzes.

The founders of MyVocabulary.com, Jan and Carey Cook, wrote, “We began our efforts to promote vocabulary comprehension using Latin/Greek word derivations in 1997. Our site now has 2500 pages of materials, worksheets and puzzles. More than 24,000 teachers and schools use MyVocabulary.com.”

When you get to the site, you’ll see a menu in the center of the screen that includes:

*Root Word Lesson Plans – Get multiple lesson plans for various grade/difficulty levels that include practice exercises such as fill-in-the-blanks, match-games, crosswords, word finds, true/false and word stories.

*Thematic Puzzles – You’ll find calendar-themed vocabulary puzzles for holidays and events such as Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more.

*Word Lists – Access hundreds of “A-Z” word lists by subject including animals, books, business/economics, fine arts, history/social studies, math, science, religion, sports, and general interest (from “avatar” to “vintner”). Use them to help students learn the definitions of new words, or as story-starters, or to identify parts of speech.

*Test Prep/Assessment – Try the practice activities for learning top SAT/ACT vocabulary words to get better test results.

The extensive content at this ad-free, self-paced website is a great resource to supplement vocabulary and language arts studies. It is based on state standards and is printable for use offline.

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Virtual Tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

April 23rd, 2010

Hi!  It’s Friday, April 23, 2010 and time for a Virtual Field Trip at ClickSchooling!
 
Recommended Website:
The Virtual Globe
 
Age Range: 10 and up (Parents, as always, should preview this site to determine suitability of content.)
 
Today is William Shakespeare’s birthday! At this website, sponsored by Cambridge University, you can take a free, animated virtual tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London and learn about Shakespeare’s plays as well as the life and times of the Globe Theater’s patrons.

When you get to the site, click on the image on the screen. A new page opens that allows you to select the appropriate bandwidth access for your computer. Once you make a selection, a new screen opens and the presentation begins.

This animation is engaging and I encourage you to click on each prompter that appears on the screen to enjoy the full experience and information provided here. If you do, you will begin to view Shakespeare’s productions in an entirely different way – based on the way people lived in the mid-1500’s in England. It provides incredible insight to some of Shakespeare’s individual works as well.

It may take about 30 minutes or more to view the entire presentation.

This site does graphically explain the lack of sanitation facilities in the theater, the stench and filth of a city without sewers, and it describes theater patrons of all walks of life and their antics. It also explains that Shakespeare’s plays competed with other “entertainment” including the popular animal fights of the day. People of the time enjoyed some barbaric practices by today’s standards and it influenced the content of Shakespeare’s plays. So, again, parents should preview the material to determine suitability.

For those of you who may be uncomfortable with the content of the above recommended site, you can take a free virtual tour of a faithfully reconstructed replica of the Globe Theater that was completed in 1997 – it is appropriate for all audiences.

When you get to the site you may have to wait a minute or two for the download, and then you can see a panoramic view of the stage, yard, middle gallery, and upper gallery.

If these virtual tours inspire further interest in Shakespeare, don’t miss Shakespeare Online. It provides a detailed biography of Shakespeare, access to all of his plays and sonnets along with analysis and fun quizzes! Here’s the direct link: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/

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Posted in Language Arts, Social Sciences, Virtual Field Trip

Interactive Grammar Games

April 21st, 2010

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, April 21, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!
 
Recommended Website:
Harcourt: Grammar Practice Park

Age Range: 8-11 (Grades 3-5)

This website, sponsored by Harcourt School Publishers, provides twelve, free, interactive, multi-media grammar games that help students practice and improve their understanding of:

  • Nouns
  • Pronouns
  • Verbs
  • Past and Future Tense
  • Plural Spellings
  • Prepositions
  • Sentence Structure (phrases, dependent clauses, and independent clauses)
  • Punctuation

When you get to the site you’ll see a menu of games divided by grade level. Click on any game and a new page opens where you can begin play. 

These practice games are based upon lessons in Harcourt textbooks and workbooks.  You do need some basic knowledge of grammar to play the practice games, as they are not instructional – just a way to practice what you do know, or find out what you don’t know. 

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Posted in Language Arts

Giggle Poetry

April 14th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, April 14, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Giggle Poetry

Age Range: 6-12 (approximately)

April is National Poetry Month. We featured this website last year, but it offers such a fun way to introduce kids to poetry it’s worth visiting again! It provides free lessons and activities that will inspire the poet in your child. This site is designed with classroom teachers in mind, but most of the content can be tweaked for homeschool use as well.

When you get to the site you’ll see a selection of featured items in the center of the screen and a menu on the left that you can use to navigate through topics such as:

*Read & Rate – Find a selection of poems on topics such as summer fun, birthdays, yucky poems, love poems, food poems, scary poems and many more.  Read the poetry and then rate it on the giggle meter.

*Poetry Class – Use these easy-to-follow instructions to learn how to write funny poems in no time at all. Write poetry about feelings, songs, seasons – and learn to write limericks and haiku too.

*Poetry Fun – Try to say some tongue twisters, learn to rhyme, and try your hand at fill-in-the-blank poetry.

*Poetry Theater – Perform plays using a selection of popular and funny poems archived here.

*Ask the Poet – Read the bios and get the scoop on your favorite children’s poets.

There is much more to explore at this site, so bookmark it to return often.

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Posted in Language Arts

The Literate Mother Book Reviews

April 7th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, April 7, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
The Literate Mother

A Maryland ClickScholar recommended this website that provides parents with free subject matter ratings of books for youth and young adults.  The mom-owners of this site objectively screen and rate literature for:

  • Language
  • Violence
  • Sexual Content
  • Adult Themes

As explained at the website:

“Whether you have a sensitive child who you want to steer away from certain topics, a voracious reader you would like to guide toward more appropriate books, or just want to be informed on the subject matter to which your young reader is exposed, we hope you will find help at TheLiterateMother.org.”

When you get to the site you will see some featured book reviews. Click on “Listings A-Z” on the menu to find the book titles that have been previously reviewed. 

Sign up to receive the free ezine (published twice a month) with info on the latest book reviews.

These reviews provide parents with information to “discourage certain books, discuss sensitive material or simply strike up a conversation with a child about the book he or she is reading.”

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Posted in Language Arts

April is National Poetry Month

March 31st, 2010

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, March 31, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Poets.org

Age Range: 10 and up (Parents, as always, should preview the material to determine suitability of content.)

At this website, you’ll find 30 free ways to celebrate “National Poetry Month” that runs from April 1st through April 30th.

When you get to the site you’ll see the list of thirty suggestions that include:

  • Read a book of poetry
  • Memorize a poem
  • Put poetry in an unexpected place
  • Take a poem out to lunch
  • Put a poem on the pavement
  • Start a notebook on poets
  • Collect poet postage stamps

Click on any one and a new page opens with greater detail and links to resources to help you implement the suggestions.

And that’s just the beginning of what you’ll find at this site. Use the menu to explore:

*Poets & Poetry – Use the search engine to look up a favorite poem or poet. In many cases you can listen to audio clips of poets reading their own poetry.

*Poetry Near You – Find local poetry events near you, and even some virtual poetry readings online.

*For Educators – Get tips for teaching poetry along with free poetry curriculum and lesson plans. Don’t miss “Great Poems to Teach” that contains a list of popular poems with links to audio files so you can listen to the poem being read aloud. 

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Posted in Language Arts