Posts Tagged ‘literature’

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Free Women’s History Month Lessons & Activities!

March 14th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Thursday, March 14, 2013 and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Women’s History Month

Age Range: 10 and up  (approximately, with parental supervision)

March is Women’s History Month that recognizes and celebrates the importance of women and their role in history. This website, sponsored by the Library of Congress, offers extensive free resources including articles, exhibitions, audio/visual presentations, lessons, activities and more to learn about women’s history.

When you get to the website you’ll see an introduction and featured highlights and events. Use the menu on the left side of the page to access:

*Exhibits & Collections – An archive of links to resources that include virtual field trips to historic places such as the homes of Clara Barton and Eleanor Roosevelt, and links to information on Women’s Rights, and women in Performing Arts, Government and Politics, Culture and Folklife, and much more.

*Audio/Video – Enjoy audio and video presentations about women in Arts and Culture, Business and Economics, Civil Rights, Music and Performing Arts, Poetry and Literature, and more.

*For Teachers – Access ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids. Don’t miss the link to “Women’s History.” When the new page opens, you’ll see an illustration of a woman. Below it, are links to “Lesson Plans,” and a section “For Students” with many, many more resources to explore.

There is a massive amount of content here, so bookmark the site to return often.

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Free Audio Literature for K-12!

March 13th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, March 13, 2013 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Lit2Go

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12)

The University of South Florida provides this extensive collection of free audio books to help teachers of grades K-12, present literature in the classroom. Each audio book includes a reading level based on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level index.

As explained at the website, “The Flesch-Kincaid formula considers the average number of words per sentence, average sentence length, and the average number of syllables per word within a given passage in order to estimate the complexity of the text. The formula then converts that complexity level into a score that roughly equates with a grade level (K-12) in the United States.”

When you get to the site, you’ll see a brief introduction, some featured audio books, and a menu where you can browse for audio literature by:

*Author – Search for books by your favorite authors, in alphabetical order from Aesop to Walt Whitman.

*Book Title – Explore the alphabetical index for literature from the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

*Genres – Find literature based on preferred genres including:

  • Adventure
  • Fantasy
  • Historical Fiction
  • Memoir
  • Mystery
  • Nursery Rhyme
  • Poetry
  • Science Fiction
  • Tragedy
  • And More!

*Collections – Browse for literature by collections based on themes including:

  • African-American Literature
  • Books of Oz
  • Civil War
  • Dragons
  • Mathematics
  • Monsters
  • Princesses
  • Science
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • And more!

*Readability – Search for Literature based on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level from K-12.

Just click on a title of interest and a new page opens where you can find more information and the MP3 download links.

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Free K-12 Math Videos & Games!

March 11th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Monday, March 11, 2013 and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Math Pickle

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision)

This is one of the most innovative math sites I’ve seen. A Canadian mathematician/teacher developed this site to help classroom teachers address the multiple math skill levels of students through challenging and engaging activities and games that are demonstrated on videos. All of it can be tweaked for use in the homeschool environment.

When you get to the site, you’ll see a menu and some of the featured videos. The videos are designed for teachers to view in preparation for teaching a classroom lesson. Look for the Grade Range Menu and click on the grade levels of interest to you that include:

*K-2 – Enjoy math activities based on literature, games that teach patterns, matching games, skip counting, addition, symmetry, Fibonnaci numbers, and more.

*3-4 – Play dot-to-dot measuring puzzles, learn subtraction, discover graphs, find out about area and perimeter in the most weird and wonderful ways.

*5-6 – Practice division, do some problem solving, learn origami, discover prime numbers, practice factoring, and more.

*7-9 – Enjoy a game of “Integral Fission,” practice subtracting fractions, engage in cipher breaking, strategize, practice squaring and cubing, do puzzles to learn about bases, exponents and polygons, memorize the formula for the area of a cone, find out what Archimedes knows about the area and volume of a sphere.

*10-12 – Play games and solve puzzles that teach algebra, scientific notation, Pythagoras’ theorem, physics, trigonometry, and learn a little calculus through song.

Click on any topic and a new page opens where you can watch a demonstration video. Many of the activities also come with free downloadable worksheets and solutions as well.

You will also find curricula and puzzle books for sale on this site, but you don’t have to purchase a thing to access the incredible range of free math activity videos. Bookmark this site to return often.

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Free Crash Course in English Literature!

February 27th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, February 27, 2013 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Crash Course

Age Range: 13-18 (Grades 9-12 approximately, with parental supervision)

Best-selling author of young adult fiction, John Green, offers this new, free, video mini-series, “Crash Course in English Literature” that revs up interest and understanding of classic literature for the high school age crowd. With manic enthusiasm, he hurtles through plots, characters, writing styles, trivia, and jokes (that will make you groan) – all punctuated with colorful pictures, illustrations, doodles and more. 

When you get to the YouTube site, you’ll see a menu of the current 8 videos in the series including:

  • How and Why We Read
  • Of Pentameter & Bear Baiting – Romeo & Juliet
  • Was Gatsby Great? The Great Gatsby
  • Language, Voice, and Holden Caulfield: The Catcher in the Rye
  • Before I Got My Eye Put Out – The Poetry of Emily Dickinson

Each video course provides knowledge about the literature in a way that really speaks to those who are resistant to it. Green uses funny analogies, quips, gimmicks, and references to pop culture to provide an analysis of the literature that makes it more understandable for today’s teen.

Note to Parents: John Green does address the topic of sex in these literary works. As always, parents should preview the videos to determine suitability of content.

After exploring the “Crash Course in English Literature,” use the menu to check out Green’s other Crash Courses:

  • Crash Course in World History (42 videos)
  • Crash Course in Biology (40 videos)
  • Crash Course in Ecology (12 videos)
  • Crash Course in U.S. History (4 videos)

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Free Virtual Literature Field Trips!

February 6th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, February 6, 2013 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Google Lit Trips

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision)

A teacher convinced Google to sponsor this unique idea to use a digital book from children’s literature and plot out the characters’ travels with the digital mapping tools of Google Earth, providing a multidimensional learning experience. Students can take a virtual field trip in real time to visit the places mentioned in classic and popular books, making reading even more relevant and meaningful.

When you get to the website you’ll see some featured highlights. If this is your first visit, your best bet is to click on “About GLT” on the menu and read a short explanation by the teacher who developed this concept. Once you understand how to use Google Lit Trips, select the grade range appropriate for your child from the menu. Then get ready to experience the Google Lit Trips that have been created by various teachers for their favorites children’s books that include:

*Grades K-5 – You’ll find Big Anthony: His Story by Tomie DePaola, Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, Possum Magic by Mem Fox, By The Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleishman, and more. 

*Grades 6-8 – Includes The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Bashares, Hard Gold by Avi,  My Brother Sam is Dead by Collier, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, and more.

*Grades 9-12 – Get the Aenid by Virgil, Candide by Voltaire, Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Night by Elie Wiesel, and more.

Click on the title to access the Google Lit Trip complete with a download of the digital book, text and illustrations, and a virtual journey that will bring it all to life.

New titles for Google Lit Trips are added continuously, so bookmark this site to return often.

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Free, Fun Literature Guides & Essay Tools!

January 23rd, 2013

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, January 23, 2013 and time for Language Arts at Clickschooling!

Recommended Website:

Shmoop.com

Age Range: 10-18  (Grades 5-12, with parental supervision)

This ad-supported website offers free, web-based reference guides for studying literature, poetry, and U.S. history to make learning and writing more fun and relevant for students in the digital age.

The content is written primarily by Ph.D. and Masters students from top universities including Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale who specialize in “everything from Shakespeare to Victorian literature to African literature to 1800s American politics to the history of hip-hop.” Shmoop’s laid back and often humorous approach to the material is really engaging.

When you get to the website, you’ll see a featured literature guide, and a menu of literary works (in alphabetical order) that includes authors such as Jane Austen, Albert Camus, Ernest Hemmingway, Jack London, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, and more.

Click on any one and a new page opens with a tab menu that includes:

*Intro – Includes, “In A Nutshell”  that provides a short description of the work, and “Why Should I Care?” that explains why the work is relevant.

*Summary – A brief overview of the work and a chapter-by-chapter summary.

*Themes – A run-down of the main topics addressed in the literature.

*Characters – A description of the characters and their roles in the work.

*Analysis – Includes symbolism, imagery, setting, narrator point of view, genre, tone, writing style, plot analysis, trivia, and my personal favorite, “What’s Up with the Title?”  Oh, and there’s a “Steaminess Rating” too (very helpful to parents/educators).

*Questions – An assortment of study and discussion questions.

*Quizzes – Test your knowledge of the material.

*Best of the Web – This section links directly to Photos, Pictures, Books, Movies, TV, Documents, Video and Audio on other websites that relate to the literary work!  They’ve done the research for you – and the links include a one-line description that will help you determine if you want to click on it or not. What a time saver! 

Access to all of this rich content is free, without obligation. However, if you want to use their tools such as “Write a Paper”  that includes guides to writing essays, you must create an account and log in (it’s free).

NOTE: Because this site links to exterior websites that I have not reviewed, PARENTS SHOULD PREVIEW THE CONTENT TO DETERMINE SUITABILITY.

Finally, I’d like to reiterate that one of the best aspects of this site is the way humor is used to engage students. Students will find the captivating banter irresistible. Just browsing the site can ignite interest in literature, so bookmark it to return often.

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