Archive for the ‘language arts’ category

Grammar Fun With Gorillas!

May 4th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, May 4, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

FunBrain: Grammar Gorillas

(www.funbrain.com/games/grammar-gorillas)

Grades PreK-8, with parental supervision

As we celebrate National Pet Week, today’s websites are centered around gorillas. It will have your kids swinging on vines…

Did you know that “Grammar Gorillas” is also a term used to describe any feature of grammar that people find particularly challenging? At this site, learn various parts of speech and grammar with this fast-paced, fun, and interactive game called “Grammar Gorillas.”

Most people don’t have pet gorillas. However, in Woodside, California there was a very unusual “pet” gorilla named Koko, who had learned to sign over 1,000 words and could also understand spoken English! Here are a couple of websites that feature Koko and her uncanny ability with language arts:

Meet Koko

Learn to sign with Koko

Writing Instruction for Middle & High School

April 27th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, April 27, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

The New York Times: The Learning Network

(www.nytimes.com/spotlight/learning-activities-for-students)

Grades 8-12, with parental supervision

The New York Times offers free lesson plans, writing prompts, activities for students and more — all based on The New York Times journalism.

When you get to the site you will see Activities for Students:

  • Writing Prompts – Student Opinion Questions and Picture Prompts
  • Articles & Questions – Articles of the Day, Teenagers in the Times, and STEM Articles
  • Quizzes & Vocabulary – Weekly News Quiz, Word of the Day, Country of the Week, and Student Crosswords
  • Photos, Graphs and Videos – What’s Going on in this Picture?, Film Club, and What’s Going on in this Graph?
  • Contests – Check out the Annual Summer Reading Contest.

You can access the news stories for free, and no registration is required.

English Grammar & Writing Resources

April 20th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, April 20, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

ThoughtCo. – English

(www.thoughtco.com/english-4688281)

Grades 3-12, with parental supervision

If you haven’t checked it out, ThoughtCo. is a wonderful resource for just about anything you can imagine. It is “one of the largest and most comprehensive learning, information, and education sites online.”

Today we are focusing on Language Arts. When you get to the website, you have a choice of English Grammar or Writing. There are lists and articles including:

  • How to Choose the Right Word
  • 13 of the Longest Words in the English Language
  • The Most Beautiful-Sounding Words in English
  • A Guide to Deep Reading
  • 11 Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing
  • Guidelines for Using Capital Letters
  • 4 Rules for Using Commas Effectively
  • How To Organize a Descriptive Paragraph

And so much more!

Learn to Read with Dolch Sight Words

April 13th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, April 13, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Mrs. Perkins Dolch Words: Dolch Sight Words & More!

(mrsperkins.com/)

Grades K-3, which parental supervision. 

This website offers free activities based upon learning the “Dolch Sight Words.” As explained at the website:

The Dolch Word List, was compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD, in 1948. Dolch compiled the list based on words used in children’s reading books in the 1930s and 40s. The list contains 220 “service words” that must be quickly recognized in order to achieve reading fluency. The Dolch Word List is comprised of the most frequently used words in the English Language that make up 50 to 70 percent of any general text. Therefore, teaching The Dolch Word List is a crucial goal of education in grades kindergarten through 3.

At this website, the Dolch words are presented in a number of useful formats including:

  • A story using all 220 Dolch sight words.
  • Dolch Word Lists in either Word or in pdf format (and some in Power Point or audio).
  • Templates to create Dolch handwriting worksheets, flashcards and games.
  • Dolch Games – get several variations on Bingo boards using Dolch words.
  • Free 35-page Dolch word activity booklet – the direct link is: http://www.mrsperkins.com/activities/Dolch_Activities.pdf

This user-friendly, ad-supported website is very focused on one topic – Dolch sight words – and covers that topic very well.

Children’s Classics Audio Books

April 6th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, April 6, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Librivox

(librivox.org/search?primary_key=0&search_category=genre&search_page=1&search_form=get_results)

All grades, with parental supervision

Now that the weather outside is getting nicer here in the Northern Hemisphere, send the kids outside with some audio books! They can perch in a tree, skip rope, start a garden, have a little picnic, or even play hopscotch while listening to these wonderful classics.

Or keep a supply of titles handy for those days when you’re unable to read to them. With hundreds of completed works listed under the “Children’s Fiction” or “Children’s Non-Fiction”categories, there is more than an entire year’s worth of bedtime stories and read-alouds here, including the works of such well-known authors as:

  • Aesop (Fables)
  • Alcott, Louisa May (Eight Cousins, Little Women, etc.)
  • Baum, L. Frank (Oz books)
  • Burnett, Frances Hodgson (Little Lord Fauntleroy, Little Princess, Secret Garden, etc.)
  • Carroll, Lewis (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, etc.)
  • Collodi, Carlo (Adventures of Pinocchio, available in English and Italian!)
  • And many, many more.

Click any title to see a brief synopsis before downloading/listening. But that’s not all! Parents may like to browse the other categories as well:

  • Adventure
  • Animals
  • Biography
  • History
  • Spy Stories
  • Teen/Young Adult
  • and many others

This site can be searched for a specific book by title and author as well.

Note: There is an overlap between these books and the ones you would find in Project Gutenberg or Archive.org. This is because Librivox allows both of these sites to house their entire collection of completed works. However, Librivox maintains the best-catalogued and most easily searchable list of these titles. Also, only Librivox itself includes a brief synopsis for each completed title, lists the works currently in progress, allows you to request email notification upon completion of desired books in progress, allows you to request specific titles, and allows you to participate in the recording and editing process and their lively forum as well.

Additional Note: This review focuses on the “Children’s” books. The rest of this site is not specifically geared for children, so parental preview and guidance is, as always, advised. Books are continually being added to this collection, so bookmark it and return often.

NOTE: As always, parents should help select material appropriate for each child.

Discover Children’s Author Audrey Wood

March 23rd, 2022

The Audrey Wood Clubhouse

(audreywood.com/)

All grades; children with parental supervision

This is a terrific site for parents and children who are fans of the children’s authors and illustrators, Audrey Wood and Don Wood (their books include The Napping House, Elbert’s Bad Word, Weird Parents, and so many more), and their son Bruce Wood who is also a book author and illustrator.

When you get to the site, use the menu to explore:

  • Audrey Wood — Read her biography, see her picture, find out some of her writing secrets.
  • Don Wood — Read his biography, see photos, and gain some insight about his illustrations.
  • Bruce Wood – Read his bio, see photos, and more.
  • All Wood Books – See a menu of all of the books authored and illustrated by the Wood family.
  • Activities — Find fun activities based on the books and lots of printable coloring pages.
  • Secrets — Get the inside scoop on what inspired the stories and artwork.
  • Parent & Teachers — Get reading suggestions from the author on her best books for boys, girls, and for dealing with particular problems; read hints for writing, illustrating and publishing children’s books; read the FAQ’s, and check out the links to other sites.

This site is really interesting and fun to explore — especially because of the family aspect of the lives and work of Audrey, Don, and Bruce Wood.

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