Posts Tagged ‘character’

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Browse Through History!

June 30th, 2022

It’s Thursday, June 30, 2022, and time for Social Studies at ClickSchooling!

Mr. Dowling’s Electronic Passport

(www.mrdowling.com/)

All Grades, with parental supervision

What a treat! Mr. Dowling is a teacher, comedian, and radio personality who has put together a website for teachers and students that lets you browse the world in this virtual classroom.

When you get to the site you can use the menu on the left side of the screen to jump right in and click on a destination to learn about a variety of places including:

  • Mesopotamia
  • Ancient Egypt
  • The Crusades
  • Ancient Africa
  • Colonial America
  • India
  • Chinese History
  • Ancient Greece
  • Rome
  • The Renaissance
  • The World Wars
  • Canada
  • South America
  • and much, much more!

Just click on an icon such as “Ancient Greece” and a new page opens with selections such as Greek Mythology, Homer, Sparta, Athens, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great and more. The information is presented in user-friendly text enhanced by illustrations, photographs, and links to more resources. Most of the information is geared for about 5th grade and up — but younger children will enjoy portions of the content (including the crazy character voices) with a little help from a mom or dad. Highly recommended — bookmark this one, as you’ll want to return often.

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Literature Studies for Middle & High School

January 19th, 2022

Glencoe Literature Library

(www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/)

Grades 6-12 approximately, with parental supervision

This website is a great place to get free and comprehensive literature study guides for a variety of notable books.

When you get to the site you’ll see an alphabetical menu of book titles. Simply click on the book of interest to you and a new page opens containing a brief synopsis of the book, related readings, and a link to the downloadable Study Guides (about 25-35 pages) in PDF format. Some of the book titles are:

  • Animal Farm
  • Beowulf
  • The Call of the Wild
  • Great Expectations
  • Jane Eyre
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • The Scarlet Letter
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • Where the Red Fern Grows
  • and many more!

Click on the “Study Guide” and the PDF file opens (it may take a minute to fully download). The Study Guide is comprehensive for each book and includes classroom activities that can be easily tweaked for individual use including:

  • A Focus Activity
  • Vocabulary Preview
  • Notes for Character Summarizations
  • Questions that Prompt Literature Analysis
  • Writing Assignments
  • Interdisciplinary Connections to Science, History, and Social Studies

All of this is neatly formatted so that you can print out the activity pages separately or as an entire unit. The beauty here is that you can pick and choose the items that help your students get the most out of their reading experiences.

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Create Your Own Music Composition!

November 20th, 2021

Incredibox

(www.incredibox.com/)

All grades, with parental supervision

Become the conductor of a group of animated human sound machines and express your musicality through this free, fun, and easy-to-use interactive program. Sponsored by a graphic design and mixed media studio, Incredibox lets you record your music composition to share with friends.

When you get to the site, click the TRY WEB VERSION button and then select from versions:

  • Alpha
  • Little Miss
  • Sunrise
  • The Love

After making a selection, click the “i” information circle at the right to see the HELP menu and understand how it works. When you are ready, press the PLAY button. You’ll see animated male characters. Drag and drop different effects, beats, melodies, and voices (from icons located below the animation screen). As you drop them onto the character, it will dress the character in a new outfit and demonstrate the effect. Continue until you create a musical piece that appeals to you.

Click the three-line menu circle at the left to explore the Reset, Auto, and Record buttons. It takes a little experimentation to get proficient at creating compositions, but the fun is in exploring and testing the possibilities.

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Children’s Books Crafts & Activities

October 27th, 2021

Can Teach: Kids’ Novel & Picture Book Activities!

(www.canteach.ca/resources/english-language-arts/book-activities/specific-book-activities/)

Grades K-7, with parental supervision

Can Teach is an education website with lots of curricula resources designed for use in the classroom – although most can be tweaked for homeschoolers.

When you get to this page of the site, you will find a free selection of fun activities that are based on popular children’s novels and picture books.

For example, here is what you will find by clicking on the following titles:

  • Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White — directions for how to make a spider.
  • It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw — an activity designed around squiggle drawings.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl — a recipe for making chocolate treats.
  • The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett — an activity to help students understand character development in a story.

When you are through exploring this section of the site, click on Elementary Resources>English Language Arts on the menu at the top of the screen. You’ll find information and activities to teach:

  • Beginning Reading and Writing
  • Composition
  • Creative Writing
  • Poetry
  • Writing Prompts & Journal Topics
  • ~And More!

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Classic Literature Study Guides at Your Fingertips!

July 28th, 2021

Barnes & Noble: SparkNotes-Literature Study Guides

(www.sparknotes.com/lit/)

Grades 6 – adult, children with parental supervision

This ad-supported website, created by SparkNotes whose mission is “to help you make sense of confusing schoolwork”, looks much like ‘Cliff Notes’ but it’s free!

When you get to the site you will see a stunning array of free study guides which you can sort by title or author spanning from A to Z. You can read most of the study guides for free online. They are punctuated with advertisements (some are distracting), but it’s a small price to pay for the free resource. Pick a title, click, and a new page opens that contains the plot overview, character list, a chapter by chapter summary and analysis, study questions and essay topics, a quiz, and suggestions for further reading.

In the top menu, other categories are:

  • Shakespeare
  • Literature
  • Subjects by list
  • Teacher Helps

But there’s MUCH MORE beyond Literature! In the History category you’ll find study guides on important eras in American and European history along with biographies of people of historical importance. In Math and Science you’ll find guides to Algebra, Precalculus, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, and more. Other subject areas include Film, Health, Philosophy, Psychology, and Economics.

Bookmark this website to keep for easy reference.

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Lessons and Literature thru American History

June 24th, 2021

What So Proudly We Hail

(www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/)

Grades 9-12, with parental supervision 

Discover the rich history of America through the use of literature and with help of the lessons on this website. This e-curriculum, created by Amy Kass and Leon Kass, uses classic American stories, speeches, and songs alongside of video discussions and in-depth study guides to encourage students to be active readers and promote meaningful conversation of the subject matter.

When arriving at the website, select the Curriculum link at the top of the page. Currently, there are four curricula to choose from:

  • The Meaning of America – 11 sessions explore “American character and American identity in ways that will produce thoughtful and engaged citizens.”
  • The American Calendar – 11 sessions explore “the purpose and meaning of our civic holidays, showing how their repeated celebration helps unite and identify us as a people and attaches us to our country.”
  • Songs for Free Men and Women – 6 sessions examine “our major national songs, both to understand their words and to discover what they contribute to making attached citizens.”
  • The American Muse – 1 session “examines classic American poems, both to understand their words and to explore how reading poetry can join individual and community in a unique and powerful way.”

The Meaning of America curriculum includes 45-minute videoed model conversations as well as discussion guides that encourage students to look beyond the story and to gain insight into the meaningful connection between the American and human matters. All of the curricula provide an introduction to the subject matter and thought provoking questions for discussion of the primary resources presented.

In addition to the curriculum, check out the blog to find more teacher-created lesson plans. Select the “Library” link at the top of the page to see the complete list of short stories, speeches, study guides, discussion videos, author biographies, and primary texts available.

While this website was created for high school students, it could be adapted to be used with middle school students as well.

When students are provided with characters that they can identify with, studies take on a new life and meaning. Through the use of literature, these characters are found and students are likely to take hold of the information more readily. This website can provide a stepping-stone into the discovery of the characters of American history.

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