Posts Tagged ‘language’

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Explore Castles of Whales & Welsh History!

June 9th, 2022

It’s Thursday, June 9, 2022, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

Jeffrey L. Thomas: Castles of Wales

(www.castlewales.com/home.html)

Grades 3-12, with parental supervision

This non-profit, educational resource website created by Jeffrey L. Thomas features photographs and/or information relating to over 400 different medieval castles of Wales. Not only will visitors be able to view images of the well-known and lesser-known castles, but they can also learn about the castle builders and Welsh history.

When arriving at the site, you can read the introduction, and then use the upper text link menu to navigate through. Select “Main Menu” to easily arrive at areas of interest such as:

  • Main Castle Index – Use the hyperlinked, alphabetized index of castles to quickly arrive at the castle you wish to visit.
  • Complete Castle Database – provides a larger annotated list of the castles in Wales, including those that no longer remain but have been mentioned in historical records
  • Castle Locator Maps – maps showing the locations of the major castles of Wales
  • Historical Essays – historical overviews, the evolution of the castle in Wales, and additional essays
  • Castle Builders – Discover the Welsh and Norman castle builders.
  • A Timeline of Medieval Wales and A Timeline of Welsh Castles
  • Castle Terminology – short definitions for terms associated with medieval castles, some of which are hyperlinked to examples
  • Abbeys & Other Religious Sites in Wales – includes a hyperlinked list of holy wells, abbeys, cathedrals, priories, and churches
  • Pre-Medieval & Other Historic Sites in Wales – a selection of other historical sites and monuments
  • Welsh Language Pages – In an effort to preserve the ancient Celtic language of Wales, some pages are available in Welsh. There are also a few links to Welsh language sites.
  • Drawings and Illustrations of Welsh Castles

And there’s so much more. This website would make an excellent resource for geography and history studies of Wales and castles.

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Posted in social sciences

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Practice Manuscript & Cursive Handwriting

June 8th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, June 8, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Handwriting For Kids

(www.handwritingforkids.com/)

Grades K-5 approximately, with parental supervision

This ad-supported website offers free lessons and practice worksheets for learning how to print, write in cursive, and learn English grammar. (It also offers instruction and worksheets for learning arithmetic.)

When you get to the website you will see an introduction and a menu on the left side of the screen that includes:

  • Manuscript — Learn to print by tracing letters of the alphabet, words, and sentences using the free worksheet variations available here.
  • Cursive — Learn cursive writing by tracing first, and then writing independently. Free printable worksheets of individual letters, words, and complete sentences are provided for practice.
  • English — Use the free lessons and worksheets to learn grammar, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.
  • Mathematics — You’ll find a selection of interactive math lessons, worksheets, and drill games.

You’ll also find links to further resources, Spanish worksheets, Biblically-themed handwriting and cursive worksheets, and a flash card-making tool.

Click on any topic and a new page opens where you’ll find the lessons and worksheets. The layout isn’t always crystal clear – but if you just click on a couple of items, you’ll figure out how best to use this site quickly.

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Computer Programming Teaching Tool!

June 4th, 2022

It’s Saturday, June 4, 2022, and time for Other Electives at ClickSchooling!

Computer Science – Free Alice Computer Programming Software

(www.alice.org/)

This website offers “Alice” – free educational software from Carnegie Mellon University that teaches students computer programming in a visual, 3-D environment. It makes it easy to create animation for interactive games and videos and much more.

The description from the website best explains it:

“Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student’s first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects.

In Alice’s interactive interface, students drag and drop graphic tiles to create a program, where the instructions correspond to standard statements in a production-oriented programming language, such as Java, C++, and C#. Alice allows students to immediately see how their animation programs run, enabling them to easily understand the relationship between the programming statements and the behavior of objects in their animation. By manipulating the objects in their virtual world, students gain experience with all the programming constructs typically taught in an introductory programming course.”

When you get to the site you can read the latest news and media coverage about Alice software and then click on the menu items that include:

  • Downloads – Get Free downloads of the software designed specifically for middle school students and/or high school and college students that will allow you to get started learning computer programming in a fun and engaging way.
  • All About Alice – Click on this item and a new page opens that explains how Alice works – and provides promotional videos you can watch to better understand how to get started.
  • Teaching Materials – Alice provides instructional materials to support teachers and students in classrooms. Resources include textbooks, lessons, tests, and more that you can download and print out.

NOTE: Some of you may have heard about “Alice” in the context of media coverage about one of the developers, Randy Pausch. Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, died of pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008 at the age of 47, leaving behind his wife and three young children. He gained worldwide attention through an inspirational “Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” in which he recounted how he achieved his childhood dreams of becoming a football player, experiencing zero gravity, and developing Disneyland attractions. There are lessons in his last lecture for all of us. You can view it here: ClickSchooling

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Biographies & Literature From Your Favorite Authors!

June 1st, 2022

It’s Wednesday, June 1, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

The Literature Network

(www.online-literature.com/author_index.php)

Grades 5-12, with parental supervision

This ad-supported website provides free biographies and literature including stories, books, and articles by a variety of authors from A to Z.

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 author 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 Verne (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.

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Language Learning Made Fun!

May 28th, 2022

It’s Saturday, May 28, 2022, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

Duolingo

(www.duolingo.com/)

Grades 5-adult, with parental supervision

This free website for language learning uses fun interactive technology to learn and practice a foreign language.

When arriving at the link, select the language you would like to learn. Available languages include:

  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Korean
  • and so many more!

After selecting your language, you are able to choose to begin with “Basics” or take a short placement test if you are already familiar with the language. Interactive lessons include vocabulary, grammar, and more. Be sure to have your sound on. There are hundreds of lessons broken down to focus on specific language skills. You need to complete certain skills to open new skill/lesson levels.

In order for your lessons to be tracked (and to continue very far into the lessons) you will need to create a free profile. Once you have created your profile you can review words learned, practice with flashcards, check your activity on the program, and more. There is a language discussion board available so parents will want to monitor their students if they do not want them to participate in the board. While working through the lessons, students earn lingots, the Duolingo virtual currency. Lingots can be used in the virtual store for things such as a “Heart Refill” which “allows you to regain one heart lost during a lesson”, “Streak Freeze” which allows your activity “streak to remain in place for one full day of inactivity”, and more program-related bonuses.

From the website:

“In a recent independent study, professors from the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of South Carolina found that when using Duolingo for 34 hours, students learn the equivalent of one university semester of language instruction.”

And this program is also available as a free app so you can take learning on the go. Learning a new language can be fun using this website that appeals to different learning methods.

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Learn to Read with Roy the Zebra!

May 25th, 2022

It’s Wednesday, May 25, 2022, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Roy the Zebra

(www.roythezebra.com/)

Grades K-2, with parental supervision

This site provides an archive of free interactive language arts games and literacy resources to help emerging readers learn to read.

When you get to the site, you’ll see the featured activities that include “Guided Reading Story” starring your host, Roy the Zebra, as well as “Reading Games” that help teach concepts such as:

  • Alphabetical Order
  • Capital Letters
  • High Frequency Words (Days and Months)
  • Double Consonants
  • Long Vowel Phonemes
  • Singular or Plural
  • Tricky Words
  • Words that Rhyme
  • Words Within Words
  • And more!

The simplicity of this site makes learning the basic skills for reading lots of fun for kids. Non-readers will need assistance.

In addition to playing the games, you can help your children read the interactive storybook about Roy the Zebra and his escape from a zoo. The stories come with free, printable discussion worksheets.

If you read the story, you’ll discover that Roy the Zebra loves to sing. Use the menu to click on “Songs” to hear Roy singing his faves.

In addition to all of the freebies here, you can join Club Roy for more activities for a fee. However, you are under no obligation to buy anything to easily access the free stories and games.

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