Posts Tagged ‘literature’

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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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High School Literature Crash Course!

December 1st, 2021

John Green: Crash Course – Literature

(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOeEc9ME62zTfqc0h6Pe8vb)

Grades 9-12 approximately, with parental supervision). Best-selling author of young adult fiction, John Green, offers this 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 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 mature adult topics in these literary works. As always, parents should preview the videos to determine the suitability of content.

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Literature Study Guides for Jr. & Sr. High

November 10th, 2021

Shmoop.com: Find a Study Guide

(www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature)

Grades 7-12, with parental supervision

This ad-supported website offers free, web-based reference guides for studying literature, poetry, and more 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…” Shmoop’s laid-back and often humorous approach to the material is really engaging.

When you click on the above link, you’ll land on the literature page where you’ll see a menu of literary works by authors such as Jane Austen, Albert Camus, Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, and more.

Click on any one and a new page opens with a Navigation menu displayed.

Then check out the top menu for more Free Stuff and more Subjects including English and Writing. Access to all of this rich content is free, without obligation.

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

Finally, we’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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Audio History Resource Library

October 21st, 2021

Learn Out Loud – History: Free History Audios & More!

(www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Online-Learning/History)

Grades: Middle school, high school, and beyond, with parental supervision

A Maryland ClickScholar suggested this commercial website that offers a vast array of free history audio books, lectures, speeches, sermons, interviews, and video resources that you can listen to or watch online.

When you get to the site, you’ll see a brief introduction and a menu of the free history resources that include:

  • What Started World War I Lecture
  • Patrick Henry Speech
  • Gettysburg Address Audio
  • Susan B. Anthony Speech
  • Jamestown, Virginia History Lecture
  • Byzantine Empire History
  • History of Napoleon Bonaparte
  • And Many More!

When you’re through exploring the history list, check out the other “Free Online Learning on Audio & Video” titles offered in other subjects including:

  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Biography
  • Business
  • Languages
  • Literature
  • Philosophy
  • Science
  • Technology
  • And More!

Again, this is a commercial site where you can purchase audio/video downloads, but they offer this amazing archive of free online learning titles absolutely free.

BONUS:

You can sign up to receive the “Free Resource of the Day Emails” that provides one free audio or video learning title. The email is sent out Monday through Friday and is a great way to stay informed about new audio & video educational content that is added to the site.

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Youth & Young Adult Book Reviews

October 13th, 2021

The Literate Mother Book Reviews

(www.theliteratemother.org/)

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 recently reviewed book reviews. You can search by title in the “Book Search” field at the top left of the screen or use the three options at the left of the screen to search by “Recently Reviewed”, “Browse By Title”, or “Browse By Genre”.

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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Audiobooks for Kids

October 6th, 2021

My Audio School: Audio Literature

(myaudioschool.com/list-of-blocked-titles/list-of-our-free-titles/)

The creator of this website is a homeschooling mom of 4 boys. She originally created My Audio School for her dyslexic son, but had such a tremendous response from it that her family had spent a summer quadrupling the content and putting together a professional, user-friendly website. My Audio School is great for children with print disabilities, but all kids can use and enjoy it.

My Audio School is an audio site for children’s educational content. It is set up in such a way that parents can easily find the content they need on educational topics for their kids, and kids can easily use the site.

It is a “freebie” in the sense that over 25% of the content (over 200 full-length audiobook resources and almost 250 additional audio resources) are available for free.

Click this link to access everything that is currently offered for free:

http://www.myaudioschool.com/?page_id=4571

My Audio School offers a wide array of educational audio content in a beautiful, easy to navigate format:

*Unabridged books, organized by title

*Additional materials (poetry selections, kids records, podcasts, video clips, radio theater, etc)

My Audio School puts hundreds of educational audio resources at a parent’s fingertips.

My Audio School was originally created to give dyslexic children access to high-quality literature, but children of all ages and abilities can benefit from the site.

There is a subscription for just ($14.99) that unlocks the full site, which has almost 200 full length, unabridged classic audio books and over 250 additional audio materials. Enter the full site here: http://www.myaudioschool.com/

Whether you are homeschooling a special needs child, or just looking to add classic audiobooks to your homeschool curriculum, My Audio School offers something for every home educator.

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