Language Arts Miscellaneous/Multipurpose Sites
A Compact for Reading: School-Home Links
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/index.html
A Compact for Reading is a written agreement among families, teachers, principals, and
students to work together to help improve the reading skills of kindergarten through third
grade children. The publications, A Compact for Reading Guide and the School-Home Links
Reading Kit, are designed to help Compact partners set reading goals, and provide lessons
and activities that allow children to accomplish these goals. The publications are
available in PDF format and are also available in Spanish.
Bank Street's Guide to Literacy
http://www.bankstreet.edu/literacyguide/main.html
Bank Street College hosts the Literacy Guide for Volunteer Tutors in response to a
national effort to ensure that children are fluent readers by the end of the third grade.
Teachers will find Pre-Reading strategies such as making predictions, forming a purpose
for reading, and questioning. During-Reading strategies include prompting a reader who is
stuck and techniques to figure out words. Post-Reading plans center on answering
questions. Site also discusses Stages of Literacy Development and offers sample lessons,
books, resources, and games. Of particular interest is a special section for English
Language Learners that includes hints for tutoring, contact and communication strategies.
Civic Education
http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/journal/civintro.htm
Designed specifically for Language Arts teachers, this U.S. State Department-sponsored
site deals with various aspects of Civic Education, including Rights of the Individual,
Freedom of the Press, Responsibilities of Government, and much more. Each chapter offers a
background, lesson-planning resources, Internet resources, a Bibliography, and a glossary.
This is an excellent resource for some really meaningful classroom discussions.
Dositey.com
http://www.dositey.com/
This site contains lessons, exercises, worksheets, educational games, open-ended probelms
in Math and Language arts, and more. Activities are for grades K-2, 3-4 and 5-8.
Field Trip
http://www.hud.gov/kids/field2.html
Take an animated field trip to the library and learn about what you are likely to see and
experience on an actual visit. This is an excellent introduction to this important
community resource for young children that also explains the difference between fiction
and nonfiction.
FreeRice
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
An addicting little online game to test your vocabulary. Supposedly as you play, rice is
donated by sponsors who advertise on this site. See the FreeRice FAQ for more information.
Historical Treasure Chests
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/treasure/
Historical Treasure Chests provides models for engaging students in the investigation of
authentic materials from the past. The students are provided with primary sources such as
letters, diaries, photographs, maps and artifacts and questions to guide their
investigation. By looking closely for details, students can draw conclusions about the
items and formulate their own hypotheses about the time period(s) during which they were
created. Other primary resources can be accessed on the Web sites listed in the reference
section.
How Far Does Light Go? Debate
http://kie.berkeley.edu/KIE/web/hf.html
"How Far Does Light Go?" is a debate project in which students examine the
scientific properties of light. The culminating activity is an informal classroom debate
where groups present their arguments about how far light goes and respond to questions
from other students.
Jan Brett's Alphabet Tracers
http://www.janbrett.com/coloring_alphabet/alphabet_coloring_tracers_main.htm
Reminiscent of those penmanship posters that were a fixture of most elementary classrooms,
back when teachers wrote on black-slate chalkboards, not glossy whiteboards, this site
provides coloring pages for each letter of the alphabet in three styles: traditional,
cursive, and modern. Each page features a printed upper and lower case letter of the
particular style as well as an illustration of something that starts with that letter
("A -- Armadillo". Users may download full page PDFs of each letter, perhaps to
hang them above today's antiseptic whiteboards.
Literacy Web (University of Connecticut)
http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/index.htm
The Literacy Web is designed to promote the use of the Internet as a tool to assist
classroom teachers in their search for best practices in literacy instruction, including
the new literacies of Internet technologies. It contains links to literacy resources and
is organized by grade; addresses a variety of literacy topics including: assessment,
Content Area Literacy, Connecting to Writing, Effective Teaching, Literacy Standards,
Multicultural Literacy; and links to research, online discussions, a newsletter, and more.
Math Test for Journalists
http://www.ire.org/education/math_test.html
How much do you know about the math that makes the news? Journalists have to deal
accurately and clearly with numbers all the time. Take this test to check your skills.
After the quiz, you'll have a better understanding of the need for math skills in careers
that are not considered typically math-centered. You should also have a greater
appreciation of how writers can use numbers effectively to make a point, an awareness you
can use to improve your writing as well as your reading of the news.
Motivating Reluctant Readers
http://adlit.org/
AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the
parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers in grades 4-12.
MysteryNet's Kids Mysteries
http://kids.mysterynet.com/
Contains mysteries to solve, scary stories, and magic tricks.
Read, Write, Think
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp
International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE), and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation are the partners for this site with a
mission of providing educators and students with access to the high quality practices and
resources in reading and language arts instruction through free, Internet-based content.
While the focus is literacy, the "Student Materials" section is the highlight
which ca be extended to other subject areas. The "Materials" are actually
interactive online tools for creating comic strips, drama maps, timelines,
"staple-less" books, picture maps and much more. There are a total of 23 tools,
something for all ages. Lesson plans, standards and web resources are also available at
the site.
Readability Analysis
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/ftp/pub/s2s/index.html?lang=English&content=home
In the context of Web accessibility, the word readability refers to the ease with which a
reader can comprehend text. This product has been developed at the University of Texas
Accessibility Institute. The program has given students enrolled a chance to develop
educational software for a wide range of clients. They hope their readability calculator
can help people around the world produce documents that are easily readable and accessible
to everyone. Click on Start Analysis and paste a piece of text in the box to receive the
analysis. Click on Readability Formulas to see what the figures mean.
Reading Matrix
http://www.readingmatrix.com/
The Reading Matrix, was designed to create a place where both teachers and other
interested persons could come together to find resources about reading and writing. Most
of the resources are geared towards the language needs of ESL and international students,
but there is really something for everyone. The Archives are a good place to start, as
users will have the opportunity to look through subject-oriented resources for
English-language learners that range from dictionaries, grammar quizzes, and speaking and
listening practice.
Secret World of Cryptology
http://www.nsa.gov/kids/
The National Security Agency offers a fun look at the world of cryptology. Here you can
learn the history of code writing (and reading) as well as build your own codes, play
games and puzzles, print out coloring pages, and much more. Practice being a cryptologist
by making your own codes and breaking some of theirs.
Story Arts
http://www.storyarts.org/
The National Council of Teachers of English tells us, "Story is the best vehicle for
passing on factual information. Historical figures and events linger in children's minds
when communicated by way of a narrative". Teachers in all disciplines are beginning
to employ storytelling in the classroom. Stories to tell and techniques for teaching
communications skills, language arts, science, and math are among the resources Story Arts
offers. Heather Forest, professional storyteller and teacher, shares many creative,
specific, and easily implemented lesson plans and activities. This is a complete kit for
turning you and your students into effective storytellers.
Strategies for Better Reading
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/reading.cfm?str=reading&num=11&act=1
This interactive Website from the Adult Media Literacy Alliance will help users improve
their reading skills by providing strategies for "reading between the lines,"
making predictions, and identifying main ideas. Examples and activities give clear
explanations and immediate feedback.
Stufun.Com: Grammar
http://stufun.com/grammar/
This site has exercises to download in the following categories: Nouns, Verbs, Pronouns,
Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections, Singular/Plural, Genders,
Opposites, Puzzles, Aritcles, Direct/Indirect Speech, Punctuation, and Stories.
Teaching That Makes Sense
http://www.ttms.org/index.htm
This site is maintained by workshop presenter Steve Peha. "For 10 years, I have
combined the best of classroom practice with a real-world results-oriented perspective to
help make teaching more practical for teachers and learning more fun and meaningful for
kids." Topics include Eight Great Writing Strategies That Work, What Can You Say
About a Book?, Tools for Reading in the Content Areas, There's No Practice Like Best
Practice, Looking for Quality in Student Writing, and So Much Assessment, So Little Time.
Treasures @ Sea
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow8/dec98/
Vocabulary Recall
http://www.quia.com/cb/131318.html
Read the description of an item in a category and write in the answer. This is a
"Jeopardy" type game to help improve the ability to recall common words. It is
for one or two players. There are 20 questions in 14 categories for a new game each time.
Categories include farm, toys and games, school, ocean, furniture and others. Spelling is
important so this activity is best for third grade and up. Second graders like it too when
there is spelling help.
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