• Sep. 4, 2005
Creative Writing Prompts

Just can't think of what to have the kids write about? Do they have writer's block? Try this site! Point your cursor to any number, read the prompt and then write your story! :o) 183 prompts...enough for an entire school year!

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

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• Sep. 3, 2005
Writing Fix: Right Brain

The Right-Brained Homepage
 Recklessly Creative Writing Ideas

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• Sep. 3, 2005
Writing Fix _Left Brained

The Left-Brained Homepage
 Logical & Structured Writing Ideas

Hey Writers and Teachers!  The writing activities housed on this page celebrate a left-brained approach to writing and challenges you to be more logical as you come up with ideas for writing topics for your journal or your writer's notebook.  Our left-brained writing techniques attempt to establish a structure in a writer's head before he/she begins writing.

http://www.writingfix.com/leftbrain.htm

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• Sep. 3, 2005
The Baldwin Project

Bringing yesterday's classics to today's children.

The site offers James Bladwin's works along with other authors such as Clara Dillingham Pierson (see below) Baldwin is known for 50 Famous Stories Retold and many other titles. Waldorf and Ambleside curricula books are on the site in downloadable format. The listing of authors available is too lengthy to mention here.

Here is an excerpt from the site:

If you have been looking for nature stories to read to your kindergarten age child, look no further! Clara Dillingham Pierson, a Froebel kindergarten teacher in Michigan at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, has written a lovely series of nature stories ideally suited for children ages 4 to 7. Each chapter offers the story of one animal interacting with other animals in its community.

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• Sep. 3, 2005
Teaching Italics

I realize that not everyone uses this for handwriting but we do so it happens to be a link I have for handwriting.

http://briem.ismennt.is/4/4.1.1a/4.1.1.1.quick.htm

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• Sep. 3, 2005
Teacher's Desk

Spelling games and vocabulary activities.

Most of the activities in (vocabulary) are card games that can be used with a whole class, a small group, or by individual students. Many of them are suitable as learning centers.

http://www.teachersdesk.org/spell_plans.html

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• Sep. 2, 2005
OWL Handouts

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html

We also have a list of handouts organized by category and a list of our interactive practice exercises. If you would like printer-friendly versions of these handouts, please visit our printer-friendly handouts index.

If you are a teacher, we also have an entire section on using our Writing Lab and our OWL in various courses.

This site is so worth a look!

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• Sep. 2, 2005
teachology literature

I wrote about this site earlier (under Cultural Studies) but this link will take you directly to the literature section.

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/subject_matter/literature/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
List of Interactive Quizzes

How can I explain this site? A guide to grammar and writing done through a plethora of quizzes on a variety of topics? 174 quizzes to be exact with topics ranging from Basic Grammar to College Vocabulary. You gotta see it!

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/quiz_list.htm

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun!

I am subbed to this newsletter and have been for a long time. I LOVE their games!

He has TONS of topics and is always amking more...you can find out about updates via the newsletter. Word Search, Jumble, Hangman, Crosswords, Quiz, and Match Game are your choices of games!

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

Each word gives you 7 guesses and the letters are dispalyed nice and large for young readers (or old ones like me!)

As an aside...one thing I LOVE is that he does not have the typical Hangman game graphics. He has a funny little mouse that steals cheese and a cat that slowly wakes up with each wrong guess...and then the cat grabs the mouse by the tail. Nothing gruesome here!

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Good Grammar Good Style

Do you have a question about style, grammar, or mechanics? Find the answer in the Good Grammar, Good Style Archive — more than 100 pages of useful articles and frequently asked questions! And she was too cute to leave off here! *L*

http://www.protrainco.com/info/grammar.htm

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Everyday Spelling Lists

Here are the spelling lists for grades 1—8. Choose your grade to download the word lists to your computer. If the list opens in your browser, choose "Save As" in the File menu to save it to your computer. Once the lists are on your computer, you may rearrange and organize the words and lists to meet your classroom needs.

http://www.everydayspelling.com/lists/listindex.html

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Virtual Flashcards

I found this site from one of the groups I am on. Originally designed for ESL students, don't let that deter you from visiting and gaining some great ideas and fun flashcards. http://bogglesworld.com/cards.htm By far the most popular resource downloaded from Boggle's World. These cards are ideal for teaching vocabulary.

I liked the prepositions cards and the Dolce sight cards. The fact that they offer both French and Spanish flashcards makes teaching either of those as a second lanuage easier.

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Daily Grammar

I'm SO bummed! Daily Grammar no longer provides an email-a-day service!

...but you can go to the Lesson Archive section of the website to enjoy the Daily Grammar lessons at your own pace.

http://www.dailygrammar.com/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Crazy Libs

Remember those silly games you played on those long car trips that would crack you and your siblings up? This is the online version of the same game!

"Read brief stories with your words strategically inserted to produce whacky results. Original stories, excerpts from classic literature, and excerpts from elsewhere on the RinkWorks site are featured. It's silly nonsense fun every time. "

Will help with identifying various parts of speech. Try Green Eggs and Ham for some laughs!

http://www.rinkworks.com/crazylibs/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
BrainPOP English

I mention this site for other subjects as well.

The free topics here include Antonyms/Synonyms/Homonyms, Public Speaking, Parts of Speech, Similies and Metaphors, Writing Process

http://www.brainpop.com/english/seeall/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Basic Guide to Essay Writing

From the site, "

An essay can have many purposes, but the basic structure is the same no matter what. You may be writing an essay to argue for a particular point of view or to explain the steps necessary to complete a task.

Either way, your essay will have the same basic format.

If you follow a few simple steps, you will find that the essay almost writes itself. You will be responsible only for supplying ideas, which are the important part of the essay anyway."

You may download a .pdf formatted file containing these instructions which can then be easily printed.

http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
Linking Verbs

Donna Young  (yes you will see her site listed more than once here...it's THAT good!) has an entire section on Language Arts http://english.donnayoung.org/index.htm

She covers Spelling, composition, grammar, research and vocabulary.

Here is the direct link to Linking Verbs:

http://english.donnayoung.org/pos/linking_verbs.htm

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• Sep. 2, 2005
In Search of Shakespeare

Another PBS offering based on a 2004 show by the same name. Still has lesson plans, interactive game, and multimedia library.

http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/

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• Sep. 2, 2005
EasyHomeschooling: Shakespeare

http://www.easyhomeschooling.net/check-shakespeare.html has a checklist of ideas for studying the Bard.

AND....an article on Copywork using Shakespeare! (Along with some others too!)Wonderful idea!

http://www.easyhomeschooling.net/Copywork.html

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