It’s Wednesday, August 7, 2019, and time for Language Arts in our Homeschooling class and I would like to ask you to check out the Recommended Websites:
EDSITEment – Literature and Language Arts
Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision) This website sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, offers free, high-quality online lesson plans to promote active learning in literature and language arts (as well as other subjects such as art and culture, history and social studies).
When you get to the site, you’ll see featured lesson plans. In the left sidebar is a sorting tool where you can select the grade level you want (K-5, 6-8, 9-12) and other features including subtopics such as:
- Listening
- Reading
- Speaking
- Viewing
- Writing
Click on any lesson title and a new page opens displaying the lesson including:
- Guiding Questions
- Learning Objectives
- Preparation
- Lesson Activities
- Lesson Extensions
- Materials and Media
There is also a link to Student Activities, where you can choose Literature and Language Arts in two different grade ranges: K-5 and 9-12 .
The content is so extensive that a description here simply doesn’t do it justice. This is a remarkable resource for the home educator – so bookmark it to return often.
Recommended Website: Highlights Kids
Age Range: 3-12 (Grades PreK-8, with parental supervision) Highlights Magazine sponsors this website that features free activities to build language arts skills while covering multiple subjects such as science, history, social studies, and more.
It also features the beloved “Hidden Picture” activity that you may remember from your own youthful experience with Highlights – and that your children are sure to enjoy.
When you get to the site you’ll see some featured activities. You can scroll through those or use the menu at the top to find:
- Activities – crafts and recipes
- Jokes – jokes and quizzes
- Games – Hidden Pictures and Unscramble
- Explore – science questions and experiments
- and more
Did we mention “Hidden Pictures”? It’s a lot of fun to play online! You’ll enjoy it – and so will your kids!
Age Range: 4-12 (Grades K-6, with parental supervision) This kid-friendly website makes basic letter writing for the elementary grades easy and fun.
When you get to the site, scroll down and look under the title, “English.” Click on “Letter Writing” then “Learn More.” Then “View Lesson Plan” for your grade level of choice:
- K-2 – Personal Letter Writing
- 3-4 – Persuasive Letter Writing
- 5-6 – Coded Letter Writing
A new page opens to the lesson where you will be taken through the step-by-step process of learning correct letter writing form and practicing what you’ve learned. (Please note the postage amount is not for the U.S.)
And underneath the 3 grade level links you’ll find resources for teachers including letter templates, a sample business letter and how to address an envelope.
Recommended Website: FunTrivia: Quizzes – Books for Kids
Age Range: 5-18 (Grades 1-12, with parental supervision) At this website you will find many online, interactive quizzes based upon children’s literature.
When you get to the site you will see a menu that you can use to find quizzes according to book series, book author, young adult books, and a general literature category that includes quizzes on fairy tales and more. Don’t let the sparse menu on the landing page fool you – there are tons of quizzes on just about every children’s book imaginable.
Click on a category and a new page opens with a large menu of quizzes. Choose the quiz that interests you – and another page opens where you can select what format you want to take the quiz in – html or timed. Make your selection, and a new page opens where the quiz begins.
It’s fun to test your knowledge and memory of various story lines and characters that you have met in books! That said; parents have different criteria for what is suitable in terms of children’s literature. Therefore, as always, parents should preview this site before exploring it with your children.
Note: There are innumerable quizzes on many subjects at this site. Again, parents should preview this site before exploring it with children.
Age Range: 11-18 (Grades 6-12, with parental supervision) The WritingDen website offers free, online activities to help students improve their writing skills by working on vocabulary, sentence structure, and paragraph development.
When you get to the site you will see a “Feature Topic” and a menu. Click the “About” button on the menu for an overview of what the WritingDen offers.
Then, back on the home page, click on the “Feature Topic.” The topic is “wolves.” Click on it and a new page opens with a menu of:
- Words
- Sentences
- Paragraphs
Click on each one in succession to see how the story is developed from a selection of vocabulary words, to simple sentence structures, and finally to full paragraphs.
The “Paragraphs” section includes a “Note Set” that shows how the ideas presented in the paragraph were organized. This step-by-step process really demonstrates how stories are constructed.
Once you’ve completed the activity, take the quiz to test your comprehension and understanding of vocabulary, sentence structure, and paragraph development.
When you are through with the “Feature Topic,” you will have a clear idea of how material is presented at this site. If you like it, go back to the home page and click on “More Topics” to see the archived list of stories on subjects that include: History, Nature, Canada, Science, etc. Click on any story to go through the writing process as you did with the “Feature Topic.”
This site also contains “Tips-O-Matic” that provides grammar rules on word, sentence, and paragraph usage. This is a great tool for learning and reviewing parts of speech, etc.
This site is a great resource to help students develop their writing skills.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
