K-12 Language
Arts Sites

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FROM:LIMONY-SNICKET -http://www.lemonysnicket.com/

General Language Arts Sites

AAASpell - http://aaaspell.com
Learn to spell with these great games -- by grade level.

ABSOLUTE WHOOTIE: STORIES TO GROW BY -  http://hazel.forest.net/whootie/default.html
FREE PLAY SCRIPTS TO PRINT AND PERFORM after you close all the pop=up windows.  A selection of fairy tales and folk tales from around the world, including a story of the month,  that introduce themes of courage, justice, kindness and  other positive behavior. Stories are fun, upbeat, kid-tested, copyright-available, and nondenominational, with illustrations by kids artwork. Question sets follow each story. Kids can click to see what other kids had to say about the story, too. Grade Level:  Elementary

ACRONYM FINDER - http://www.AcronymFinder.com/
Lots of advertisements, but if you need a searchable database containing common acronyms and abbreviations about all subjects, with a focus on computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military; 61,000 acronyms & their meanings,  this is the site.

AMERICAN SLANGUAGES - http://www.slanguage.com/
Asks you to "choose a city and talk like the locals" - foreign cities too. You'll need to be careful with this one, but the rich uses of language here outweigh the inherent dangers!

ASK A LINGUIST - http://linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/
Sponsored by the Linguist List, these dedicated experts offer this servic to answer questions about linguistics and language to anyone who asks. There's links on languages, etymologies and grammar and there's also an archive of past questions and answers. The question submission form makes it easy to use too.

AWESOMESTORIES.COM - http://www.awesomestories.com
AwesomeStories.com takes relevant source material from archives, libraries, museums and institutions and presents it within the context of clear, concise, entertaining stories. Coverage includes Flicks, Famous Trials, History, Biography, Religion, Disasters, LawBuzz (skip Inspiration-doesn't seem to fit). Short chapters and lots of links to external sources will help keep students interested. Flash-based and non-Flash versions available.

BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS - http://www.bartleby.com/100/
This is 10th edition from 1919. Has a keyword search tool, index of authors and more. If you get stuck on the site - use your go to button to return to this page.

BASIC STEPS TO THE RESEARCH PROCESS - http://www.crlsresearchguide.org
This research guide goes step by step through the research process; but one of the best parts is the Tip section. The tip sheets  quickly locate whichever part of the process a student needs. Tips include: Selecting a research topic; Making source cards; Finding information within sources; Writing a statement of purpose; Brainstorming research questions; Writing a thesis statement; Citing sources; Writing a conclusion, etc. This site was created by Holly Samuels, Librarian, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

BEHIND THE NAME - ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES - http://www.behindthename.com/
Introduction to etymology and first names, languages, elements in first names, and most popular names - interesting.

BOOKPALS include Storyline (http://www.bookpals.net/storyline.html - children can dial a toll-free-number to hear a book read by an actor anytime, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week); PENCILPALS-  http://www.bookpals.net/pencilpals.html - designed to make reading and writing a first person experience for children in elementary and middle schools by setting up "pen pals"; and BOOKFINDER - http://www.bookpals.net/cgi-bin/bookfinder/index.pl - a searchable database of read-aloud picture books on a wide range of topics). Additional programs are available in different parts of the U.S.

BOOKS FOR RESULTS - http://www.books4results.com/
This website was designed for elementary teachers searching for language arts resources or workshops on reading and story writing. Check out the student written book evaluations and original stories.

CATCH THE SPELLING - http://www.manythings.org/cts/
Has a huge collection of spelling games. Game have falling letters, you catch with a paddle, much like the popular arcade game Breakout. Select from word categories (birds, kitchen, body parts), difficulty, level of hints provided, or grade level. (Dolch site words for kindergarten through third grade.)

CHILDREN'S CREATIVE THEATER GUIDE - http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5291/
This ThinkQuest entry takes you inside the theater through links, games, skits and virtual tours to provide for a truly authentic online experience - a real winner for elementary and middle school!

COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH - http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
An intensive listing of words which are commonly misused. Sometimes the easiest way to learn proper grammar, is to learn what NOT to say. The alphabetical listing makes it easy to find a word. Go to the link of non-errors and justify your idiom!

CREATE A WORD FIND - http://www.edhelper.com/wordfind.htm
EdHelper generates a variety of puzzles, but not all are free, so navigating the choices can be confusing.  To make a custom word search, enter your  words, and click  "Create Word Search Now!"  The next page displays dozens of formatting options, but only the first three are free, the balance are for paid subscribers only.  Your selection includes upper case, lower case, or  no backward and diagonal words  (for an easier puzzle.)  Custom crossword puzzles are also free.  You find the link on the horizontal "Also Try" menu. (Reviewed by Barbara J. Feldman)

CREATIVE DRAMA AND THEATER - http://www.creativedrama.com/
A resource site which offers activities for teachers and others like creative drama, classroom ideas, theatre games, plays for performance, etc.

DAILY GRAMMAR - http://www.dailygrammar.com
Like Word a Day, you can receive a daily lesson or access the archives for daily grammar lesson. - This is a mail list.

DAILY VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES - http://www.surfnetkids.com/vocabulary.htm
From Barbara Feldman. You can get a daily serving of vocabulary-building word activities on the Web, in your e-mailbox, or even on your pager or cell phone. Today's sites feature a new word, idiom, word game or quotation every day.

DECODING VISUAL LANGUAGE ELEMENTS IN NEWS CONTENT - http://www.katebrigham.com/thesis/demo.htm#
An interesting interactive demonstration of how visuals in news can be changed to create feelings. Click on a magazine story and change the visual or the article. Interesting for older students.

DIGITAL LIBRARIAN - http://www.digital-librarian.com
A librarian's choice of the best of the web, this is a fine catalog of subject area; online book reviews, periodicals, articles and data bases at your fingertips - easily searchable.

DISCOVERYSCHOOL'S GLOSSARY MAKER AND VOCABULARY QUIZ BUILDER - http://school.discovery.com/teachingtools/teachingtools.html
Save time and use DiscoverySchool.com's web tools, Instant Glossary Builder, and Vocabulary Quiz Maker to create customized word glossaries and word definition quizzes with a click of a button. Each tool only takes a few easy steps to use and complete. Just enter the list of words into Glossary Builder and it finds the definitions and creates the glossary.

<> ESL CAFE - http://www.eslcafe.com/
Dave Sperling's site dedicated to learning English as a second language; designed to be fun for teachers with lots of opportunity for interaction and loads of shared ideas.

ESL CYBER LISTENING LAB  - http://www.esl-lab.com
This website provides a multimedia experience for those seeking to learn the English language. The focus on the site is most definitely on developing listening skills, and it provides dozens of helpful audio features that quizzes students on topics such as renting an apartment, understanding credit cards, and making doctor's appointments. Another section of quizzes deals with subjects that students might encounter in other situations.

ESL GOLD - http://www.eslgold.com
Over twenty languages are included. This site's primary materials are thematically organized into categories such as "Speaking," "Reading," "Listening," and "Writing." Within each of these sections, visitors can take a look through topical resources that compartmentalize different themes, such as "Topics for Writing" or "Organizing and Composing." There are also materials for beginning, intermediate, or advanced level students.

GUIDE TO GRAMMAR AND WRITING - http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Pull down menus, ask the site (questions), this is a great site for  everything grammar from words and senetences to essays, paragraphs, quizzes. There is even a section that explains when to use numbers as words and when to use the numerals.  Power point presentations include use of commas and semicolon, diagramming sentences, etc.

INTERNET PICTURE DICTIONARY - http://www.pdictionary.com/
The Internet Picture Dictionary is a free, online multilingual picture dictionary designed especially for ESL students and beginning English, French, German, Spanish and Italian language learners of all ages.  Activities for students allow them to correct the stinky spelling (misspelled words with the picture right above) and unscramble letters to form the correct word.

JAN BRETT DOLCH WORD LIST - http://www.janbrett.com/games/jan_brett_dolch_word_list_main.htm
The Dolch words are the 220 most frequently found words.  Students who learn these words have a good base for beginning reading.  Many of these words cannot be sounded out because they do not follow decoding rules.  These words must be learned as sight words.

JUSTIN'S DRAMA AND THEATRE LINKS

KIDS CLICK

LANGUAGE ARTS PAGE - http://members.tripod.com/teachstuff/languagearts.htm
Interesting stuff on this site, including lesson ideas, sources and links to other subjects.

LANGUAGE TOOLS - http://www.itools.com/lang/
Look up words, terms or just unscramble words for puzzles and crosswords: a great site.  There is also a translator

LAURA CANDLER'S FILE CABINET - http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/index.php
In the file drawers, you will find all sorts of activity sheets and blackline masters created for the classroom. All of them are in PDF format, so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in to view and print the files.

LEARNING VOCABULARY CAN BE FUN - http://www.vocabulary.co.il
Four online, interactive games with multi-level and multi-subject choices to help students learn vocabulary words. Over 100 topics with 4,500+ words. Flash games include: Hangman, Word Search, Language Match Game, Vocabulary Quiz. A "homegrown site" created and maintained by Jacob Richman. Requires Flash.

LEXICAL FREE NET - http://www.lexfn.com/
THIS IS COOL! Type in any two words and look for synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, anagrams and more. There's even an option to find words in the database with similar spellings..

MILLENNIUM MYSTERY MADNESS - http://library.thinkquest.org/J002344/
This is ThinkQuest site. Welcome to the wonderful world of mystery! Here you are going to see and find facts from the early years of mystery to present day, from how a mystery was formed, what should go into a mystery, and who wrote the first mystery. Then you play some games to test your knowledge. "It's up to you gumshoe!"
MONSTER MOTEL - http://www.kidsonthenet.org.uk/motel/
Enter the creepy house at this address and be ready to scour the place for monsters! Children are invited to read about monsters other kids have created and then try their hand at making and writing about their own.

ONLINE ENGLISH GRAMMAR - http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/
Pages of information about everything you wanted to know about  English grammar.   Searchable.

OUTTA RAY'S HEAD - http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/
 A collection of lesson plans with handouts by Ray Saitz and many contributors; all of the lessons have been used and refined in the classroom.  Contents contain literature, writing and poetry.

QUIZLET - http://quizlet.com/
Started by Andrew Sutherland when he was 15, you can play this great site without an account. But you'll want to sign up for a free account to build your own interactive flashcard sets to study in five different modes: Familiarize, Learn, Test, Scatter Game, and Space Race Game. Sets are organized by tags, and can be coded private or public, or exported in a variety of formats to use elsewhere.

RANDOM HOUSE FOR TEACHERS - http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers
A website for K-12 teachers and librarians with guides for teachers, thematic and interdisciplinary indexes, readers' companions, author and illustrator biographies, and more.

READER'S THEATER PAGE - http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html
Aaron Shepard's Reader's Theater page with scripts and a guide for writing your own scripts, how to use them and why they work. 

READERS THEATER SITES - http://www.jbonzer.com/readerstheatersites.html
From first grade teacher J. Bonzer, there are lists of places to find readers theater sites and other sources.

SHEPPARD SOFTWARE: WEB GAMES VOCABULARY
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm
Really cool.

SMITHSONIAN LESSON PLANS - http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/lesson_plans.html
This is the Smithsonian site for teachers.  Great classroom ready lessons and activities for arts, language arts, science and social studies.

THE TEACHERS DESK -  http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp
Includes spelling and vocabulary activities.  Click on Language Arts. Also a Reading site. Cute.

SPELLING WORKSHEETS FOR GRADE 1 + - http://www.edhelper.com/spelling_grade1.html
Complete Spelling Lessons! Reproducible Worksheets, Word Lists, Word Find, Fill in Missing Letter, Unscramble, Circle the Correct Word, Pronunciation.  You can Receive the Answer Guide to Any Lesson!  Receive the complete answers to a lesson condensed into only one e-mail!  Click on the Table of Contents for grades 1-12.

STORIES FROM THE WEB - http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/
Developed by Birmingham Libraries to help motivate children to respond to literature and produce their own writing; students can read, critique and write their own stories which can be posted in the Gallery.

SUPERKIDS VOCABULARY BUILDERS - http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/
Looking for an easy way to improve your students' (or your own) vocabulary? These should help - and hopefully be fun, too! PSAT and SAT Vocabulary Flashcards and Matching Game; Word of the Day -- by grade level, including SAT words; Hangman -- fun subjects, as well as vocabulary; Hidden Word Puzzles -- make your own! Word Scrambler -- great for vocabulary, spelling, and reading! Mumbo Jumbo (like TextTwist® ) -- Quick, what words can you spell with "QMZYXL"? (Also available for purchase in a downloadable, enhanced version)

TEACHERS HUB - http://www.teachershub.com/teaching/teaching.cfm
Interactive Learning Center for Elementary, Middle School, and High School, with Teacher Resources, a Quiz Hub, Spelling Hub, and Words Hub

TEK MOM'S CITATION PAGE - http://www.tekmom.com/cite/index.html
How to Cite Web Resources.  Be a team player and give credit where credit is due by creating a reference for every online resource you use.  Check this page out, it is color coded for ease of use.

THEATRE HISTORY ON THE WEB  - http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/history/jack.html
The University of Washington, School of Drama created this site to  aid in online research of theatre throughout the ages. Links under Cultural Sites/Theatre Resources are very extensive; links are also grouped by historical period.  Online journals and books are also linked.

USEFUL HANDOUTS - http://www.winthrop.edu/wcenter/handoutsnew.htm
Include Grammar and punctuation, thesis statements, etc.

VOCABULARY BOOKMARKS - http://www.dositey.com/language/bookmark58.htm
Interesting idea. The students can write down words that they want to share, look up, or add to the word wall while they are reading their book. Rest of the site is at http://www.dositey.com/2008/index.php?

VOCABULARY COACH - http://www.vocabularycoach.com/
Three parts – words on standaradized tests,, word power, and 5 minute games to help. There are over 4,000 words, games and activities, and hands-free games to watch and learn. FREE.

VOCABULARY.COM - http://www.vocabulary.com/index.html
Home of "Vocabulary University", a great place for games and puzzles that promote word power including thematic word puzzles on a range of topics; everything you need is right online. I love "root word lessons."

WEB ENGLISH TEACHER  - http://www.webenglishteacher.com/
After clicking the pop up windows closed...This is a very comprehensive Hotlist for English teachers, with links to prose, drama, poetry, and vocabulary sites, as well as Shakespeare, Olympics, Journalism, and Critical thinking.

WORD WISE - http://www.factmonster.com/funfacts.html
All about books, mythology, language, and more.  Check the grammar and spelling selections like frequently misspelled words.  From Fact Monster.

WORD TURTLE - http://www.funbrain.com/detect/
This is a custom seek and find word search game. You give FunBrain a list of words which it then hides in the puzzle. Select a level and if you want to play against FunBrain or want the puzzle to be printed out on paper.  Also you can do a puzzle creaed by FunBrain on books you've read like Harry Potter or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, etc. You can even choose from easy, medium, hard, and superbrain.

WRITINGDEN - http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/
This site, designed for students in grades 6 to 12, provides tips on writing, help with reading comprehension and even tools to improve vocabulary skills.
 

ALSO SEE INTERACTIVE READING SITES. or  PROJECTS ON LINE  or INNOVATIVE WAYS TO TEACH or WEBQUEST ARCHIVES or go  Back to Table of Contents

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Last Updated August, 2011