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. 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.

ALPHABET ANIMALS - http://www.infostuff.com/kids/a.htm
K-3. Infostuff has the simplest ABC collection. There is one big image for each letter, which you must step through in order — A, then B, and so on. The graphics are big and could be useful in a group setting.

ALPHABET FUN! - http://www.billybear4kids.com/games/online/alphabet/abc.htm
Billy Bear's online Alphabet Games are interactive fun. Kids need little "musing skills" to be able to play. The simplest games are initial consonants; later games include finding letters on the keyboard, and typing in missing letters from words with pictures.

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.

BLUEBOOK OF GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION - http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/cnt_punc.asp
You don’t need to sign in or up. This guide, written by Jane Straus, is divided into two sections: grammar and punctuation. Each section is organized into rules with examples  exercises and tests.   The quizzes are not interactive and include answer keys on the same page. The Blue Book is also available for purchase.
BLUE WEB'N - http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/
Web-based tutorials, activities and projects, Lesson plans, Hotlists, Resources and Reference tools for the Arts, English, Health and P.E. , history and Social Science, Math, Science, Technology and others.  Find the content table and click on the type of lesson or information you are looking for.

 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.

CREATIVE DRAMA GUIDELINES PAGE - http://www.kmrscripts.com/cdguide.html
Interesting page with lots of guidelines, suggestions, and activities which can promote creative dramatics in your classroom.

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
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.

DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES - http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/diagram.html
A short, sweet explanation of how to diagram a sentence.

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.

ESL LINKS - http://caslt.org/research/esllinks.htm
Links for ESL Teachers includes Grammar, Vocab, Idioms, Music, Lessons and Activities, Speaking and Pronunciation, Reading, Forums and other useful links.  Check it out.

ESL WORKSHEETS and LESSONS - http://www.geocities.com/frankie_meehan/
Worksheets for Grade 6-10 ESL classes  Practical, ready-to-use materials by a working teacher.

FAKE OUT - http://www.eduplace.com/dictionary/index.html
Interactive game which challenges students to correctly guess definitions - archives of past challenges too.

FREEVOCABULARY - http://www.freevocabulary.com/
Here's a site that offers 5000 definitions to words commonly found on standardized tests like the SAT. it's a grocery list folks, best saved to your hard drive so you can use your browser's Find function to quickly sort through words later. There's also a link to Texas Instruments where they have created Study Cards that run on the TI-73 and TI-83 Plus covering vocabulary, literature, math science, social studies, the arts and much, much more!

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.

HANDBOOK FOR STORYTELLERS - http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/storyhandbook.htm
Links to all kinds of tips for becoming a storyteller; loosely structured to account for individual styles.

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 - http://www.theatrelinks.com/
Justin Cash of Australia has created a huge directory of theatre links including: history, practitioners, genres, styles, online plays, playwrights, classroom resources, education institutions, arts organizations, set/lighting/costume designs and more. As with any hotlist, teachers should always check links for suitability before having students access them.

K-12 ENGLISH - http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/eng.shtml
English references and Search Tools, Books-on-Line, Shakespeare, Writers, Writing and a plethora of other stuff for every grade level.
KIDS CLICK - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/
A web search for Kids by librarians, includes topics like Weird & Mysterious, the Arts, Math and Science and Literature.

LANGUAGE ARTS: LEARNINGPLANET.COM - http://www.learningplanet.com/kids0.htm
For fun, interactive, educational activities, check out LearningPlanet.com's Kids Pages. Choose a grade level for a list of elementary games that cover several  subject areas. Language arts games include word searches, crossword puzzles, and a unique "word catching" game called "Rats." You'll need the Shockwave plug-in to play LearningPlanet.com's games.

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.lcandler.web.aplus.net/
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 ThinkQuest entry does a thorough job of presenting the history of the mystery genre, the breakdown of the elements of a mystery, and a mystery scavenger hunt. There's extra resources and the opportunity for student mystery writing as well. Largely text-based it is best suited for upper elementary.

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.mrsmcgowan.com/reading/readerstheater.htm
From first grade teacher Marci McGowan, there are lists of places to find readers theater sites, plus at there is an actual Readers Theater about the Easter Bunny's Vacation, ready for use.

READING AND WRITING - http://www.bibliocat.org/
This is the June 2001 Newsletter with links to sources about Reading and Writing by Sheryl Skufca.  Join her listserv or click on this site and then read for back issues or recent issues.  Great!

READY TO USE WORKSHEETS  - http://www.rhlschool.com/
Just what the title says this site is, ready-to-use worksheets.

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

SMITHSONIAN LESSON PLANS - http://educate.si.edu/lp/lp_fs.html
This is the Smithsonian site for teachers.  Great classroom ready lessons and activities for arts, language arts, science and social studies.

SPELLING PLANS FROM THE TEACHERS DESK -  http://www.teachersdesk.org/
Includes spelling and vocabulary activities.  Cute.

SPELLING STRATEGIES: GUIDING KIDS TO "DISCOVER" SPELLING RULES   3-5
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/index.asp
Help your students use a discovery process to learn rules related to forming plurals and adding suffixes and prefixes to base words. And

SPELLING STRATEGIES: MAKE SMART USE OF SOUNDS AND SPELLING PATTERNS   K-2
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/index.asp  These strategies will help students hear sounds in words by developing phonemic awareness and exploring sound/symbol relationships and spelling patterns.

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.

STORYLINE ONLINE (BOOKPALS  - http://www.storylineonline.net/index2.html
The Screen Actors Guild Foundation is proud to bring you Storyline Online, an on-line streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children’s books aloud. As of 2004, there were 10 stories available. Additional programs from 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.

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.

VISUAL THESAURUS - http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/
This is an exploration of sense relationships within the English language. By clicking on words, you follow a thread of meaning, creating a spatial map of linguistic associations.  A great application of technology in which the learner actually watches terms being spun into webs of meaning; move your cursor towards different places on the JAVA applet and watch new terms dynamically emerge, interact and evolve into related meanings.

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/
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.

WORKSHEETS - http://www.rhlschool.com/
More worksheets than you can ever use.  CLICK ON ENGLISH for weekly worksheets like analogies, similes, reading worksheets are great, and even math worksheets are available.

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 April, 2009