Absolutely
Whootie: Stories to Grow
By
As the world becomes smaller, educators have learned to include lessons from
other nations and cultures. This site offers a wide selection of stories and
folk tales derived from cultures around the globe. Not only can students and
teachers investigate stories from locations as far away as East Africa and
Afghanistan, but classrooms can also view the student gallery, contribute their
own interpretations, and download story scripts for theatrical performances.
Aphorisms Galore
Are your students running for school elections? Or do they want to spruce up a
paper -- or their own debate speech? This site offers a huge number of pithy,
wise statements for any occasion. Organized by topic, the site includes proverbs
about altruism and cynicism; science and religion; success and failure; and law
and politics, as well as many others.
The Amazing Adventure Series
Kids will be delighted to find stories as refreshing as the ones found here. The
site immediately prepares readers for a workout of the imagination with its
majestic music and animated graphics. The stories don’t fail to entertain
either, with their easy-to-read font, wonderful text and illustrations, and the
option to listen to the text. Although
there are only two stories currently available online, students will undoubtedly
enjoy the way in which the stories urge creative thought.
BookHive
A guide to children's books for students up to 12 years of age. This site has
hundreds of book reviews categorized by reading levels and interest areas.
Teachers can search for books by author, title, reading level, interest area,
number of pages, and illustrator. The site also includes special notes attached
to some reviews providing additional information about the book.
Candlelight
Stories
Candlelight Stories offers a wide selection of activities focusing on the wide
world of children's literature. In addition to finding periodically updated
e-books of popular children's literature, you'll love the bevy of online games
featuring familiar storybook characters, and interesting diversions such as an
animation machine. The site even offers downloadable live broadcasts of story
hours and audio versions of selected texts, but access to these locations
requires a small fee.
Children's Storybooks Online
Although parts of this site feel like they were built for very young kids, they
actually include content that is appropriate for middle schoolers. Students can
read illustrated stories or religious parables on the site, as well as take
quizzes or solve riddles.
Childrenstory.com
Great for beginning readers, this site adapts a number of well-known fairy tales
and nursery rhymes and gives youngsters the option of reading the text or
listening to the stories in their entirety. With great short stories like
Cinderella and Snow White and the interactive reading and listening options,
Childrenstory.com is a wonderful reading-aid supplement.
Common Errors in English
An indispensable reference for students who are learning English as a second language, this
site lists a tremendous number of traps in the language. From explaining the
difference between “historic” and “historical” to absolving writers for
using split infinitives, this site catalogs all those head-scratchers in a
convenient alphabetical list.
CyberGuides
Collection of on-line lessons supporting hundreds of novels at all grade levels. Some
activities have a definite American bias, which isn’t surprising since this website
is in California.
Daisy and the Intergalactic
Traveling Salesmen
The premise of this online, interactive story is simple: if a salesman from the
planet Pinkerello shows up at your door and asks you to join him as he sells and
collects inventions from planets all over the universe, what would you do?
Literally, the question of "what would you do?" is left into the hands
of your students, who decide in a choose-your-own-adventure fashion how the
story will progress. As your students decide the actions of Daisy, the story's
protagonist, they will witness the rich literary and artistic contributions
created by kids around the globe.
Database of
Award-winning Children's Literature
On this site, students can search for a world of books by the criteria they
choose, be it ethnicity of the protagonist, age, or major awards won. The site
encourages students to do research as well: first, students will have to go to
the library to find these books. In addition, the site explains both MLA and APA
styles for citing sources.
English Exercises Online
Though much of this site is designed for adults, children and teenagers who need
help with their English will appreciate the number and diversity of activities
on this site. Not only does the site include handouts and exercises, but it also
offers lesson plans such as creating dialogues and completing defintions.
Exercises are presented as matching, fill-in-the-blank, and multiple choice. The
highlight of this site is that it offers links to headline news for practice
reading English, so it's challenging and relevant.
Fairrosa Cyber Library
This site is a solid resource for looking up various children's books. The book
reviews and articles will be helpful for teachers, but not as essential as the
thematic list of books. Though it covers themes from adoption to time travel,
the list also categorizes books by the awards that they have won. This site is
also an excellent source for information about the life and works of Lewis
Carroll.
Just Write.org
Created by a retired teacher, Just Write.org is an electronic magazine featuring
creative writing from K-12 students. In addition to giving students the
opportunity to be published, young writers can get great lessons on writing
effectively from assignments like constructing paragraphs or writing thank-you
letters.
KidBibs
A site dedicated to encouraging kids to read. The site offers ideas for making
reading fun; a "Learning Tips" section provides weekly reading-related
advice and activities. It also includes links to kids magazines, homework help,
and other resources.
Mrs. ABC Phonetics and Spelling Curriculum
A student learns spelling, phonics, alphabetical order, rhyming, punctuation and
capitalization in an interactive, self paced curriculum with built in rewards and
certificates. A great source for parents and teachers with weekly tips, related articles,
and a free newsletter.
Mrs. Alphabet
Mrs. Alphabet is all about teaching phonics, reading, and other related
language skills for primary-age students. While its focus is on providing
ideas for useful classroom activities centered on language-arts themes, there
are some great learning games that are just for kids. Be careful: this site
spawns a number of navigation windows and uses various plug-ins in order for
it to run optimally.
Planet Esme
By the time kids reach their teens, they might not be as interested in story
time as they once were. However, Madame Esme’s Storytime Central will appeal
even to older kids. Since the site is organized by theme, kids can choose to
“travel” to other countries or find ideas for special activities like
incorporating bread-baking into their reading schedules! The site provides
reading lists that discuss relationships, as well as stories for rainy days.
Reaching Out: The Evolution of
Communication
Designed by students from the U.S. and Belgium, this unique and comprehensive
site tracks the development of communication from ancient times to the present.
It analyzes communication from the standpoint of language, signification, and
mass media, and even pays tribute to those inventors who revolutionized the way
people interact.
The Read In!
The Read In Foundation promotes global literacy and telecommunications
technology in education. To this end, their Web site offers a number of great
online resources for teachers looking to enhance their classroom reading
activities. Have your students log on to the Active Reader Zone to work on their
reading skills or check out the advice from literacy experts. Be sure to
download some of their teacher-tested lesson plans.
Spider-Man in Amazing Adventures
At this special site, created by the U.S. Department of Education, comic
superhero Spider-Man works to tackle his toughest caper yet: encouraging kids to
read. With the use of word games, narrative-building activities, and printable
charts that track reading and writing progress, these activities prove to be
both entertaining and educational.
Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales Theme Page
Storytelling isn't just for little kids. From Grimm's fairy tales to Zen and
Taoist ones, this (British Columbian!) site offers a large number of compelling
stories for older students. The site also links to sites offering tales from the
Basque region to Guam to Russia to Japan. The high points of the site are the
interdisciplinary lesson plans, including one in which students discuss heroic
actions using the newspaper and another where they study Native American culture
through the reading of folktales.
Story Quest
If your students are eagerly waiting the next Harry Potter installment, why not
have them come up with their own writing wizardry? Young magicians looking to
concoct their own tales should take some advice on making magical quests from
the writing wizards at Story Quest. While part of the journey is in writing
itself, the other part is in sharing it with other people. At this site your
kids can not only learn about writing short stories, but also pick up some clues
on how to tell tales.
Tales of Wonder
As the world becomes smaller and smaller, students will benefit from reading
stories from around the world. This collection of folk and fairy tales includes
items from Scotland to Siberia with themes covering anything from bravery to
explanations of the unknown. Written in an easy-to-read font, the site is simple
for kids to navigate and read. Students are also encouraged to submit stories
from their own cultures, and, thanks to the excellent related links, learn how
to read, write, and understand culture.
Traditional Grammar: An Interactive Book
Provides an introduction to basic syntax in Modern English. It also examines the
most common mistakes people make in formal writing. You can choose specific
chapters from the drop-down box to access topics of specific interest.
Vocabulary University
Whether students are studying for the PSAT or just want to learn something new,
this site offers some great vocabulary challenges to elementary, junior-high,
and high-school kids. Students can begin by taking the current
fill-in-the-blanks quiz (or searching the archives for previous ones).
Continuation of activities could earn students a diploma from Vocabulary
University (registration is free). Teachers also have access to theme-based
vocabulary projects.
WhyPoetryWhat
WhyPoetryWhat gives kids a sampling of different aspects and styles of poetry,
including poetry of social consciousness, odes, haikus, and even limericks. The
site’s exercises ask students to create their own masterpieces with the help
of a rhyming dictionary; for inspiration, students can read through the poetry
of others their age. The site also
includes a recording of a Robert Frost poem so that students can learn how to
listen to poetry.
World
Wide Words
Little do students know how language constantly changes and develops, and this
site, with its list of topical and weird words, lets students think about
language and its relationship with current events and media. They can find out
how words like “fuddy-duddy” and “simputer” came about, read about
different types of jargon, and explore language in the context of current
events. One good example includes a discussion on the “Americanization” of
the Harry Potter books.
The Write Site
is designed to give middle-school students a taste of real journalism. They learn how to collect facts, analyze information, and put together a
news article. You’ll find downloadable lesson descriptions, graphic
organizers, and checklists for classroom activities.
