Language Arts Weblinks

Language Arts

Dictionary.com - To use the dictionary, simply type a word in the blue search box that appears at the top of every page and then click the 'Look it up' button. This will perform a search for the word in the several dictionaries hosted on their site. Also includes Daily crossword puzzles and word searches.

Little Explorers - Little Net surfers can click their way through the alphabet. Each letter of this dictionary has dozens of illustrated entries, most of them linked to external sites. The dictionary is also available in English/French and other languages.

Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam-Webster provides a free online dictionary, thesaurus, audio pronunciations, Word of the Day, word games, and other English language resources.

WordCentral.Com - Word Central is the student dictionary site from Merriam-Webster. It also has Daily Buzzword, interactive word games, homework help and lesson plans for parents and teachers.

All Words - This site is an English dictionary with multilingual search. This means you can search and display words in either English, German, Dutch, French, Italian or Spanish.

Your Dictionary - One of the Web's most comprehensive and authoritative language portal with every resource needed for language study in more than 300 languages.

RhymeZone - A language arts reference tool and comprehensive search engine for words which includes the functions of a rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and spelling checker, as well as an integrated full-text search engine for all of Shakespeare's works and thousands of quotations and poems.

Fry's 1000 Word List - Teachers involved in our literacy initiatives are eager to get their hands on the Fry's 1000 word list. Here are a few sites where these lists can be found.

Poetry Listening Booth - Find wonderful audio clips of poets reading some of their most loved works, including Robert Frost reading "The Road Not Taken", and "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks.

Fifteen Poems You can Write Right Now - Tell a story, take a snapshot, shift perspectives... Find fifteen poetry lessons here to experiment with different formats and forms of poetry.

Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things - Use this lesson to explore your students' sense of self through an acrostic poem; perfect for a beginning of school year literacy, art, and social activity. An ABC wordlist is included to help younger students. This activity addresses personal reflection and creative writing along with spelling and phonemic awareness.

Interactive Acrostic Poems - This is a very cool tool for students to explore poetry in an interactive, fun, and friendly format. Students will choose a theme, then brainstorm up to eight words for their topic. As they click forward through the exercise, the acrostic generator offers suggestions for each letter of their chosen theme word to start them off. A printable version is offered when the students are satisfied with their final copies.

Getting To Know You Poem Template - You can use this poetry template at the beginning of the school year for a great exercise in getting to know your students, allowing them to have their say about what is important to them and what makes each of them unique.

Teaching The Polar Express - Newly updated, this site offers reading activities, ticket templates, vocabulary, and games to accompany your class study of this wonderful book.

Polar Express Curriculum Connections - Find ideas across the curriculum to explore Chris Van Allburg's "Polar Express" with your class plus links to web sites that include information on Chris Van Allsburg and his books.

Polar Express Teaching Guide - All aboard for a summary of teaching ideas, guided questions, timeline activities, and more with this Teaching Guide. The Teacher's Guide is also available in PDF.

Take the Polar Express to Learning - Just in case you want even more on the "Polar Express", try this compendium of lesson plans, train track reading logs, related crosswords and wordsearches, and a reindeer craft activity.

Polar Expressions - A grade three teacher's lesson challenges students to write a five-paragraph expository essay.

A Teacher's Guide To The Holocaust - Select either middle school or high school level lesson plans to find student activities and teacher resources for teaching the Holocaust. Student handouts are included.

Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam - the official Anne Frank House website

Anne Frank; Her Diary (From Scholastic.com)

Anne Frank In the World - Utah Education Network

The Diary of Anne Frank WebQuest

The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - View trailers and video clips, listen to samples of the music and watch short video clips about the musicians, learn about C.S. Lewis and his seven books, listen to sample chapters out of each book, play the Narnia online game and download the 16-page educator's guide.

Journalism.org - Journalism Tools: Reporting - The Art of Interviewing - An initiative by journalists to clarify and raise the standards of journalism through research and education.

Newseum - The world's first interactive museum of news whose mission is to help the public and the news media understand one another better.

Media Awareness Network - Media Education in Canada. Access to guidelines and classroom resources to help students verify the truth and accuracy of online information

Saskatchewan News Index - This web site offers a searchable index of stories published in Saskatchewan newspapers. Make sure to read the Top 100 stories from 1884 - 2000.

Projectcensored.org - This is a media research group out of Sonoma State University which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, they compile an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media.

Elementary Writing Prompts - Written specifically for Canadian elementary teachers, but appropriate for a much wider audience, this long list of more than two hundred writing prompts is enough to keep anyone writing for years. The prompts are organized into questions that ask "Who, what, where, and when?" as well as "I wish," "Describe" and "Miscellaneous."

Not -So- Ancient Greece - Greek mythology becomes the vehicle in this lesson plan to explore universal themes. Students will work together to create their own original myth as well; printable are included. Use the Myth Writing Workshop for writing strategies and a few warm-up activities to get you started.

Fabulous Fun With Greek Myths - From creating Myth-Fact Trading Cards, to scavenger hunts for phrases originating in Greek mythology, creating modern portraits of the gods, interviewing Greek heroes, or making your own comic-book adventures, find some great ideas here to explore Greek mythology with your students.

Encyclopedia Mythica - A great place for students and teachers to research legends of the past. Check out the site’s detailed offerings on Greek mythology, for example. You’ll find links to the genealogy tables for Zeus’ consorts and offspring, the Principal Gods and the Descendents of Prometheus. Click on the link to Greek heroic legend to find the genealogy tables for the ancestors of Achilles, Perseus, Heracles, the family of Helen of Troy and the House of Troy.

91 Ways To Respond To Literature - If your students are needing some fresh inspiration to get them enthusiastic about their reading responses, try these suggestions.

StorylineOnline - The Screen Actors Guild Foundation brings Storyline Online, an on-line streaming video program featuring SAG members reading childrens books aloud. Stories such as 'Brave Irene' by William Stieg and 'Thank You Mr. Falker' by Patricia Polacco are hand-picked by BookPALS National Program Director Ellen Nathan, a former teacher and librarian.

Clifford Interactive Storybooks - Choose words to make your own unique story about Emily and Clifford. Then listen as the computer reads it to you. While you are there, try one of Clifford's neat games.

Play Mad Libs Online:

Junior (Gr. 1-3)
Gr.4-6

Mad Libs on the Web - Choose a Mad Lib from one of the 3 titles.

Wacky Web Tales - An online equivalent to Mad-Libs, Wacky Web Tales are geared for grades 3 and above. Check back monthly for new tales!

ReadWriteThink.org - Discover IRA's collection of reading and language arts teaching materials, including lesson plans, interactive activities for students, and web resources.

New student activities:
- Flip Book
- Character Trading Cards

Teaching Shakespeare - Looking for new ideas for teaching the Bard? Here is a great online teaching resource. Also check out their list of resources on specific plays.

Alliteration Poems Using Headlines - After finding arresting headlines and words from various print sources, students must compose a poem using these cut-outs. Further, their headline poems must be composed containing examples of alliteration. A student assignment handout is available to download and print out, using this link.

Reader's Theater Script: "Hen Picked" - The Little Red Hen is looking for an apprentice to help her run her nationwide chain of bakeries. She appears with Donald Trumpeter Swann on a show called Boss Me Around and meets three candidates for the position. Who will she hire as her apprentice?

Check here for other Reader's Theater Scripts and Teacher's Guides

Storymaker - Try this online and interactive storymaker, where students participate in creating an audio-enhanced and animated story through selection; perfect for enticing all readers.

In persuasive writing, a writer takes a position FOR or AGAINST an issue and writes to convince the reader to believe or do something. Check out these great resources for persuasive writing:

Persuasive Writing through Advertising - Students will interpret their thoughts about various pictures, symbols, and slogans; create a visual representation of various feelings and emotions to infer what the advertiser could be selling the consumer; and create an advertisement using the various learned techniques.
Can You Convince Me? Developing Persuasive Writing - Through a classroom game and handouts, students are introduced to the concepts of lobbying for something important to them (or that they want) and making persuasive arguments. Students become aware of the techniques used in persuasive oral arguments and apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.
Persuasive Writing - This site offers information on the format of a persuasive essay, the writing and peer conferencing process, and a rubric for evaluating students’ work.
Argument & Persuasive Writing - Includes lesson plans and activities for teaching argument and persuasive writing -- helps develop Web research and persuasive writing skills as they create original works.

Great Source iwrite - Provides educators, students, and parents with helpful writing resources - tutorials, templates, and mini-lessons on for all major forms of writing: narrative, expository, persuasive, research report, and response to literature. The “Ask the Expert” features prompt feedback on writing pedagogy, assessment, and lesson plans. “The Buzz” includes articles that highlight what’s new in writing instruction. Additional resources for educators include a collection of writing prompts to jump-start classroom activities and rubrics based on the six traits of writing. For students in grades 5-12, iwrite offers step-by-step instruction on a variety of writing assignments; interactive video tutorials; and a handbook that provides lessons on editing, punctuation, grammar, and mechanics.

Student Guide to Book Reports - Check out this helpful student guide to writing book reports. It covers everything from selecting a book to writing your final draft.

Better Book Reports -- 25 Ideas! - (from Education World) Tired of the same old book report formats? Spice up those old book reports with some new ideas. Check out the bulletin board idea, Book Report Sandwiches!

Books Alive! - When middle school students create a book report, they use PowerPoint to describe the best elements of what they read.

Biography Maker - The Biography Maker is meant to inspire lively story telling and vivid writing which will make your readers want to know more about your subject.

Scholastic.com: Writing Biography - Here you can learn how to research and write a biographical sketch — and along the way, you'll find research and writing strategies as well as a warm-up exercise to get your students started.

Children's Literature Web Guide – From the University of Calgary, this site gathers together and categorizes the growing number of Internet resources related to books for Children and Young Adults.

A Collection of Graphic Organizers - Whatever kind of printable graphic organizer you are looking for; chances are you will find it here. Idea wheels, fact and opinion charts, clusters, observation charts, planning charts, four column charts... they're all included.