Tag: Language Arts

Power Proofreading

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What it is: Power Proofreading is a fun, interactive site by Houghton Mifflin that builds students proofreading skills. Students are introduced into a real-world situation where proofreading skills are needed. HME-TV’s power has gone out and they need students help to fix TV scripts, memos, and other writings at the station. Students proofread level appropriate material by selecting their grade level before the game begins.

How to integrate Power Proofreading into the classroom: Mix up the proofreading practice and use this site in place of standard DOL worksheets. Students will appreciate the interactivity and ease of use of this site.

Tips: Instead of bookmarking the home page of this site, bookmark the correct grade level.

 

 

Rhymer

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What it is: Rhymer is a free online rhyming dictionary from Write Express. Students can find end rhymes, last syllable rhymes, double rhymes, beginning rhymes and first syllable rhymes.

How to integrate Rhymer into your classroom: Set up an inspiration center during a poetry unit. Students can stop by the center when they need a little poetic inspiration.

Tips: Bookmark this site for easy access.

 

 

Berenstain Bears

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What it is: The popular children’s series, Berenstain Bears goes 21st century with their very own website. Students can visit the art gallery, read biographies of each of the bears, print out activities, read interactive story books, visit Barn theater for some Berenstain Bear videos, write an email to the Bears at the post office and more.

How to integrate Berenstain Bears into your classroom: Allow students to explore the Berenstain Bear site as part of their reading time. The site is sure to motivate students to read. This is a great site to have on hand for indoor recess days!

Tips: Make sure you have the most current Java and Quicktime players for the interactive books and videos.

 

 

 

I Know That Language Arts

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What it is: I Know That Language Arts builds student’s language arts skills for kindergarten through sixth grade. Activities include word searches, word matching, word builders, scrambled stories, sentence puzzles, punctuation paintball, word tage, and more.

How to integrate I Know That Language Arts into your literacy curriculum: Instead of the standard DOL, set your students up for some Punctuation Paintball. Allow your students to use I Know That Language Arts for practice, as an extended learning activity, or as a center during literacy.

Tips: I Know That has some advertisements on its site, these can be removed by purchasing a subscription. I use the sites advertisements to teach my students about how to spot ads on a website and why some sites have ads. Check out the teachers guide for each game and activity for some great ideas.

 

 

The Little Animals Activity Centre

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What it is: The Little Animals Activity Centre has several activities for kindergarten through second grade including read along stories, math practice, and music games. The read along stories are wonderful for following auditory directions.

How to integrate The Little Animals Activity Centre into your curriculum: Use The Little Animals Activity Centre to reinforce classroom learning. It offers read along interactive stories that invite students to follow auditory directions. The math section is great addition, and subtraction practice. Students can have fun with words and practice end sounds, first sounds, and rhymes. These are great little games and activities for practice. This site is also wonderful for teaching students how to use and manipulate the computer mouse.

Tips: Click on the teachers page for activity overviews, lesson plans, and printable worksheets.

 

 

Tux Paint

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What it is: Tux Paint (http://www.tuxpaint.org) offers open source software aka FREE. Tux Paint is a painting and creativity program similar to Kid Pix. tuxpaint.org offers the free download for both Macintosh and Windows computers. Tux Paint is easy to use, includes fun sound effects, and a cartoon mascot who guides students as they use the program. Students use a variety of drawing tools to create masterpieces.

How to integrate Tux Paint into your curriculum: Use Tux Paint as part of your publishing center. Students can illustrate their writing pieces using Tux Paint. Tux Paint can be used to enhance your literacy program. For example, I use Tux Paint when I am introducing kids to the Caldecott award. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems is a Caldecott Award winning book. The Pigeon is created with very simple shapes and can be easily recreated with the tools in Tux Paint. As part of this unit, I let kids create their own Pigeons. They look so close to Mo Willems Pigeon that the students feel like successful, award winning artists. This program is flexible enough to use in math (think patterns, money units, etc.), science, and history.

Tips: Make sure you have printing abilities. The students will be proud of their work and want to print it out! Be sure to download the stamp set. This is a free download but offers hundreds of stamps (including money) that enhance this already great program. Visit the school page to find out how other schools have used Tux Paint to enhance their curriculum.

Allow students to save their masterpieces and upload them to Artsonia (see archive).

 

 

Gamegoo

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What it is: Gamegoo features fun educational games that help students develop reading and language skills. When students play Gamegoo games, they are practicing the skills they are learning in class. Gamegoo is great for Kindergarten through third grade (although my fourth and fifth grade students still ask to play the games).

How to integrate Gamegoo into your literacy curriculum: Use Gamegoo games to reinforce literacy learning. In the one or two computer classroom, use Gamegoo as a center during literacy time. If you have access to a computer lab or mobile lab, build it right into your literacy curriculum.

Tips: Gamegoo has a great teacher section that gives descriptions, skills reinforced and grade levels of each game. Click on “Home” to get to the teacher section.