Literacy Resources
1. PBS has launched its new Digital Learning Library. It is a repository of digital media from public broadcasting programs throughout the United States. The library includes video, audio, images, games, etc. specifically designed for classroom use. Click on the grade level along the top that you wish to explore. I found some good sites (in Language Arts) that you might want to add to your classroom digital libraries.
2. Cherry Carl is a Language Arts Specialist. She has over 50 topics (bears, antonyms, holidays, frogs, digraphs,etc.) with games and sheets she has created. What I like is that the materials are there to be downloaded for free. Each one is a pdf so it opens a bit slowly (at least it does on my computer). Click, print, and you have games, practice materials, ideas for centers, etc. Check out the links on the left as well as the directory on the bottom.
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/
3. “ReadWriteThink offers a collection of online student materials to support literacy learning in the K-12 classroom. These interactive tools can be used to supplement a variety of lessons and provide an opportunity for students to use technology while developing their literacy skills. Click on the name of each interactive for a brief description of the tool and a list of the ReadWriteThink lessons that use the tool. From there you’ll also be able to directly access the tool and use it in your classroom.” Includes: ABC Match, Alphabet Organizer, Character Trading Cards, Compare/Contrast, etc.
4. Check out this wonderful site I discovered. It links you to over 100 Web sites for students to use (there are some for teachers as well) and it is grouped by reading topics such as beginning sounds, rhyming words, syllables, letter recognition, letter sounds, short vowels, long vowels, r controlled vowels, blends, sight words, vocabulary–antonyms and synonyms, prefixes, fluency, etc. You may find a few that will be new for your students. There is a brief explanation of each.
http://bes.fayette.k12.il.us/reading.htm
5. This site has links for Language Arts, Math, Science activities by grade. Also check out the link for Grade Level Skill Help Pages under each grade’s title. This is one of my favorites. It is divided into skills so you can pick whichever skill you are working on and find some age-appropriate games to teach the skill.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help.htm
6. Mrs. Kilburn’s Kiddos site has many teaching ideas for working with young children. Her links are impressive, and most ideas are great. Scroll down the right column to see what she has compiled. There are many links to Kindergarten programs.
http://mrskilburnkiddos.wordpress.com/
7. The CogDogRoo site has over 50 web tools you can use to create your own web-based story. The author has used each tool to produce an example of a Dominoe (his dog) story. Links are provided to examples by other people.
http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
6. I just discovered this wonderful spelling practice site that you may already know about. You enter the spelling words students need to practice. (There doesn’t seem to be a limit on the amount of words, although I have not checked out the maximum amount.) Students then click on test me, teach me, or play a game. It can be a great addition to Literacy Centers for all students or individualized for students who may need more practice.In the play a game section, there are ten different games to play with the words entered. It generates crossword puzzles, sentences, scrambled words, etc.–all with your words.
7. This is a word list generator in which you can create a word list based on which words students need to practice. For example, you can generate a list of cvc words, cvcc, etc. They can include sight words by level, and you can decide on word length and syllable number for longer words. A very useful tool.
8. Prefix and root word cards/crossword puzzles for practice. These are pdfs to print out.
Crossword Puzzle
9. This site has good pages for practicing blends. There are longer words for more fluent students to read. Click on the pages on the right after it opens to see all the activities for each blend.
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/Blends.htm
10. In this link from Accessing Curriculum Through Technology Tools (ACTTT), you will find examples of children’s technology work from Grade K-2 that include making books (kidpix, Photo Kit Junior, iphoto), movies, slide shows, and virtual field trips (Google Earth).
http://www.wiu.edu/thecenter/acttt/products/
11. Zinger Tales is a collection of fabulous stories told by famous storytellers.
