Language Arts/Reading
Resources:
| General LA Sites | Fairy Tales, Folklores & Mythology |
| Grammar | Literature |
| Novel Study Guides | Poetry |
| Readers' Theater | Short Stories |
| Six Traits of Writing | Teaching of Reading |
| Vocabulary | Writing Resources |
CLRN English-Language Arts Web Info Links over 1100 links for grades K-12 on reading, writing, written and oral English language conventions, and language and speaking with 15 subcategories. Resources include media, reference tools, and written materials.
Curriki- English/Language Arts choose a topic within English/language arts then choose educational level, language, reviews, instructional type, and media type!
Don't Buy It! Get Media Smart Interactive site that explains advertising tricks
Educational Resources in English and Language Arts is from Community Learning Network, a site designed to help K-12 teachers integrate technology into the classroom. Includes curricular and instructional sites and theme pages for grammar, journalism, Shakespeare, mythology, plagiarism, and vocabulary.
Free Printable English Worksheets on a variety of topics within English
Interactive Language Arts Sites from grammar to punctuation and from reading comprehension to poetry they are all here!
MiddleWeb Language Arts Links English, writing and reading resources specifically for middle school teachers.
New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd Edition Includes: the Bible, mythology and folklore, proverbs, idioms, literature in English, world literature, fine arts, world history to 1550, world history since 1550, American history to 1865, American history since 1865, world politics, American politics, etc.
Power Proofreading is from Houghton Mifflin and is an interactive website for teaching the art of proofreading.
PowerPoint Resources on sentences, grammar, subject & predicates, writing titles, pronouns, word meanings and usage
ReadWriteThink Lesson plans, strategies, links and standards for teaching reading and language arts from Marco Polo, International Reading Association and NCTE
Teaching Language Arts K-12 sites includes links to lesson plans, grade books, classroom management, specific unit lesson plans, plus other resources.
Web English Teacher lesson plans, book reports, children's literature, critical thinking skills, drama, ESL, grammar, and interdiscplinary lessons
Fairy Tales, Folklore, Legends and Mythology:
Big Myth Interactive exploration of nine different mythologies from around the world
Blue Fairy Book Electronic text of 37 different fairy tales
Cinderella 15 different versions in one place
Encyclopedia Mythica The mythology section is divided to six geographical regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Oceania. The Folklore section contains general folklore, Arthurian legends, and folktales from many lands.
Fairy Tale Links Collection of annotated links to lessons, units, and resources all on Fairy Tales
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts from A to Z
Fractured Fairy Tale Bibliography
Grimm's Fairy Tales Read and hear interactive, narratead, animated versions of Grimm's fairy tales. Also available are games, ecards, other "fun stuff". Site is available in French or English.
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy tales and stories includes information on Hans Christian Andersen, a chronological listing of his 168 fairy tales, links to the majority of his tales, plus links to further information
Little Red Riding Hood Project Here you will find 16 English versions of "Little Red Riding Hood".
MythHome Search for sites by culture, image, theme or by time period
MythWeb student-friendly site about Greek mythology
SurLaLune Fairy Tales features 47 annotated fairy tales, including their histories, similar tales across cultures, modern interpretations and over 1,500 illustrations.
Theoi Exploring Greek mythology in classical literature and art
Big Dog's Grammar Bare bones, basics of grammar are explained here.
Daily Grammar Quick, fun grammar quizzes are available in the lesson archives. They can be printed off and used in the classroom. Lessons can also be received for free by email.
Grammar Bytes interactive website for students
Grammar Gorillas interactive website for students from FunBrain
Learning English Online grammar exercises from easy to difficult. The site is for ESL students but is quite applicable for all language arts students! Includes personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns, past tense, present tense, adjectives, adverbs, past perfect, question words, comparison, conjunctions, for or since, prepositions, a-an-some, and more!
Sentence Diagramming Guide Explains how to diagram sentences from simple to complex and gives examples.
American Authors on the Web 1550-1950
ATN Book Lists There are close to 1,000 lists located here from lists by award, by genre, by read alikes, readership targeted lists, specialty lists, values, authors, professional readings, read alouds, themes, and school subjects.
Bartleby large resource for free public domain electronic books and resources.
Based on the Book search for books that movies are based on or search for books that have been turned into movies.
Book Reviews Books are reviewed by the Burlington (ON) Public Library's Children's Services staff. Book reviews are divided into two sections: early chapter books for grades 2 to 4 reading level, and Fiction grade 4 and higher. Reviews can be searched by author, title or date of review (1998 forward). Reviews by kids are also available.
Bookyards "has a total of 14,550 books, 38,945 external web links, 4,197 news & blogs links, 384 videos and access to hundreds of online libraries (800,000 eBooks) for your reading pleasure."
Censored Children's Books a list of books that have been banned by author and title.
Censorship and Challenges banned book information from the American Library Association.
Center for the Study of Science Fiction "Welcome to the website for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, a medium for information about the Center and its programs, data about science fiction, informed commentary, and news about SF in general. This website also provides links to other SF resources."
Children's and Young Adults' Authors & Illustrators list of resources for authors and illustrators including biographical information, author interviews, and scholarly websites about the author or illustrator.
Children's Literature Web Guide for anything and everything related to children's literature
Class of 2K8 Introduces new middle school and young adult novels by new authors
Classic Short Stories search by author or title
Collections of Author and Illustrator Information
Complete List of 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005
Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature "The purpose of this database is to create a tailored reading list of quality children's literature or to find out if a book has won one of the indexed awards. DAWCL has almost 7,000 records from 78 awards across six English-speaking countries (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Ireland)." When searching it lets you select the age of the reader, the setting, topic, etc.
Doucette Index: K-12 Lesson Ideas for Literature one of the best sites on the Net for lesson plans for children's literature. Search by author or title.
Franklin Institute's Literature Hotlist includes general, classics, fairy tales, and teacher resources.
Girls Voices Literature Database "The Girls Voices Literature Database from Miami University was created to connect readers with high quality children's and young adult literature, fiction and nonfiction, that portrays female characters as strong, intelligent individuals who make positive choices for living emotionally healthy lives."
Historical Fiction for Children and Young Adults Search by country, ancient civilizations, within a country's history, or within a continent's history for suggested titles.
Houston Area Independent Schools Library Network Recommended Book Lists by Grade Level updated annually
Indigenous People's Literature a list of acceptable Native American literature that is not considered derogatory by Native Americans
KidderLit First lines of books are given with a link to Amazon.com for the title and further information. Twitterlit does the same thing for adult books.
Literacy Web at the University of Connecticut information on literacy in the classroom and in research
Literature for Science and Math search by author, title, keyword, grade level span, genre, classification, curriculum connections, awards, science area, or mathematics area.
Literature Learning Ladders This web project will help you make the connection between theory and practice by exploring some online resources related to literacy, themes, literature circles, technology, and learning.
Lost Titles, Forgotten Rhymes: "How to Find a Novel, Short Story, or Poem Without Knowing Its Title" The intent of the guide from the Library of Congress is to "help readers identify a literary work when they know only its plot or subject, or other textual information such as a character's name, a line of poetry, or a unique word or phrase." The guide is divided into three sections: Finding Novels, Finding Short Stories, and Finding Poems. Each of the sections gives directions for using general search engines, online book databases, library catalogs, listservs, message boards, and physical print resources that are available in public libraries.
Oyate resources and bibliographies on Native Americans in literature
Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists! has provided book reviews for teens since 1998. It is now an interactive blog where teens can respond to postings and also post their own book reviews. Of special interest is a list of bibliographies with titles like: "Boy Meets Book" and "Historical Fiction for Hipsters" or "The Coolest Classics You Never Heard Of".
Reading Resources includes links for children and teen resources.
Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales Theme Page an annotated listing of sites for short stories, folklore and fairy tales on the Net
Themesville bibliographies done according to themes for K-12
Top 100 Favorite Children's Books from the New York Public Library and is searchable by genre
What's Next- Books in a Series Searches can be made by title, author, or series for adult or children's literature
BiblioCat Scroll to Book Units on the left-hand side of screen for novel studies for K-8 books
Book Discussion Guides Book discussion guides for popular middle school titles. Also, links to online book discussion "metasites", publisher's study guides, and a set of universal book discussion questions
Book Units Elementary to middle school
Free Book Notes Free study guides for over 1600 books, plays and poems - Warning: has lots of pop-ups
LHS English Lit Resources created by a librarian for novels studied at her school. Novels included Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tell-Tale Heart, Masque of the Red Death, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Unicorn in the Garden, Animal Farm, Catching Fire, The Hunger Games, Fahreheit-451, Farewell to Arms, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, The Odyssey, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Night, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Literature Learning Guides & Teacher Resources There are also links to Shakespeare and poetry for guides and resources
Literature Lesson Plans Search by author's last name
S.C.O.R.E. Cyberguides CyberGuides are supplementary, standards-based, web-delivered units of instruction centered on core works of literature. Each CyberGuide contains a student and teacher edition, standards, a task and a process by which it may be completed, teacher-selected web sites and a rubric from the San Diego County Office of Education for grades K-12.
Teacher Guides to Intermediate & Middle Literature
30 Days of Poetry Thirty examples of poetry with quick lessons on each.
Concrete Poetry for Kids interactive way for kids to learn about concrete poetry
EServer Poetry Collection find poems from Maya Angelou to Robert Browning to Ezra Pound and to Walt Whitman
Famous Poems and Poets has a large collection of poems and quotes from over 627 poets.
Giggle Poetry poetry for kids and by kids
Instant Poetry Forms "Just point, click, add words, and print out your creation!" More than 60 interactive poetry activities. Writers fill-in the form and after completing the lines of the poem, it can then be exported to a word processor for further editing or revision and then printing."
Links to Poets These sites are dedicated to the work of one poet. Most are run by the poets themselves, some are started by dedicated readers and scholars.
Mother Goose Rhymes search for rhymes by first line or for links about Mother Goose
Poetry Archive is an online collection of recordings of poets reading their own poetry. Listening to the recordings is free of charge.
Poetry for Kids 19 types of poetic forms are shown including examples and links to more examples
Poetry Teachers includes how to teach poetry, poetry activities, poetry theater, Giggle Poetry, and school poems
Poets.org find poets, poetry, lesson plans and essays on poetry
RhymeZone rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and dictionary
Aaron Shepard's Readers' Theater Editions Reader’s Theater Editions are free scripts for reader’s theater (or readers theatre) adapted from stories written by Aaron Shepard and others—mostly humor, fantasy, and world tales from a variety of cultures. A full range of reading levels is included, with scripts aimed mostly at ages 8–15. The scripts may be freely copied, shared, and performed for any noncommercial purpose, except they may not be posted online without permission
Readers' Theater Resources is a collection of resources for students and teachers on Readers' Theater
H-I-P Readers' Theater Teachers have the permission of High Interest Publishing to download and reproduce any of these scripts for classroom use, all other rights remain with HIP.
Internet Resources for Conducting Readers Theater scripts, implementation hints, applications, assessments, and resources
Readers' Theater Archive Collection of links from Education World of scripts for use in the classroom
Readers Theatre Reading Resources & Teaching Tools Children Will Love
Children's Short Stories Collection of short stories that includes fairy tales, fables, modern short stories and classic short stories. Stories are also searchable by length
Children's Storybooks Online Stories to be read online that are primarily for middle school students. There are, however, some stories for primary students. An award-winning site and a recommended safe site for students.
Moonlit Road ghost stories and strange folklore from the American South told by the region's most celebrated storytellers.
Well-Known Adventure Stories for Children
InterActive Six Trait Writing Process Exercises provided here give students and teachers a chance to read sample writings, rate them, and compare their ratings with those of others.6
Six Trait Analytic Writing Model is from Kim's Korner 4 Teacher Talk and includes posters, picture books, lesson plans, activities, handbook for students, and rubrics.
Six Trait Writing Lessons for grades kindergarten through 8th grade- just choose a trait and sample lessons are provided.
Adolescent Literacy includes reading comprehension strategies, bibliographies, newsletters, blogs, research and reports, etc.
Book Lists for Guided Reading Strategies
Websites you can use to obtain or
download text for guided reading lessons are listed at the bottom of the page.
Lists of books are shown for visualization, connections, predicting, inferences,
questioning and synthesizing.
Breaking News English Lessons read about breaking news and learn English. It's easy. You can also listen to short news stories, and do vocabulary, reading, speaking, listening and writing exercises. Oh... and there are online quizzes and activities here too, and homework. ALL FREE!
Content Area Reading Strategies includes reading expository text, vocabulary, how to read a textbook, and reading and interpreting diverse materials.
Criticalreading.com "shows you how to recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by analyzing choices of content, language, and structure. It shows you what to look for, and how to think about what you find."
Dyslexia Resource Reading Strategies and Activities for Educators and Parents
English Language Centre Study Zone interactive reading comprehension exercises and grammar quizzes at five different levels
Famous People Lessons read about famous people and learn English. It's easy. You can also listen to short news stories, and do vocabulary, reading, speaking, listening and writing exercises. Oh... and there are online quizzes and activities here too, and homework. ALL FREE!
Free Reading Comprehension Worksheets Wide selection of worksheets from beginner to advanced
Informal Reading Assessment PDF document of word lists from preschool through high school, you can use this form for any grade level for an informal reading assessment from PreK-12.
News English Lessons read about the news and learn English. It's easy. You can also listen to short news stories, and do vocabulary, reading, speaking, listening and writing exercises. Oh... and there are online quizzes and activities here too, and homework. ALL FREE!
Reading Comprehension Strategies Database
Reading Corner "is a collection of resources, research, useful websites, and other information designed to support parents, teachers, administrators, and anyone else concerned with improving literacy".
Reading Exercises Online reading practice-- traditional (main idea, details, and inference) with reading passage, questions and vocabulary; and cloze reading passages. Note: topics are related to Deaf Americans
The Reading Genie focus is on phonemes and phoneme awareness with lesson plans and research to back up his strategies
Reading Graphs- Describing Trends gives a graph and nine choices to describe the graph
Reading Rockets strategies to help kids who struggle, techniques for teaching reading, podcasts, videos, webcasts, and more on reading
Reading Strategies: Online Resources
Reading Strategies That Assist Content Reading
The Source: a Curriculum Guide for Reading Mentors is a 184-page document (PDF) from the Florida Department of Education on the teaching of reading for all ages. Includes charts, classroom lesson plans, assessment forms, and mentoring lesson plans.
Strategies for Reading Comprehension Applicable for any subject area and includes either black line masters or handouts!
Academic Vocabulary Games includes PowerPoint games (Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Bingo, $25,000 Pyramid, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) and game cards for Word Game Boards for math, science, social studies, and English
Academic Word Lists lists and sub lists of the most frequently-used academic words plus interactive exercises
Dr. Goodword's Word Wizard Club Includes games, commonly misspelled words, teacher resources, and puzzles
EAP Vocabulary Exercises 56 different reading exercises followed by three different gap-fill exercises for each
Learning Vocabulary Fun Interactive wordsearch, crosswords, hangman, quiz or match games. Results can be printed off
Secret Files Vocabulary game based on your age, sex and education. Put words into drawers based on category, but you need to determine the category by trial and error!
Sponge Activities for Vocabulary Quick ideas for teaching vocabulary during 3-5 minute periods.
Take On the Teacher an interactive site for practicing vocabulary. It is British-based so there are a few Briticisms amongst the words.
Vocabulary.com Vocabulary fun and activities available by grade level. Archives are filled with past activities.
Vocabulary Learning Games Vocabulary words by category using pictures, sounds and games.
Word Builder from Houghton Mifflin for grades 1 through 6 with 35 units per grade level
50 Ways to Leave Your ...Term Paper or Book Report Alternatives to the dull and normal book report or research report. Ideas include wanted poster, original song or rap, Dear Abby letter, news article, postage stamp, soap opera, dinner party, press conference, etc.
Academic Writing Module self-directed study that covers topic sentences, building paragraphs, incorporating sources, types of paragraphs and sample essay. Good to use in classroom with data projector.
Ace Writing with Professor Pen Students learn how to improve their writing with lessons and activities designed for middle, elementary and up. Site includes links to writing games, resources and places that will publish student work.
Adventure Island After getting a teacher name and password (it's free, though you have to email them to get it sent to you), students can create their own island adventure with different clues and endings - depending upon the reader's choices. The reader's goal is to find the clues necessary to escape from the island.
Big6 site teaches research skills in six major steps. Examples and lesson plans are also available.
Big 6 Resources more information on how to use the Big 6 research program
Biography Maker A step-by-step process to help students create interesting biographies. Includes the Six-Traits of Writing.
Can I Have a Word? "The site features four projects including the elements, the human body, the Odyssey, and changing voices. These four projects cover various areas of creative writing such as descriptive writing, conversational and narrative prose, creative character prose, and influential writing. Students learn to create these writing assignments by listening to new poems by such poets as Margot Henderson, Michael Rosen, and Valerie Bloom, watching stimulating visual presentations and participating in the classroom activities and ideas that are provided. Teachers will find worksheets and poems, classroom displays, teacher tips, and a link to download the Flash animation to their desktop for easy viewing in the classroom. Also included are profiles for all the poets featured on the site, top tips for writing, curriculum connections, and other resources."
Chapter Book Excerpts Inspire 6-Trait Lessons using well-known children's literature books.
Citation Makers:
Collab-O-Write Story Starters part of a ThinkQuest project that provide story starters for different genres.
Comic Creator from ReadWriteThink is a tool for students to create comic strip panels using characters, backgrounds, miscellaneous items to add to panel, plus bubbles for character speech or thoughts.
Constructing the Paragraph self-tests with tutorials on topic sentences, topics and comments, support sentences, using transitions, and ordering principles.
Digital Storytelling Resources from Animasher and Animoto to Vuvox and Zooburst for a grand total of 68 different sites from comic strips to visual stories to actual books. It is all here in one collection with screenshots of each site!
E.L. Easton Online links for teaching writing, writing guides, writing courses, citation, grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.
Elements of Language: Model Bank Each Writer's Model is a full-length model paper, with interactive notes to help you make your writing stronger. Plus, each one comes with a printable Writer's Guide for both middle school and high school.
Fill-in-the-Blank Story Generator "Feeling creative? This is your chance to write a story, right here, just by filling in the blanks. We've even made it easy for you by providing choices for each blank. Give it your best shot. There are exactly 9,442,156,179,456,000,000 different possible stories that can be made using this page. If you like your story, you can even print it off!"
How to write a Five paragraph Essay - Outline, Structure, Format, Ideas, Topics
Interactive Plot Creator Scroll down about halfway through the page and you will find a wonderful plot creator. Press one, two or all three buttons for starters for setting, character and conflict.
Lightning Bug "is a free, fun, and valuable resource for teachers and students. The site is meant to help students find a story idea, develop the idea, and finish the story. A would-be writer may want to begin by determining what kind of writer he/she is and then continue by exploring the genres to determine what kind of story to write. A teacher resources section offers instructions for building a writing center, lesson plans, worksheets, and hand-outs for the classroom."
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education An exceptional site that provides examples of written work and how they were marked by grade level for the Missouri State assessment for grades 3 to 11. If you teach writing this is a must see site.
Persuade Star This free online application is designed to help students in grades 5-12 write an online persuasive essay. Includes analysis of sample essays, planning tool, writing space, spelling feedback, etc.
Research Guide for Students A quick guide to all elements of writing; includes search engines, annotated research, writing and style guides (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian) and more.
Student Writing Models for grades 1 through 12
Telescopictext "This site has some interesting possibilities for teaching narrative writing. Just click on one of the three words and the sentence expands, and expands, and expands. This could be used on a data projector and after clicking a few times to show students how it works; and then ask them to predict what they think the next change is going to be. Also, good for discussing dependent and independent clauses!"
Write101.com "Scroll down to find more than 400 writing tips that cover everything from when to use 'who' and 'whom,' how to use the apostrophe and when to use hyphens, to how to write a short story, what to put in a report, how to write for children and more!"
WriteFix.com writing argument and opinion essays, about graphs and charts; cause and effect; and problem and solution.
Writing Across the Curriculum WAC is more than just a set of teaching practices. It is a perspective which argues that 1) writing is a central means for learning, clarifying, organizing, and expressing ideas and information, and 2) all teachers should share responsibility for helping students become successful writers both inside and outside of the classroom.
Writing Prompts and Journal Topics
Writing Resources includes 6 Trait, Step Up to Writing, graphic organizers, narrative writing, figurative language, note taking and MORE.
Created by Linda DeVore
Last Updated Tuesday, November 25, 2014