Recommended Language Arts Resources (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar)

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Go to Page Index Writing is like math -- doing it once a week isn't enough. In order to get good at it, you must practice almost daily. During your week, notice how often you write something down. Could these tasks be shared by your child? Ask for help the next time you need to jot down a name and phone number in your address book, write down directions or a shopping list or a recipe, or leave a note for someone. Can your child help to address letters, write thank-you notes, label jars, note appointments and events in your calendar, learn to take down telephone messages? Inspire your child to write and read more with frequent trips to the library, discussions about what they are reading, and requests to hear their new poems and stories. Friends and relatives can help build your child's self-esteem by asking your child to read his or her favorites pieces aloud. Find a Penpal or E-Pal in another state or even another country. Become a published author (or artist)! Launch Pad is a new online magazine publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6-12. For upcoming issues, they are looking for creative works on: The Ocean Fairy Tales & Fantasy Heroes Mysteries Sports/Summer Fun Variety (any topic) Check out their submission form. Page Index Books and Websites: General books on writing Amusing books on punctuation On grammar, spelling, and form On handwriting On keyboarding On poetry On reading and writing on teaching essays, story writing, and research writing Scholastic Workbooks Vocabulary Building Games & Puzzles Websites: Websites for the parent or educator Websites for children Storytelling The NYPL now has educator cards for educators and homeschooling parents. Borrow up to 100 items, put up to 50 items on hold, and get a 60-day loan period for most print materials! The card is renewable each year, in August. All you need to qualify is your homeschooling paperwork (e.g., a copy of your annual letter of compliance from the DoE). On this website: Folktales Can Teach Global Understanding Recommended Books and Other Resources Favorite Books for Kids Foreign Language Resources Grade Levels, Standards and Benchmarks NYS Standards What's Free or Cheap in NYC? – Language Arts: Theater & Writing Recommended Magazines On the Internet: NYPL's HomeworkNYC.org Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) was retired in 2015, but much information can still be found in their archives.

Books

General books on writing

• The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta
• Blank books are available from www.barebooks.com
• The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories , by Gianni Rodari. An introduction to the art of writing stories. Also available in Spanish: Gramatica de la fantasia
• Growing Up Writing: Sharing with Your Children the Joys of Good Writing , by Linda Leonard Lamme (Highlights for Children, publisher). Sharing the joys of good writing with your children.
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within , by Natalie Goldberg. Freeing the writer within.

Amusing books on punctuation:

• archy and mehitabel, by Don Marquis (ask your child to punctuate it!)
• The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, by Karen E. Gordon
• Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss.
• The New Well-tempered Sentence, by Karen E. Gordon (Caution: Karen Gordon can be a bit racy and occasionally uses bold (not foul) language.)

On grammar, spelling, and form:

• Spelling City. One parent's comment: "We use VocabularySpellingCity for spelling, vocabulary and even handwriting. My boys log on to this site every single day, even when we are “breaking” from our normal homeschool schedule. There are games, printables, flash cards; they can even do their spelling tests online. There is an affordable annual premium membership that can be purchased, but the site can be used successfully for free."
• AVKO Educational Research Foundation. AVKO is a spelling curriculum, based on spelling patterns, that was designed for the dyslexic student which makes it an easy program for anyone. One parent’s review: "We used the AVKO spelling program with my son, who was an atrocious speller. Before this we tried every approach out there, to no avail. AVKO has done two things: helped him spell better, and (more importantly) given him confidence that he CAN learn to spell!"
• Daily Language Workouts from Houghton Mifflin's Great Source. This is a workbook series with a 15-minute daily exercise on correcting mistakes on writing (grammar and punctuation), for every grade level.
• Explode the Code and Beyond the Code, workbook series on phonics and early language arts skills from Educational Publishing Service.
• Rules of the Game, by Mary Page, Peter Guthrie, Sloan Sable. Grammar through discovery for middle and high school.
• Writers Inc., a student handbook, companion to the Daily Language Workout
Back to index / Back to top
• You Are the Editor: 61 Editing Lessons that Improve Writing Skills, by Eric Johnson, Fearon Teacher Aids. (teaches proofreading and correcting skills, grades 3 - 6)
• Grammar Town , and other titles, by Michael Clay Thompson, clearly and succinctly teaches all four levels of sentence analysis using a rich vocabulary. They also offer a vocab and grammar for middle school, though if you haven't had a strong background in grammar you'll want to start with Grammar Town.
• Basic grammar review worksheets can be printed out at: EdHelper.com and Enchanted Learning

See also Scholastic Workbooks

On handwriting:

• Read an article frmo the New York Times on why handwriting is important: What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades
• One parent's recommendation: Write Now: The Complete Program For Better Handwriting, by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay. "It worked for a reluctant writer (who hated Loops and Groups) because it is based on italic script and looks very elegant and artistic. Each person can individualize, and it's fast. My student used it with a real ink pen and inkwell for a more realistic feel. His handwriting was fun to read because it was a work of art!" – Michele Arsenault, homeschool parent and teacher
• Handwriting without Tears, by Jan Z. Olsen.
• Loops and Other Groups, by Mary D. Benbow.

On keyboarding:

• Handwriting Without Tears now has a program for learning the keyboard called Keyboarding Without Tears
• Learn touch typing free with Typing Club
• Dance Mat Typing from the BBC
• KidzType offers lessons and games.
• Keyboarding Games

On poetry:

Read some Poems by Kids and also some Poems by Laurie. Here's and article by Laurie: "What is Poetry For?" – which includes a list of Laurie's Favorite Poetry Books for Children. See also our list of Poetry Competitions.

Books

• Awakening the Heart , by Georgia Heard (poetry teaching ideas)
• Favorite Poetry Lessons for Children and Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry , by Paul B. Janeczko (workbooks)
• Metaphors & Similes You Can Eat , by Orel Protopopescu
• Poetry in Three Dimensions , by Carol Clark and Alison Draper (workbooks ages 12+.
• Trust the Children , by Anna Kealoha
• Wishes, Lies, and Dreams and Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? , by Kenneth Koch
• FEG: Ridiculous Stupid Poems for Intelligent Children , by Robin Hirsch, for creative word play
• Edward Lear is famous for his limericks and nonsense rhymes. Try reading his "botanical" pieces while studying botany, and invent your own plants!

Websites

• The Poetry Zone
• Instant Poetry Forms
• Giggle Poetry - funny poetry for kdis
• Passing Stranger is a free 90-minute walk that takes you through 50 years of poetry history in the East Village. Jim Jarmusch narrates.
• Poetry for Kids - lots of resources
• Poets House, 72 Spring Street, Second Floor. (212) 431-7920.
• The Poetry Library (UK). The library has a great website that includes education resources and "create your own virtual poem."
• Urban Word NYC offers workshops and performance opportunities for teens.

On reading and writing

Check out Girls Write Now - event 14 June, sign-up 15 June.

• Between the Lions. From PBS, a website complementing the TV literacy series. For kids 4 - 7.
• Child Literacy Centre. A U.K. site with lots of tips on reading to and with kids.
• Cinderella Project: Home Page A dozen versions of the fairy tale are here, with links to similar sites for other tales such as Little Red Riding Hood. This site has lessons for a sixth grade curriculum and has been used to introduce grammar school students to comparative literature, a subject usually reserved for university level students!
• Impact, Fifty Short Stories, Fannie Safier, ed. For grades 6 - 10, an out-of-print English textbook, an excellent collection of international short stories, teaches reading comprehension, vocabulary, plot, setting, character development, style, and even geography by learning about the origins of each author. Find it used at Amazon.com or Abebooks.com
• Grammar Hotline Directory - a publication of Tidewater Community College. The grammar hotline is a list of phone numbers or email addresses or websites that you can contact for answers to short questions about writing. Tidewater Community College founded one of the first grammar hotlines in the country and publishes an annual compilation of grammar hotlines in the United States and Canada. TCC is pleased to offer its directory to Web users everywhere. Days and times of operation are subject to change according to academic school schedules. Many hotlines reduce or suspend service during college breaks and summer sessions. Hotlines will not accept collect calls or return long distance calls
• Headsprout Early Reading program. One parent's comments: "Two of my boys enjoyed using the Headsprout Early Reading program online. It gave them a fine jump-start in reading and they enjoyed the independent nature of working online. It is phonics-based and comes with books which support vocabulary building. It addresses reading comprehension as well. They offer a free demo so you can see if it engages your child before committing. By the way, the program never expires. So if you join and your child loses steam after a while, you can restart at a later time (this happened with my youngest)."
• Love that Dog, by Sharon Creech (grades 3 - 5), for reluctant writers
• SCORE reading guides K-12
• National Center for Family Literacy. Family literacy is proven to break down other barriers to success—poverty, unemployment, poor health and inadequate housing. When parents struggle with literacy and life skills, their children have fewer chances for success. Family literacy reverses that cycle by teaching the families of today in order to impact the generations of tomorrow.
• Read Naturally is a specific approach for the struggling reader, where the reader must go through a nonfiction story about 12 times before they can move on to the next story. Comments are welcome.
• Reading is Fundamental. The nation's largest children's literacy organization. Lots of tips, games, and activities.
• Reading Rainbow. From PBS, featured books, games, and more.
• Teach Your Child to Read, by Engelman. One parent's comments: We used this book with three of our kids. It's easy, relaxed, and fully scripted. It takes maybe 10-15 minutes of snuggling up together each day to do. And for us, at least, it's worked wonderfully. There is a little reading comprehension built in, since there's a picture to go with each story, and questions about the story and picture to ask the child. The advantage, as I see it, of using a program like this is that it gently systematizes phonetic information, allowing the child to progress at a very gratifying pace. I can't speak to whether or not every child has a 2nd grade comprehension level at the end of the book, because we never made it all the way to lesson 100. Somewhere between lesson 65 and 75 my kids shifted to reading real books and never looked back.
• Time4Writing. One parent's comment: "My oldest son (age 12) just finished his first course, which was basic middle school mechanics. They have tons of courses available, from mechanics, to essay writing and more. The courses are not free, but they are reasonable in price when compared to other programs, at $99 per eight week course. Every course has a certified teacher doing the instruction."

on teaching essays, story writing, and research writing

• What It Is, by Lynda Barry
• Reviving The Essay: How To Teach Structure Without Formula, by Gretchen Bernabei
• A Teacher's Guide to the Multigenre Research Project: Everything You Need to Get Started , by Melinda Putz
• Blending Genre, Altering Style : Writing Multigenre Papers , by Tom Romano
• The Multigenre Research Paper: Voice, Passion, and Discovery in Grades 4-6 , by Camille Ann Allen
• Ralph Fletcher writes his books to the child, in a friendly manner: Live Writing: Breathing Life into Your Words , How to Write Your Life Story , and How Writers Work: Finding a Process That Works for You .

Scholastic Workbooks:

These books are slim and easy to use, some with reproducible worksheets that can be used again and again.

• 50 Writing Lessons That Work!: Motivating Prompts and Easy Activities That Develop the Essentials of Strong Writing, by Carol Rawlings Miller, grades 4 – 8, paperback, 64 pages.
• Awesome Activities To Help Reluctant Writers Succeed: Strategies, Mini-Lessons, and Motivating Activities To Boost Writing Skills and Writing Confidence, by Perdita Finn, grades 4 – 8, paperback 64 pp.
• The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever , by Barbara Mariconda, grades 2 – 4.
• Paragraph Writing Made Easy (grades 4 – 8), by Rosemary Shiras and Susan Cary Smith. (Teaches standard paragraph form by constructing a topic sentence with three additional sentences. Also teaches note-taking skills by deconstructing the same paragraphs.)
• Super Story-Writing Strategies & Activities, by Barbara Mariconda, grades 3 – 6.
• Teaching Memoir Writing: 20 Easy Mini-Lessons & Thought-Provoking Activities That Inspire Kids to Reflect on and Write About Their Lives , by Perdita Finn, Grades 4 – 8.

Vocabulary Building:

• FreeRice, an altruistic vocabulary building/testing site, fun for kids to play at home.
• Learning Vocabulary Fun
• The Longman Vocabulary Website
• My Vocabulary – a free vocabulary resource using puzzles and games, created by a teacher.
• Vocabulary Building links and recommendations.
• Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student, by H. Levine, N. Levine & R. Levine has chapters with Greek roots, Latin roots, etc.
• Vocabulary Instruction - links and ideas from the University of Connecticut.
• Vocabulary-building links
• Wordly wise 3000, workbook series for all grades, from Educators Publishing Service (this publisher also carries workbooks on phonics and grammar for all levels)

Games & Puzzles

All these games and puzzles help with spelling and vocabulary.

• Word Games from Merriam-Webster.
• Language games from Sporcle
• LessonCorner's Puzzle Makers allow you to find or create your own free custom word search, scramble or crossword puzzles.
• Boggle, available from Amazon.com
• Crossword puzzles
• Hangman
• Scrabble ®, available from Amazon.com
• Wordfinder puzzles

Websites

Websites for the parent or educator

• Video reading lessons for parents of beginning readers
• EDSITEment, resources from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Elementary Education Resources: Language Arts: Writing (dictionaries, thesaurus, tons of stuff)
• English Language Arts. Curriculum etc. from NYS Education Department.
• English Online, materials for teaching and learning.
• JBCheaney.com website of author Cheaney, with free resources on teaching Shakespeare.
• Language Arts Standards
• The Learning Page from the Library of Congress. Includes lesson plans that make use of the Library's resources.
• The Literacy Web from the University of Connecticut.
• The Literary Link for teachers in Grades 1-8 through High School as well as College undergraduate and graduate students of Literature.
• Mrs. Dowling's Virtual Classroom. Seventh grade reading and language arts.
• New York State Literary Tree
has listings and contact information for all the public and private libraries and bookstores in New York plus complete information about ongoing national literary events.
• Professor Pen's Favorite Writing Links for Teachers
• Read Write Think, developed by the International Reading Association and The National Council of Teachers of English, ReadWriteThink provides resources and best practices for educators in both reading and language arts subject areas. This site features lesson plans and more.
• Regents Examination: Comprehensive English (past examinations and the answers)
  • Preparation for NYS Regents Examination: English Languag Arts
• TeachIt's library of free English teaching resources. From the U.K., so watch the spelling!
• TeacherSource from PBS.

Websites for Students:

• Hewitt Homeschooling's Lightning Literature program is for high school, and is recommended as being interesting and in-depth.
• On-line Sentence Diagrammer — type in a sentence and it diagrams it for you.
• Snag Films – educational videos listed by grade level and subject
• Learning Express Library is a vast on-line resource from the Public Library system. All NYC library users can log onto the Brooklyn Public Library site and use the "Learning Express Library," full of interactive tutorials. Go to Brooklyn Public Library and click on "Articles and Databases" in the upper left hand side of the page. Click on "Career," then click on "Learning Express Library." You will be prompted to enter your 14-digit library card number (found on the back of your library card below the bar code). If you are a patron of any of the libraries throughout NYC, soon all cards will be useable in every borough. This site has a wealth of resources including: all Adobe applications: Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop; all Microsoft applications: multiple versions of Office from 2007 to 2008 (Access, Word, Excel, Outlook), Project, Publisher, SharePoint Designer, Visio, Windows 7 (Basic to Advanced), Vista and XP, Corel WordPerfect (Basic to Advanced); and the site also has Elementary, High School, GED, College Preparatory, College Level, Adult, Job Search, U.S. Citizenship and Spanish tutorials.
• Homeschool Literature is a free on-line book club for homeschooling families, featuring literature and stories about homeschoolers.
• Storyline Online is a great website where professional actors from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) read stories. Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson ideas.
• The NYPL has a great site, TumbleBookLibrary, with tons of kid's e-books that are displayed on your screen. Your child can either read them, or have them read aloud by the computer. Great graphics, fast loading, super fun. And see also Summer Reading 2008, another NYPL project.
• Cool Reads, for ages 10 - 15, print and read book reviews here.
• Go Grammar has explanations and activities.
• Merlyn's Pen, fiction, essays and poems by America's teens.
• Poetry4kids, funny poems for kids.
• Quiz Tree - free online English quizzes.
• Word Central, from the Merriam-Webster dictionary folks
• Sign up to receive weekly installments of a Sherlock Holmes novel, printed the way it was originally, complete with illustrations. They (Stanford University) also have archived copies of three Dickens novels done the same way. This is a cool way to experience how some books used to be written -- and read.

Storytelling

From Wikipedia: Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds

• Folktales Can Teach Global Understanding
• The Art of Storytelling Show - a national online community of storytellers.
• A Pocketful of Stories - resources and ideas from storyteller Bruce Carmody.
• International Storytelling Center
• The Kids' Storytelling Club
• National Storytelling Network
• Story Arts online
• Storybook online - a storytelling community for children and parents with creative writing, illustrated stories, and interactive activities.
• Storyline online - streaming video program featuring famous people reading children's books aloud.