Recommended Language Arts Resources

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.

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 guidelines.

Page Index

Books and Websites:

General books on writing
Amusing books on punctuation
On grammar, spelling, and form
On handwriting
On poetry
On reading and writing
Scholastic Workbooks
Vocabulary Building

Games & Puzzles
Websites:
- Websites for the parent or educator
- Websites for children
Storytelling

On this website:

On the Internet:

NYPL's HomeworkNYC.org
Language Arts Resources, from Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)

Books

(see the Books page for ordering information)

General books on writing

Popular Weasel Press offers writing courses for middle and high school, specially designed for homeschoolers. They also run summer writing camps.
The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta
Blank books are available from www.barebooks.com
The Grammar of Fantasy, by Gianni Rodari. An introduction to the art of writing stories.
Growing Up Writing, by Linda Leonard Lamme (Highlights for Children, publisher). Sharing the joys of good writing with your children.
Writing Down the Bones, 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.)

Back to index

On grammar, spelling, and form:

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

You are the Editor, by Eric Johnson, Fearon Teacher Aids. At B & N for $14.99. ISBN #: 082247696-7 (teaches proofreading and correcting skills, grades 3 - 6)
Grammar Town, and other titles, by Michael Clay Thompson, from Royal Fireworks Press, 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

On handwriting:

Handwriting for Kids. Free worksheets and lots of links to resources.
Handwriting without Tears, by Jan Z. Olsen.
Loops and Other Groups, by Mary D. Benbow.

Back to index

On poetry:

Read some Poems by Kids and also some Poems by Laurie
See our list of Poetry Competitions.

Books

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

Websites

The Poetry Zone
Forms of Poetry for Children
Giggle Poetry - funny poetry for kdis
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.

Back to index

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
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.
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.

Back to index

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, paperback $14.95
Paragraph Writing Made Easy (grades 4-8), by Rosemary Shiras and Susan Cary Smith, Scholastic, ISBN# 0-439-20764-9 (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 and Activities, by Barbara Mariconda, grades 3 -6, paperback $10.95
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, Paperback 64 pp

Back to index

Vocabulary Building:

FreeRice, an altruistic vocabulary building/testing site, fun for kids to play at home.
Learning Vocabulary Fun
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.
Wordly wise 3000, workbook series for all grades, from Educators Publishing Service (this publisher also carries workbooks on phonics and grammar for all levels)

Back to index

Games & Puzzles

All these games and puzzles help with spelling and vocabulary.

LessonCorner's Puzzle Makers allow you to find or create your own free custom word search, scramble or crossword puzzles.
Dream Green has the award-winning A-B-C Oy! and many other games.
Boggle, available from Amazon.com
Crossword puzzles
Hangman
Scrabble ®, available from Amazon.com
Wordfinder puzzles

Back to index

Websites

Websites for the parent or educator

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
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: English Languag Arts (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.

Back to index

Websites for kids:

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.
Word Activities - online puzzles.

Back to index / Back to top

Storytelling

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

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.

Back to index / Back to top