Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts

Cookie

Wow!  Cookie is a new website I recently came across.  It is a goldmine for teachers (and parents) of young kids between the ages of 3 and 8.  It has online games, short animated videos, worksheets and stories.
They are all organized into different categories like language, math, science, puzzles and many more.
For a teacher it's a great place to quickly find a game or worksheet for students to work on a specific skill being taught.  Children can work on sequencing activities, phonics and alphabet activities, counting and math activities, personal hygiene, months of the year... a very wide array of themes.  It's worth a look!
The games are great worked on a computer alone but are also great played on a smartboard.
http://www.cookie.com/

Literactive

Here's a cool site with phonics activities and online books for young learners.  It's geared for children between the ages of 4 and 8 who are just learning to read.  A simple free registration is all it takes to access dozens of activities and guided reading books.
From the website:  The program takes the early learner on an interactive journey of exploration and learning. Starting with initial nursery rhymes, it moves through pre-reading activities, alphabet awareness, letter sounds, short vowels, CVC word blending, initial blends, long vowels and all the phonic activities critical for developing early reading skills. Scientifcially researched and teacher approved, The Road to Reading is the most comprehensive reading program available online.
The activities are fun and young children will enjoy playing with then without even knowing they are learning valuable pre-reading and reading skills.
http://www.literactive.com

Up to Ten - Boowa and Kwala

Up to Ten is an extensive web site with over 1000 educational and fun games for kids up to age 10.  Younger kids (0 - 6) can click on the Boowa and Kwala section to access lots of games, activities, songs, stories and colouring pages.  It is all very well organized so even younger students can navigate it on their own.  Older students (6-10) can access the games section where the selection isn't as extensive but still quite large.  This section has classic games, puzzles and coordination games.  Another really great thing about this site is that it is completely bilingual: English and French!  On the homepage there are three sections (Free, Premium and Teacher).  The free section is very abundant and it is not clear how to subscribe to the paying portions but, in my opinion, the free section is so extensive there is no need.

http://www.uptoten.com/

Gullah Net

Here's a neat website perfect for Black History Month.  Gullah.net is a website devoted to learning about the Gullah culture of Saint Carolina.  On the website you can hear folktales told in English or Gullah with animated pictures.  The folktales include stories such as "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Little Red Hen" so it can be used even if you aren't doing a "Gullah" unit in class.  Just hearing the narrator in English is worth it.   On the Gullah music part of the website you can see the evolution of African music in America.  A fun, interactive website to help learn about another culture. 

http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet/

E-Learning for Kids

What a find!  Here is a site with dozens of games and lessons for students from kindergarten to grade six.  Subjects include the typical ones usually found on teacher websites like math, language arts and science but there are also games and lessons for life skills, environmental skills, computer skills and health.  Lots of animations grab the students' attention easily and are really fun.  It's a great resource especially for classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards like SMART boards.  There are also lessons for english language learners.  Another neat thing about this site is that it is not only available in English but also in Dutch, Spanish, French and Portuguese. 

Website: http://www.e-learningforkids.org/index.html

Make Beliefs Comix

This is a really fun site to use with all kinds of students.  Makebeliefscomix.com is a site where students can create their own comic strips.  They can choose from 20 different characters, each with different emotions, 25 objects, different talking balloons, they can add colour, quotations, whatever!  Very easy to use and a great way to get students to write!  The site also offers story ideas to inspire even the students with writer's block.  Once your comic strip is done, you can print it or email it.  Another neat thing for teachers on this site are the printables.  Comic strips with black balloons that students can fill in with the dialogue.  A great idea and really fun. 

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/

Youtube and Zamzar

There is a bigger and bigger push to bring technology into our classrooms.  Students are more engaged if we teach using different media.  I have found a ton of good resources on youtube.  There is so much that I can't even begin to describe it all.  These clips can be used to reinforce a topic (watching a caterpillar spin a cocoon for example) or watch animated version of favourite stories for younger students.  This must be done in advance, however, as there are also a lot of things that are not appropriate for the classroom! Another frustrating thing about youtube is that it is blocked on the computers in my school board so I have to download all videos from home.  In order to download them from home I go to Zamzar.com.  All you have to do is copy and paste the URL and this site emails you the download link.  You have one day to download it.  It's really easy.

http://www.youtube.com/

http://www.zamzar.com/url/

Sesame Street

Here's a very content rich site for younger students. There are many games and colouring pages to use with your students but what I really like about this site are all the videos. You can choose which sesame street character you want, what theme you want, what skill you want to target. There are thousands clips both old and new. I have used it in my own grade one class when I introduce a new letter. Just type in the letter in the search bar and at least a dozen clips pop up with little video segments about that letter featuring cookie monster, grover, elmo or many other characters. Fantastic resource for younger students!

My own personal favourite clip is Cookie Monster and the Mystery Box - search for it!

http://www.sesamestreet.org

Speakaboos- Online Stories

Speakaboos is another great online story site. It offers classic fairytales and popular children's series such as Arthur. All stories are read by celebrities and the words are displayed as the narrator tells the story. There are also great songs and nursery rhymes that children will love to sing along with.

http://www.speakaboos.com/

CurrClick

CurrClick is actually a website for homeschoolers but I use it frequently to help me in my class. There are hundreds of units of study available for download. Another really cool thing about this website is the free units section. There are numerous units that are actually free! You can also sign up for the newsletter which offers a new freebie of the week. Other units also regularly go on sale and available for reasonable prices.

Website: http://www.currclick.com/

Free Rice Games

A website that gives students practice with math, vocabulary, geography and helps feed hungry children at the same time! FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. Our partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. For every right answer a student gets 10 grains of rice are donated to feed hungry children. A great site for multiplication practice and really great for english vocabulary!

Website: http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Breaking News English

Breaking News English is a website designed for English Language Learners. It provides current news topics in a short, easy to read article. Each article is also accompanied by a range of activities for students to work on about the article and concerning vocabulary and grammar. All articles come in PDF or Word document format for easy printing.
I found it very useful with my english speaking learning disabled teenage students. It's sometimes difficult to find age appropriate material with a lower reading level but this is it! The website's creator also has other websites with articles about holidays or celebrities.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/