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Online Books
International Children's Digital Library A massive collection of children books collected by the University of Maryland. A user-friendly interface that lets children search, browse, read, and share books in electronic form. http://www.icdlbooks.org/
Find A Book To find the reading level of professionally published material, teachers and students can visit Find A Book which allows users for free to type in any book and find the reading level of that book, or perhaps more powerful they can type in their reading level and interest and build a custom reading list on the subjects that interest the reader most. Additionally, there is an age slider that allows you to Move the sliders to adjust search results by age-appropriateness. http://lexile.com/findabook/ ---- watch more
Big Universe
http://www.biguniverse.com/
Big Universe is a web community devoted to beautiful children's picture books. READ hundreds of offerings from today's best children's book publishers, CREATE e-books with the help of an easy-to-use Author Tool, and CONNECT with other Big Universe members to share your creations and to learn what books they have read,
created, or recommend.
Google Literacy A Web site dedicated to literacy, pulling together its books, video, mapping, and blogging services to help teachers and educational organizations share reading resources. As part of the project, Google has asked literacy groups around the world to upload video segments explaining and demonstrating their successful teaching programs. The service also uses Google's mapping technology to help literacy organizations find each other, and it offers links to reading resources.
Shakespeare for Kids gr. 6-12
Explore full texts of plays in PDF format, word games and puzzles, historical lessons (some are interactive), and fun facts about Shakespeare and his theater. A word of caution: many of the activities on this site require prior knowledge of Shakespearean plays and characters. Choose wisely based on the level and language skills of your students, and the depth of your study of Shakespeare. Use to introduce the Elizabethan era, review important concepts, or extend a literature unit with a bit of history. http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=588
Search ebooks.com returns a listing of all text that contains the search word. http://www.searchebooks.com/
Reading Room at the Internet Public Library offers books, magazines and newspaper as well as special collections that range from Native American Authors to the US Presidents and links to special multimedia exhibits. Available as text (.txt) files. http://www.ipl.org/div/reading
Bibliomania Over 2000 classic books and short stories. http://www.bibliomania.com/
Reading A-Z: K- 5. 30 free books to print out. http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/preview.html
Storytimeforme - http://www.storytimeforme.com/ FREE animated storybooks for primary students! Though it has a limited library, it is sure to grow and the concept is quite nice. The book is animated and narrated- and phrases are highlighted as they are read aloud. Students can also click on any word to hear its pronunciation.
Baldwin Project: http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayfeature.php free printable copies of children books and stories from 1882- 1922
Character Scrapbook : Allows students to analyse the characters in books http://digitaltoolsforteachers.blogspot.com/2010/04/character-scrapbook.html
Storybird http://storybird.com/ Free online publishing and stories by others you can read. Also has the capabilities to write cooperative stories.
Smories http://www.smories.com/Collection of stories, told by young students but including subtitles. Video tutorial
GenieBooks - Decodable books in Powerpoint http://www.auburn.edu/~murrag1/bookindex.html
Into the Book - Excellent reading comprehension resource - Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. K-4 http://reading.ecb.org/
Browser Books - "This website was created to allow beginning readers to read books on their web browser. Readers can click on the triangle in the lower right-hand corner of each page to turn the pages. If they are unsure of a word, they can click on it to hear a child's voice read the word to them. The books have been sorted by level and by subject according to the curriculum." (from the website) http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/~cassidy.kathy/browserbooks/index.htm
Make Your Own Books Resources : Also includes listing of children's literature that includes math concepts in the story line http://teacherweb.com/TX/FriscoTechnology/kimhunt/
Book Builder create and share your own books http://bookbuilder.cast.org/
Tikatok
Write and publish their stories. Teachers can set up classroom accounts and manage their own student accounts. The site includes story starters, prompts, and collaborative options. Students can share the stories with coauthors, family,
friends. Parents can order printed copy of the students book in hardcover or softcover. http://www.tikatok.com/
Books to download: K-5. Free membership. Download books including ones that focus on phonic concepts. http://www.learningpage.com
Children's eLibrary : 30 days free trial. You can download the multimedia books during the trial period. You can browse by age and subject area. http://childrenselibrary.com/welcomeback.php
Flat Stanley Project: Students make their own Flat Stanley and start a journal about him which is passed on to other students who continue the journal. Journals are published online. http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/
Merpy.Com : K-2. Short illustrated online books. http://magickeys.com/books/index.html
Antelope Publishing: K-8. Illustrated books and poetry. http://www.ongoing-tales.com/contents.html
Tumblebooks: Animated children books. Free trial subscription http://www.tumblebooks.com
Curious George
Students can engage in thinking activities. Includes investigations about electric circuits, gears, numbers and shapes. http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/
Online Literature Library: classic literature books. http://www.literature.org
Storyline Online
A program of the Screen Actors Guild, and features streaming video storybooks read by actors such as James Earl Jones, Amanda Bynes, Hector Elizondo and Melissa Gilbert. The books aren't sorted into categories, so you'll need to scroll through the books to find one that catches your eye.http://www.storylineonline.net/
Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents
A useful site for books, workshops and materials related to books in Spanish for children and young adults. Contains information from a number of sponsor-publishers as well as links to other sites. http://www.csusm.edu/csb/english/
Lookybook: Think of Lookybook as the test track for picture books. Picture books are all about the pictures and this site lets you see an entire book before you buy it. No longer will you order a picture book online hoping the inside is as good as the cover. http://www.lookybook.com/index.php
Gutenberg Project: First and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks.http://www.gutenberg.org/ Audio versions of books http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project
KOL Jr. Stories
KOL Jr. (published by AOL for kids ages two to five) organizes their narrated storybooks into: Animals, Arthur, Fairy Tales, Family and Rhyming. Whichever you choose, you'll be rewarded with read-along words highlighted in red as the storyteller reads the story out loud, and the pages (with their original illustrations) are turned automatically. The stories take about forty seconds to load on a DSL, so be prepared to wait a bit if your connection is slower. http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJrStories
Mrs. P Storyteller
Mrs. P (played by actress Kathy Kinney) is my video pick of the day, with her classic children's stories, read along options, engaging personal anecdotes, animated games and clever presentation. If you have a high speed connection, you can turn on more even more animated fun by clicking on Start Here, and selecting options such as "Bookcase titles say funny tag galaxy
tag t peakaboos
Speakaboos is a delightful find, chock full of classic video storybooks read by actors, along with games, e-cards, sing-along karaoke tunes, and printable coloring pages. The stories are divided into Favorites (such as Arthur and Holidays), Fables, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Songs. A useful feature is "More on This Album: Play All" which will queue up all the songs (or stories) in a particular album. Some of the songs are available for free download while others are for sale in the iTunes Store. http://www.speakaboos.com/
More E-books
http://www.free-ebooks.net/
http://www.mslit.com/default.asp?mjr=FRE manybooks.net
http://www.wowio.com/index.asp
http://www.fictionwise.com/ inexpensive
http://www.planetebook.com/
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/
http://www.sillybooks.net/default.htm
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Stories
Starfall: K-2. Interactive phonics-based stories. http://www.starfall.com
Online Interactive stories- clever traditional and new stories http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/onlinestory.htm
Silly Books gr. 1-3 Books, songs, comics and games animated and read aloud with accompanying text highlighted. Students can also publish their own stories. http://www.sillybooks.net/
Wootie Owl's Stories to Grow By : Stories are categorized by age groups and can be printed out. http://storiestogrowby.com
Dogo News
This is a great resource for current events for younger students. The site is crisp and the articles are written in for young readers. http://www.dogonews.com/
Aesop's Fables Online Collection A compilation of over 600 of the fables, with RealAudio encoding of some. http://www.aesopfables.com/
Fable Library: K-3. Humorous fables that you can download and read online. http://www.fablevision.com/place/library/index.html
Online stories to print out for grades 3 - 8 http://allenmorgan.com/free-1.HTM
Storybook Online: K-8. Large selection of collaborative stories that students can help write; completed collaborative stories; interactive stories and stories read aloud. http://www.storybookonline.net
StoryPlus Stories categorized by age groups. Some are free downloads. http://www.storyplus.com/Home.asp
Little Fingers : K-1 online stories. These is a little animation on some pages: http://www.lil-fingers.com/
Clifford Books on Line : The stories can be listened to read aloud. There is some interactivity including games that compliment the books. http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/
Rebus Roundup http://www.highlightskids.com/Stories/Rebus/rebusRoundup_Top.asp
Story Place K-3 online stories with audio. In English and Spanish http://www.storyplace.org/storyplace.asp
Bedtime Stories: K-6. Illustrated stories for reading online or printing out. Also contains downloadable interactive ebooks. Categories include:pet, humorous, and friendly monster stories. An author can submit their own books for online publication. http://www.bedtime-story.com/bedtime-story
Mother Goose Stories : Audio or text only options: http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/storyhour/goose/
Goodnight Stories: K-5. Stories to read, complete, fill in, and activities. http://goodnightstories.com/stories.htm
Inkless Tales - Listen to stories including Dolch words. (use the control + keys to enlarge the font size if students are following along) http://www.inklesstales.com/stories/index.shtml
BookPals: Actor Writers Guild members read stories through streamed video.http://www.bookpals.net/storyline/
This is True: Humorous stories taken from actual news reports: http://www.thisistrue.com/samples.html
Online Stories: K-3 stories that are all text based http://www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/
Tall Tales
The Global Campfire
The Global Campfire is a project of the Family Literacy Center. Readers imagine themselves gathered around a campfire where people from all over the world are telling their stories. Four types of stories are in process, one each in the genres of science fiction, adventure, mystery, and family relationships. Each story is the cumulative offerings of other readers, or "storytellers." After reading the contributions that make up a story, readers are encouraged to build on to the story by writing and submitting their own text and then checking back in a couple of days to see if it was included. http:www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/fl/pcto/campfire.html
The Big Myth
Experience myths from cultures throughout the world with this impressive site that provides multimedia renditions of world creation stories. Each of the nine myths includes an overview of the culture that produced it, suggested class activities, and discussion questions. You'll need headphones for this one. Great site to add to a comparative study of world cultures. http://www.mythicjourneys.org/bigmyth/2_eng_myths.htm
Classical Comics From Shakespeare to Dickens to Shelley to Bronte .... Free to download . http://www.classicalcomics.com/index.html
Storyline Online: The Screen Actors Guild members read children's books aloud. Includes activities and lessons. http://www.storylineonline.net/
Explore Stories Online Fun children's stories for kids of all ages. http://www.magickeys.com/books/
It's Story Time! An array of tales for story time. http://www.ipl.org/div/storyhour/
Andersen Fairy Tales Animated
http://www.andersenfairytales.com/
The animated Andersen Fairy Tales site is my storytelling pick of the day. It features three narrated fairy tales ("Real Princess," "Leaping Match" and "The Emperor's New Suit"), games, and a biography of Hans Christian Andersen. For more fairy tale fun, visit sister site Grimm Fairy Tales ( http://www.grimmfairytales.com/ ) which showcases "The Brementown Musicians" and "Faithful John."
Children Stories On-Line : Large resources of on-line children's stories http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html
Story Arts Online A resource with ideas and lessons for storytelling in the classroom http://www.storyarts.org/
BrainPop : Producer of educational animated movies for K-12. Original animated movies to explain concepts in a voice and visual style that is accessible, educational and entertaining for both children and adults. http://www.brainpop.com
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Reading Tools
Awesome Talkster: K-12. By adding a Natural Voice to Web pages, children and teens can learn to pronounce words as they read them. The Awesome Talking Library, includes an animated character, providing synchronized highlighting so that children can follow along even more easily . http://www.awesomelibrary.org/Awesome_Talking_Library.html
My Study Bar - a comprehensive set of portable open source and freeware applications to support learners with literacy difficulties. MyStudyBar is similar to popular commercial programs which use a floating toolbar to support literacy. The main difference is MyStudyBar is free. The toolbar includes a range of tools to support inclusion such as mind mapping, screen masking, word prediction, talking dictionary, text-to-speech, Save as MP3 and voice recognition. PC Only. (Speech recognition only works in Vista or Windows 7) http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/mystudybar.php
CAST eReader (PC & Mac) $10 http://www.ereader.com/product/browse/software
Natural Voice Reader (PC freeware) http://www.naturalreaders.com/
Read Please reads any text on a screen. http://www.readplease.com/
Word Talk reads text in a Word document http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/
Awesome Highlighter
By placing it on your FireFox toolbar, it highlights key notes in web pages, extract notes, create a short url, share or save. Awesome Highlighter can be used as a web note taking or reading comprehension tool. http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/
Readability Scrubs web pages of distractions and provides a clean, comfortable view. Handy for reading longer articles. https://www.readability.com/bookmarklets
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Writing
Writing Tools | Comics/Cartoons | Citation | Newspapers/Magazines | Books | Essay/Thesis/Research | Editing
Tools
Read Write Think: K-12. Comprehensive literature and writing site http://www.readwritethink.org
The Material Index of R.W.T.is a great collection of Flash-based, interactive activities target literacy skills for all grades. Some of the dozensof tools include: Bio-Cube for writing interesting biographies, Circle Plot Diagram, a story planner, Comic Creator for creating comic strips, Literary Elements Map, students can map out the key literary elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution, Literary Graffiti, aims to teach students to visualize what they are reading to help them develop as readers. Fractured Fairy Tale Creator, Eye on Idioms, Essay Map, and much more!!! http://readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp
English Composition: Writing for an Audience
This video series introduces basic principles and strategies for communicating in writing to a variety of audiences and improving general composition skills. Throughout the series, students will meet a wide array of professionals whose work involves writing - not only authors, journalists, and teachers, but also musicians, judges, nurses, engineers, scientists, and athletes - who will discuss how they write with their specific audiences in mind. http://www.learner.org/resources/series128.html
Character Development: Guidance for developing characters in student writing http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/fiction/draft/characterdevelopment.htm
Character Scrapbook: Reader response activity to analyze the characters in any book http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/
Historic Tale Construction Kit
Using this digital storytelling tool, students can select among menus of folk (brave and ordinary), buildings, and beasts; add their own text in the colors of their choice; adjust the scale of the items they select; and create an authentic looking Medieval comic strip
http://www.adgame-wonderland.de/type/bayeux.php
Checklist of Focus Correction Areas
Create your own checklist. Choose from a menu or correction areas or create your own. http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/
Story Jumper
An online tool that makes creative writing fun for kids. Using our interactive workbook and lesson plans, teachers spark students' interest in developing and writing complete stories. Kids can then put their creativity and project skills to work in crafting their very own professionally published hard-back books! http://www.storyjumper.com/main/teacher
Writing Fix
Interactive writing prompts. http://www.writingfix.com/
Writing Fun
http://www.writingfun.com/video intro http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/3gems/index.html
The Material Index A great collection of Flash-based, interactive activities target literacy skills for all grades. Some of the dozensof tools include: Bio-Cube for writing interesting biographies, Circle Plot Diagram, a story planner, Comic Creator for creating comic strips, Literary Elements Map, students can map out the key literary elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution, Literary Graffiti, aims to teach students to visualize what they are reading to help them develop as readers. Fractured Fairy Tale Creator, Eye on Idioms, Essay Map, and much more!!! http://readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp
Word Clouds
Wordle
Create word clouds to analyze text. How to use video http://www.wordle.net/
starter sheet | 46 ways to use Wordle
WordSift
Creates word clouds like Wordle. Many uses for examining student writing and professional writers and speech makers. http://www.wordsift.com/
ABCYA
Good for little ones. Note the download button in lower left corner
http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
VocabGrabber
Similar to Wordle with good integration samples. Not flashy but good for understanding passages. It analyzes text and generates lists of the most useful vocabulary. Also click on any word in the cloud and asnapshot of ta visual thesaurus appears. http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/
Tagxedo
Nice variety of shapes. http://www.tagxedo.com/
Word it Out
Our Story Designed for families to record a time line of events in their lives, this online tool serves the classroom teacher as an electronic time line for a collection of "stories." Each event on the "playable" timeline is a "story." http://www.OurStory.com
Fanfiction http://newlits.wikispaces.com/Fanfiction+Unit+for+Grade+4+Classroom+by+Donna+%26+Nicole
Visuwords - tutorial graphical dictionary and thesaurus http://www.visuwords.com/
TagCrowd is a web application for visualizing word frequencies in any user-supplied text by creating what is popularly known as a tag cloud or text cloud. http://tagcrowd.com/
PictLits
PicLits.com is a creative writing site that matches beautiful images with carefully selected keywords in order to inspire you. The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture.http://piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx
Novlet http://www.novlet.com/ Collaborative, nonlinear story writing
Fotobabble http://www.fotobabble.com/ Create talking photos in three steps
Witoku An interviewing tool to record interviews. Includes embedded code for uploading to Web page http://wetoku.com/
Can I Have a Word?
http://www.barbican.org.uk/canihaveaword/
This site won the education Webby award, contains projects that include readings by British poets, visual components, and lesson plans for expanding the creative writing of students
Kid Publications: K-5. Children can publish their own stories, read other children's stories, and collaboratively write stories. http://kidpub.com/kidpub/
Kid Authors: K -8. Children can publish their own stories and read other young authors. http://kidauthors.com/default.asp
Kids Love to Learn Interactive writing for grades 3-6 http://www.2learn.ca/kids/LangArts/listLAWriting.asp?ID2=2
Zhura
Screen writing software. Simplifies the process with templates. Good for newscasts, podcasts and plays. http://www.zhura.com/
Create Your Scenario
A tool that lets elementary students select characters, type lines for each one, save their work, and generate a playscript. http://www.kids-space.org/HPT/1a/11a.html
StoryMash A creative writing community for authors, amateur writers, readers and anyone interested in collaborative fiction and collaborative creative writing. http://storymash.com/
Storybird http://storybird.com/ Free online publishing and stories by others you can read. Also has the capabilities to write cooperative stories.
Story Creator
A unique story making tool, a sound and picture gallery, and a timeline to place the stories in their historic context. http://myths.e2bn.net/create/tool527-new--story-creator-2--beta.html
Generator Blog
A fantastic blog that contains links to all sorts of free, interesting generators (such as cereal boxes, insurance cards, money, etc.) that would be great tools for students to use in creating creative advertising campaigns http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/
iAdventures
http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/iadventure/index.html
An iAdventure is a problem solving activity in which students determine the direction and outcome of a content-rich storyline, using resources available on the Internet, particularly resources providing real-world data and primary documents.
Talking Cats Generator
Create a slideshow dialogue with speech bubbles. There are also links to a squirrel, an owl, a tomato, and a flower generator on this page that can be used as well. This gives students another choice! http://www.fodey.com/generators/animated/talking_cat.asp
Lexipedia
This is a visual representation of a thesaurus. Enter a word and related words will be created in an array. As you scroll over the word, its meaning will pop up in a bubble. You can even listen to the meaining. Great for building vocabulary! http://www.lexipedia.com/
[Back to writing]
Comics and Cartoons
Kerpoof
Create Interactive stories and movies. Simple to learn. http://www.kerpoof.com
MakeBeliefsComix
Allows students to create comic strips up to four panels and print them. Supports English, Spanish, French, Italian German, Latin and more languages. http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
Pikistrips
Free, well-designed software that lets you create comic strips and save them for others to view. http://www.comeeko.com/
Toon Doo
Creaqte comic strips with clip art and speech bubbles http://www.toondoo.com/
BitStrips An easy to use comic building site. Students can use this webtool to create a comic cell, strip, or story and then share it with their peers or the world. Use with illustrating a scene from a novel, or even to help a student understand a complex theory such as gravity in science. http://www.bitstrips.com/
Little Bird Tales allows your students to create a story, animate it, narrate it, and publish it! It's strong point is simplicity! You do have to register for an account, http://www.littlebirdtales.com/
Comic Brush
A tool that lets you create and share a comic using any combination of your own drawings, photos and ready-to-use artwork.You can choose from the site's library of backgrounds, characters and speech balloons, add your own text or captions, and even your own photos. http://www.comicbrush.com/
ZimmerTwins Gr. 1-3 - Create cartoon movies http://www.zimmertwins.com/
Talking Cats Generator Create a slideshow dialogue with speech bubbles. There are also links to a squirrel, an owl, a tomato, and a flower generator on this page that can be used as well. This gives students another choice! http://www.fodey.com/generators/animated/talking_cat.asp
Memoov Created animated videos http://memoov.com/index.aspx
xtranormal
This tool provides you al of the tools a movie director would have to select a set, actor sound efects, etc and create amovie made from only the dialogue text you type into the tool. Generates a movie you embed and you can then exort diretly to YouTube. However, you are left to work with media xtranormal provides. http://www.xtraormal.com/
[Back to writing]
Citation
Doc Cop Doc Cop is a plagiarism, cryptomnesia and collusion detection tool that creates reports displaying the correlation and matches between documents or a document and the Web. Doc Cop gathers the evidence, and provides the information required for a teacher or a student to judge whether plagiarism, cryptomnesia or collusion has occurred. Doc Cop is a free alternative to paid services such as TurnItIn.com. It can be a useful tool, not only to catch students cheating, but can also be used to explain what plagiarism is and they can avoid it. http://www.doccop.com/index.html?nc=81969919
NoodleTools (bibliography generator and search advice) http://www.NoodleTools.com/
Citation Machine http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/index.php3
[Back to writing]
Newspapers and Magazines
Newscred
Create a free online newspaper http://www.newscred.com/
Crayon - Create a professional-looking newspaper with this nice online creator. There are several options to choose from, so it has a bit of a higher learning curve.http://crayon.net/
Fodey
Students enter text for a fictious news article. Then dowload a picture to create a headline and story that looks like a real newspaper
http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
Young Writers
Magazine with writing support and accepts students submissions (7-12) http://www.young-writer.co.uk/
The Newspaper Clipping Generator
http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
Helps students summarize articles. Students take an article or a blog post and make decisions as to what to include, what to delete, and what to substitue in order to summarize.
Issuu - One of the most popular and successful online digital magazine creators/publishers around, with a very nice user interface.
Yudu - Upload a document or PDF to create an online magazine that can be emailed our or embedded into a site.
Openzine - Very user friendly site with an abundance of templates and layouts to create a professional-looking magazine and share online.
Scribd - A very popular Web 2.0 site for creating online content and publishing.
Zinepal - A great way to bring the news to students by "clipping" online articles. This is a wonderful site for those making the move to ebook readers.
Paper.li - A fantastic site to turn Twitter into an online readable magazine. 9. Guzzle.it - Is a news aggregator that puts online news in one customizable place. 10. Crayon - Create a professional-looking newspaper with this nice online creator. There are several options to choose from, so it has a bit of a higher learning curve.
Guzzle.it - Is a news aggregator that puts online news in one customizable place.
Newsvine News source for students. It’s a clean and friendly social news site containing articles from the Associated Press, ESPN, and New Scientist as well as user contributions. Students can browse the site comfortably, rate news articles, participate in article discussion, and even start their own news column where they can write and publish articles.
My Brochure Maker Design brochures and flyers by selecting themes and templates, editing the text, adding your own images, and printing.
[Back to writing]
Books
Create Book Trailers Samples | How to
Top 10 Tools to Create digital books http://www.techlearning.com/article/28822
Shmoop High school guides to literature. A plethora of guides to books. Each guide also includes a "Why should I care?" section http://www.shmoop.com
Embedit - The document sharing and embedding application, Embedit.in, makes uploading a document and embedding it on a classroom blog or web site exceedingly easy. Can create thumbnails to click on to access documents. http://embedit.in/
Wittie collaborative wiki books free tool http://www.wittieproject.org/wiki/Main_Page
StoryJumper http://www.storyjumper.com/ Simple online book publishing or read other's stories.
ZooBurst Create 3D pop-up books free http://www.zooburst.com
Create a Book
Create an electronic book that can also be printed. http://bookbuilder.cast.org/
My Storymaker
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/mystorymaker
Create storybooks with animated characters
Blurb A service that helps you to create, publish, and purchase your own custom book. You can create a cookbook, a photobook, or even turn your blog into a book. You have to download “booksmart”, which is the software that helps you to make a book. http://www.blurb.com/
Big Universe
Students can create their own picture books with just a few clicks. Or if you want, you can read countless other books written by students. The professional illustrations and layout options offer the ultimate in publishing of students' writing. Watch the Tips and Tricks tutorial to see how the features work. Due to the minor advertising, blogs, and internet retailing, teachers should monitor students closely or use this website as a whole-class activity. http://www.biguniverse.com/
Tikatok
Tikatok is where kids channel their imagination into stories - publish those stories into books for you to share and treasure with friends and family. http://www.tikatok.com/
[Back to writing]
Essay and Thesis
Thesis Builder
An online tool for developing persuasive essays. http://tommarch.com/electraguide/
Essay Prompts Numerous essay prompts for high school classes and college admission practice http://www.eduers.com/University/College_Admission_Essay_Topics.html
Essay Map
Online graphic organizer for 3 paragraph essay http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/essaymap/
Quotes.Net Source for quotes http://www.quotes.net
PowerPoint Presentations on Student Research
Topics include: Building Better Research, Collaboration, Plagerism and Putting the Pieces Together. http://ed.sc.gov/agency/offices/tech/ms/lms/page1360.html
Research Paper Organizer
Interactive guide to planning, researching, and writing a research paper. http://library.sasaustin.org/sasaustin/library/paperOrganizerUS.php
NoteStar
NoteStar is an Internet utility to assist in the preparation of research papers. Teachers and students can set up research projects with topics and sub-topics. Students may then take advantage of NoteStar's many features to collect and organize their notes and prepare their bibliography page. http://notestar.4teachers.org/
Think Tank Think Tank is designed to help students develop a Research Organizer (a list of topics and subtopics) for reports and projects. Based on the subject assigned, the students can refine it by choosing from a variety of suggestions and by using a random subtopic generator. This helps students learn how to refine a subject so that it is more manageable for Internet research.
PersuadeStar
This free online application is designed to help students in grades 5-12 write an online persuasive essay. http://persuadestar.4teachers.org
- Analysis of example essays
- An essay planning tool
- An essay writing space
- Student spelling feedback
- Source and bibliography information
- Records of how many times a student used the available options
Think Tank
Think Tank is designed to help students develop a Research Organizer (a list of topics and subtopics) for reports and projects. Based on the subject assigned, the students can refine it by choosing from a variety of suggestions and by using a random subtopic generator. This helps students learn how to refine a subject so that it is more manageable for Internet research. http://thinktank.4teachers.org/
Checklist of Focus Correction Areas
Create your own checklist. Choose from a menu or correction areas or create your own. http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/
Thesis Generator http://mciu.org/%7Espjvweb/thesisgenerator.html
A+ Research and Writing A step-by-step guide for research and writing "help site" for high school students. http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/
[Back to writing]
Editing
Guide to Grammar and Writing Suggestions, examples, quizzes, and links to help the writing process . http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Every-Day Edit
Use Every-Day Edits to build language skills, test scores, and cultural literacy with students in grades 4 and above.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml
Teaching Effective Peer-Editing Strategies
In this lesson, students use a three-step peer-editing process that consists of compliments, suggestions, and corrections.
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=786
Write On: Editing Activities
Develop the structural and creative skills necessary to produce written language that can be read and interpreted by various audiences. http://208.183.128.3/write/editing.html
The Goofs
Features an extensive collectrion of online and downloadable editing activities.
http://jc-schools.net/write/goofs/
Glencoe Online: Proofreading Practice
Practice correcting passages online for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage.
Grades 6-8:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/writerschoice/pp/mslessons/grade6/index.shtml
Grades 9-12:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/writerschoice/pp/hslessons/grade9/index.shtml
Proofreading & Editing Tips
A compilation of advice from experienced proofreaders and editors.
http://www.lrcom.com/tips/proofreading_editing.htm
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Poetry
Poetry4Kids: K-5. A vast collection of poetry. http://www.poetry4kids.com
Instant Poetry Forms http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm Instant Poetry Forms consists of more than sixty interactive literacy activities. Students can point, click and add words to the frame of a poem. With a quick click on the button below the form, the writer's words are magically added, completing each line. At that point, poets are invited to export their draft into a word processor for further revision and editing. An interactive poetry form finder on the website categorizes the forms by topic (or language skill).
Poetry Lesson Plans: Lessons focus on appreciating poetry, reading, discussing and enjoying poems. http://www.favoritepoem.org/forteachers/lessonplans.html
Nursery Rhymes and Coordinating Activity Sheets Craft ideas, coloring sheets and fun pictures accompany these favorite nursery rhymes. http://www.first-school.ws/theme/nurseryrhymes.htm
PoemHunter.com: The site claims to offer 310,931 poems from 24,752 poets and provides several search mechanisms to make it easy for teachers and their students to find poems that will cast light on a question or issue that is under study by the class. http://www.poemhunter.com/
Everywhere Help your students explore the power of language, look at the world with a fresh sense of wonder, and build reading and writing skills. These video segments, drawn from the PBS Poetry Everywhere series and produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, capture some of the voices of poetry, past and present.Find the collection at: http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/pe08-ex/
Funny Poems Barking Spiders (and other such stuff) Poetry: Poems written from a child's perspective, stories, tongue twisters, tips for budding authors, favorite quites and fill-in the blank poems. Beware of the music on each page. http://www.barkingspiderspoetry.com/
Giggle Poetry: Poetry Class The thirty-five poetry lessons at Giggle Poetry's Poetry Class are written by a variety of children's poets. Most focus on poetry starters, such as How to Write a "Mary Had a Little Something" Poem and How to Write a "Roses Are Red" Poem. http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass.aspx
Fizzy Funny fun Poetry for Kids: Poet Gareth Lancaster's children's poems. Rated by readers. http://www.fizzyfunnyfuzzy.com/
Children's Poetry Archive K - 8
Listen to poems read loud. Poems are searchable by form, theme, and poet. http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/
Ted Sheu - that Poetry Guy: Teacher section explains how to bring poetry to life in the classroom. Poetry section includes both audio and written works. http://www.poetryguy.com/
Write Rhymes is a site that is perfect for students who are starting to write poetry that rhymes. The site is simple to use and allows teachers or students to write any word (or series of words) and then click on the word to find every rhyming possibility broken up into categories (nouns, verbs, etc.) http://www.writerhymes.com/
Rhymes - find rhyming words http://www.rhymes.net/
Looking for Poetry A poetry resource for secondary grades that includes poetry finders, lyrics, and thinking about poetry. http://mciu.org/%7Espjvweb/poetrypath.html
Poetry Aloud: A directory of poetry read aloud online. http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/poetryaloud.html
Magnolia A list of great links to full-text, online poetery resources http://library.msstate.edu/magnolia/news/poetry.htm
Poetry 180 A 9- 12 site from the Library of Congress which provides a poem-a-day to be read aloud in schools http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
Poetry Writing Unit: Lessons with examples. Scroll down to the middle of the page to see the lessons. http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/spotlight.htm
PBS Poetry Site: Videos and reading of poets http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/poetry/
Poetry Pages http://www.theatlantic.com/index/fiction
Shel Silverstein Create poems similar to Shel's and download a poetry kit http://shelsilverstein.com/
Poetry Zone: How to Write Poems This is the complete text of Roger Stevens' 1997 children's book "How To Write Poems." It is directed to chldren 8-12 years old. http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/howto.htm
Scholastic: Writing with Writers: Poetry Writing Join Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin and Jean Marzollo as they share poetry writing tips and techniques in three Scholastic workshops. Each poet's workshop includes samples of their work, warm-up exercises, the poet's biography and the opportunity for students to submit poems for possible publication online. Prelutsky's lessons are geared to students in grades one to four. Marzaollo's riddle writing project targets grades two to five. Kuskin's tips are for older writers between the grades of four and eight. http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/
Poetry Teachers: Poetry Class: How to teach poetry, poetry theater, and poetry activities http://www.poetryteachers.com/poetclass/poetclass.html
World Class Poetry: Poetry writing Portal http://www.world-class-poetry.com/How-To-Write-A-Poem.html
Poetry Foundation is a wonderful web resource for anyone interested in, studying, or just wanting to enjoy poetry. The site has information, tons of poems, searchable content, interviews and information on poets, and more. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/
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Games
GameGoo: K-2. Interactive reading games. http://www.cogcon.com/gamegoo/gooey.html
Game-O-Matic A suite of wizards to create simple Web-based activities for language learning and practice http://clear.msu.edu/dennie/matic/
Spelling City - insert the week's spelling list and students can play games, finish worksheets, and complete other interactive activities. http://www.spellingcity.com/
Between the Lions: K-2. Interactive games with feedback. http://Pbskids.org/lions
Kaboose: K-6. Interactive games by grade and subject area. www.kaboose.com
Prongo: K-6. Interactive games. http://www.prongo.co
Gamequarium http://www.gamequarium.com/junior.html
PBSKids http://pbskids.org/games/index.html
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Lessons - Activiites - Resources
Read Write Think: K-12. Comprehensive literature and writing site http://www.readwritethink.org
AdLit is a website that one of my colleagues who teaches reading shared with me. AdLit.org is all about adolescent literature. On AdLit teachers can find book lists, video interviews with authors, and a comprehensive list of strategies for teaching reading and writing. The strategies page gives detailed descriptions of how to implement each strategy. http://www.adlit.org/
Shakespeare and the Elizabethean Period Databases of Shakespeare sites and extensive resources for the historical period. http://mciu.org/%7Espjvweb/stulinde.html
Mr. Shakespeare on the Internet A list of scholarly Shakespeare resources and other original Shakespeare content including lesson plans and a timeline http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/default.htm
Shakespeare Meets Youtube - short article gives examples of students interpreting Shakespeare with short videos. click here
Works of the Bard Search the full text of many of Shakespeare's works by keyword or read them on-line http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/
Teachers Shake Up Shakespeare with Digital Media
http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-shakespeare-digital-media
The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project has an outstanding interactive resource that everyone who teaches lessons on Romeo and Juliet should bookmark. Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet is an interactive display of the text of Romeo and Juliet. As students read the document they can click on any link in the text to view definitions, images, audio recordings, and videos related to the content they're reading. http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/rjfolio.cfm
Shmoop High school guides to literature. A plethora of guides to books. Each guide also includes a "Why should I care?" section http://www.shmoop.com
Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities. http://reading.ecb.org/
Classical Comics From Shakespeare to Dickens to Shelley to Bronte .... Free to download . http://www.classicalcomics.com/index.html
BlueNose Edutainment Uses music, film, and sports as a way of motivating students in grades 6-12 to read and
write. For example, students can listen to, read, and interpret song lyrics, and they can submit their ownlyrics, song ideas, or song interpretations for prizes. http://www.bluenoseed.com
Curriki K - 12 Language Arts Peer created K-12 language arts resources. http:www.curriki.org
Free Reading A free reading intervention site geared towards students grade K-3 complete with literacy activities and lessons/ideas links. Includes teaching tools such as picture cards and a word list generator. Share your own teaching ideas or get some from other experienced teachers.http://www.freereading.net/
T2Web Literacy resources provided by the Federal government. Including building fluency, decoding to encoding, and impementing reading intervention in the secondary schoools. http://www.t2web.us/
Bank Street Literacy Guides: Guidance for literacy tutors and teachers of 5 to 8-year-old children. Teachers will find Pre-Reading strategies such as making predictions, forming a purpose for reading, and questioning. During-Reading strategies include prompting a reader who is stuck and techniques to figure out words. Post-Reading plans center on answering questions. Site also discusses Stages of Literacy Development and offers sample lessons, books, resources, and games.http://www.bankstreet.edu/literacyguide/strategies.html
BilingualFun
Spanish for young children. http://www.bilingualfun.com/
Neo K
Educational Videos for Kids about Science, Math, Social Studies and English http://www.neok12.com/
Spanish Bilingual Resources
Brings together some of the best Internet Education sites for Spanish bilingual teachers. Our ever-increasing collection can also be used by students and parents. http://www.eduplace.com/bil/
Florida Center for Reading Research
Reading activities for K-3. Good resources for struggling readers.
http://www.fcrr.org/forTeachers.htm
Google Literacy Portal; Web portal dedicated to literacy, which aggregates all of its content services in order to assist teachers and organizations to share reading resources. The new service aims to combine a media-rich set of resources to combat global illiteracy http://www.google.com/literacy/
Reading Rockets: A PBS site with resources for struggling readers and special education students
http://www.readingrockets.org/teachers
ReadingQuest: Making Sense in Social Studies is a website designed for social studies teachers who wish to more effectively engage their students with the content in their classes. http://www.readingquest.org/
KidsClick : In the reading section there are literature and writing resources http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/kidsClick
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site http://www.carolhurst.com/index.html
Children's Literature Activities for the Classroom Links to children's literature sites by genre and book title http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/ChildrensLit.html
Web English Teacher Links to lesson plans, biographies, e-texts, online criticism, videos, WebQuests, jokes, puzzles, and classroom activities to support the teaching of English/Language Arts http://www.webenglishteacher.com/
Myths and Legends for 8-12 an extensive site for secondary students providing links to myths, legends, folklore, and more http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/myth.html
teachers@random Complete teacher's guides to over 60 novels published by Bantam, Doubleday, and Dell http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/
Learning to Read: Resources for Language Arts and Reading Research Links to developments in literacy, professional materials, research and critical issues in the area of reading http://www.toread.com/
Perry School: K-1. reading and math activities and books http://www.perrylake.k12.oh.us/pes/GradeLevelwebsites/Kindergarten/Kindex.htm
Edupuppy: K-2. Good search engine for young students and teachers. http://www.edupuppy.com
Enchanted Learning Picture Dictionary K-2. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html
McBookwords: Authors and Illustrators on the Web: K-12. Sites generated by authors and illustrators him or herself. http://www.mcelmeel.com/curriculum/authorlinks.html
Eduplace: K-8. Resources that include numerOus graphic organizers, outline maps, educational http://www.eduplace.com
Children's Picture Book Database http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/search/
Marilee's Picturebook Links A list of links to authors and illustrators of picture books, online picture books for children, and much more http://www.marilee.us/authors.html
ABC Teach Network: Basic ABCs Activities ,R eading Comprehension, Math, Writing, Themes: Animals, Habitats, Holidays, Month to Month, Sports, Countries, States, Research/ Research Forms, Report Helpers, Book Report Forms, Maps, Flags, Writing... Reading Comps Reading comprehensions for fictional and informationalreading practice. Useful for teaching test-taking skills. Fun Activities Crossword Puzzles, Number Puzzles, Online Crosswords, Online Games, EASY Puzzles, Printable Games. http://abcteach.com
School Resources from AOL: K-8. http://school.aol.com Seasonal thematic lessons
Instructional'resources to download: K-5. Worksheet, thematic lessons. http://learningpage.com
Children's Book Council: http://www.cbcbooks.org
Lesson Plan Page: K-12. Searchable by subject area. www.lessonplanspage.com
Teaching Books: K-6. Free trial subscription. Meet authors and lesson plans for children literature. http://www.teachingbooks.net
Launching K-3 Readers A page which offers tips, tricks, references, case studies, and assessment ideas for teaching the early reader http://teams.lacoe.edu/teachers/body_frame.asp?page=index&indexes_id=48&topics_id=12
A to Z Teacher Stuff: A to Z Teacher Stuff is teacher-created, and designed to help teachers find online resources more quickly and easily. We offer lesson plans, thematic' units, teacher tips, teacher discussion forums, downloadable teaching materials & eBooks, printable worksheets and blacklines, emergent reader books, themes, and more. http://atozteachherstuff.com
The Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement: The Center for the improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) is a national center for research on early reading. Articles, research, and ideas that work. http://www.ciera..org
Literacy Connections: K-12. Literacy Connections provides a wealth of information on reading, teaching and tutoring techniques, ESL literacy, and adult literacy. http://www.literacyconnections.com
Encarta Encyclopedia: K-8. Online encyclopedia. http://www.encarta.com
Songs for Teaching: K-5. Songs and ideas for using music in lesson plans.http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html
Jim Trelease's Treasury of Readalouds http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah_treasury.html
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators K-12. Quality Educational Directory. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide
Children's Literature Web Guide: A gateway to Internet resourcesreated to books for children and young adults. Examples features are Best Books, Essential Kid Lit Websites, and What We're reading Reading: Commentary on Children's books. http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html
TeachingBooks.Net: Access to authors, illustrators and children's literature resources: http://www.teachingbooks.net
Book Report Alternatives http://www.rochester3a.sangamon.k12.il.us/webpage/buyze/index/book_report_alternatives.htm
A Compact for Reading and School-Home Reading Kits http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/index.html This site includes four school-home reading kits to provide parents and caregivers a series of work-at-home early-literacy activities for kindergarten through grade three. The activities are available in both English and Spanish.
Center for Electronic Studying: The center at the University of Oregon focuses on the use of technology for improving students' skills in reading and writing with technology. The center hosts Project INTERSECT, a digital library of supported texts, http://intersect.uoregon.edu , and the Computer-Based Study Strategies Web site, http://cbss.uroegon.edu
Readers Theater : http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/ Free scripts for young readers. Good for group readings as well as performed plays.
Cyberguides K-12: CyberGuides are supplementary, standards-based, web-delivered units of instruction centered on core works of literature.http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html
Multicultural Book Review A rated list of multicultural book reviews for students and links to related sites http://www.isomedia.com/homes/jmele/homepage.html
Top Individual Children's Books, Authors, and Illustrators: A listing of carefully selected sites to find out about authors and illustrators. http://www.underdown.org/topsites.htm
Vandergritt's Children's Literature Page : lists of children's books, e.g, Female voices in picture books, African-American, Hispanic, and Native American ... http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/ChildrenLit/index.html
Literature Genres: Various children's literature genres, online books, reviews, authors, and more. http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Genres/Children_s/
YALSA (Young Adult Library Service Association): young adults, reluctant readers, audio books, top ten teen books... www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists
Literary Index : Internet Resources in Literature An overview and a review of the major collections of websites of interest to scholars, students, and lovers of literature http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/flackcj/LitIndex.html
Literary Resources on the Net A comprehensive, categroized list of hundreds of literary resources to support the curriculum http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
McBookwords: Authors and Illustrators on the Web: K-12. Sites generated by authors and illustrators him or herself. http://www.mcelmeel.com/curriculum/authorlinks.html
Reading Online: Articles on projects and research published by the International Reading Association. http://www.readingonline.org
Scholastic Classroom Resources and Tools : K-8. Lesson plans, activities, games. You can post a classroom homepage for free. http://www.scholastic.com/sitemap.htm
Teach-nology. K-12. A number of high quality of rubrics. http://teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/
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Library Tools
Joyce Valenza;s Library Site
Plethora or resources for librarians
Library 2.0
The Internet is full of helpful webinars, presentations, and tutorials designed to help you take your library to the next level. Here are some of the most useful.
LibraryThing
Allows you to catalog your books online. While you catalog you can also tag your books, prompting some to call iGoodreads - A greaGoodreads - A great way to build a searchable, virtual library and share it with colleaguest way to build a searchable, virtual library and share it with colleaguest “Flickr for books.” You can also browse other people’s collections (if they choose to make them public) and the apGoodreads - A great way to build a searchable, virtual library and share it with colleaguesplication helps you discover libraries like yours, prompting some to call it “Friendster for books.”
Jog The Web
It allows a guided investigation of information; it organizes information in a meaningful way; it provides information about each website by using comments; it allows for others to interact and write their own comments. Students everywhere should be using this to support their research and help explain ideas and concepts.
14 Ways Librarians Can Teach Social Media
Librarian Webinars for free
School Librarians Blogs
Blogs and wikis : use in libraries
http://islmablogswikis.wikispaces.com/
Blogs and wikis and how we can use them in libraries
Why Should We Use Wikis and Blogs With Our Students? | How Can We Use Blogs and Wikis in Libraries & Schools? A Brainstorm of Ideas | Links To School Library Wikis | Links to Public Library Wikis | Links to Book Wikis | Wikis for Librarians
