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Language Arts:
Looking for just the right
Elizabethan curse? Try
the Random Elizabethan Curse Generator contains more than
300,000 curses from Shakespeare to Ben Johnson!
Carnegie Mellon hosts a Natural
Language Playground which is an index of sites about language
and its usage and includes reverse dictionaries.
Kidsport has wonderful subject and grade
indexes for language arts. Click on the grade level you are interested
in to visit. Grade
8, Grade
7. Grade 6 pages are presently under construction.
Got a grammar question? Visit Grammar
Bytes for your answer.
Dictionaries and Thesauri:
| Consult Dictionary.com
for definitions of English words. |
| Roget's
Thesaurus is available online when you find yourself using
the same word over and over and need to spice up your writing. |
| ESL, French and Spanish
students may find the Internet
Picture Dictionary useful. The dictionary is searchable in
five languages and contains language games. |
| Spanish students who need a Spanish translation of an English
word can consult an online Spanish
dictionary. |
| French students can obtain a quick translation of English
to French or vice-a-versa by visiting Dictionnaire.com. |
| Students of multiple languages
can consult Wordreference.com
to check out Spanish, French, German or Italian. |
Encyclopedias and Reference Databases:
| Refdesk.com
is a smorgasbord of great reference sites in one site. (53 sites
to be exact.) |
| "Because
knowledge is cool" is the motto at Encyclopedia.com. |
| Libraryspot.com
is another site chock full of links to encyclopedias such
as Britannica and the Columbia Encyclopedia online. |
| The Columbia
Encyclopedia can be accessed directly and is free. |
| Kidport
Reference Library Index provides subject guides for Social
Studies, Language Arts, Science, the Creative Arts and other
Reference links. From Kidport Home page, you may visit pages
by age group. |
Libraries on the Web:
Literature:
I love children's literature. There are quite a few sites devoted
to that wonderful world. The
Children's Literature Web Guide is a favorite source for
information on authors, books and anything else you might need
to research.
American Authors
is a website created by a Professor of English at Gonzaga University
and recommended in the April issue of Classroom Connect Magazine.
In case you missed the link on the navigation
bar on the top left, I have compiled a list of Authors
on the Web. This is a list of authors who have their own
websites. There are one or two websites hosted by the estate
of a deceased author.
Have you ever wondered which book came
first in a series? This is sometimes important, for example,
you really can't read the Harry Potter books out of order. Several
libraries have put together lists to consult.
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Monroe
County Public Library in Indiana recently updated their list. |
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The Bettendorf
Public Library's listing does not seem to be as extensive
as Monroe's and the text scrolls over some distracting background
picture, but you can search by series title. |
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The Kent
District Public Library in Comstock Park, Michigan has a
"What Comes Next?" page containing a searchable database.
You plug in either the author's name, title of book or title
of series and a list of books in the series is returned. |
The Library of Congress, a treasure trove of resources has a section called "The Learning Page" especially for teachers. One of the pages contains a list of books that deal with immigration in some way.
Mythology:
Encyclopedia
Mythica is a browseable or searchable website with over 6100 entries mostly on Greek and Roman mythology although sections on Celtic and Norse mythology are under development.
Ever wonder how to pronounce some of those names that you come across when reading myths? Encyclopedia Mythica has a pronunciation
page!
Mythweb is a kid-friendly introduction to the Greek Gods
and includes a searchable encyclopedia with short entries.
Picture books: Parts/ art media/
recommended
Every student from grade K through 8 should know my motto, "You're
never too old for picture books!" Whenever I read a picture
book aloud, I try and review the parts of the book, especially
if the illustrator has done something unusual. I learned most
of this information in books. But Picturing
Books is a wonderful website that explains everything about
picture books very well.
The New
York Public Library is a premier library both online and
off. Just as the libraries themselves are huge, their web site
is huge as well. They maintain a list of 100
picture books everyone should know in their Children's section,
On Lion For Kids,
of their web site.
Periodicals:
Kidsconnect
is a great site connecting you to other websites by subject.
They have organized a periodicals page aimed at kids and their
interests from A to Z.
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