Additional Resources
General Resources for Helping Middle School Students Succeed-
"Raising Happiness: Science for Joyful Kids and Happier Parents," a blog by Christine Carter, PhD, from the Greater Good Science Center
"Happiness Matters Podcast," Dr. Christine Carter and Nurse Rona Renner give busy parents tips for raising happy children and leading more joyful lives as parents.
Reading Resources-
Hennepin County Libraries (Minneapolis)
Kids & Teens Book Club at the Hamline MIdway Library in St. Paul
Current Events for Middle Schoolers-
Tween Tribune (from Smithsonian)
Most articles of the week come from Newsela & TweenTribune. Great websites with current event articles differentiated by reading level!
Vocabularly Games
Vocabulary.com -- Great, simple vocabularly game to build academic word skills
Vocabulary.com/lists -- has many different user-created vocab-lists, including many lists from popular books
http://vocabtest.com/ -Great Vocab building site
http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1511 --Simple vocab game that benefits World Food Programme (yes it is British...)
Geography Games
Copycat (Basic Continents Game)
Sheppard Software (Continents/Oceans Game)
Sheppard Software (Many Geo games, States, capitals, countries, etc.)
More games:
http://freerice.com/category --Same website as vocabulary game above, but there are actually lots of other great academic games on the site, too, and all benefit World Food Programme.
Non-Fiction and other Book Recommendations
Here are some quick lists for books when you are trying to stretch your student beyond the traditional far (or you can't seem to find a book she'll like!)
1. YALSA Awards and Lists (Young Adult Library Services Association)
Great lists. You may need to provide an email address to access the lists, but I highly recommend these lists (depending on your student's particular interests):
Nonfiction Awards,
Great Graphic Novels Lists,
Alex Awards (Books for Adults with appeal to young people),
Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers
(This list of awards from the ALA includes most of the same YALSA lists without requiring an email address. However they are much less user-friendly and only the most recent year's lists)
Awesome Blog from a librarian with reviews and recommendations of the newest great non-fiction for young adults.
3. NCSS' (National Council for Social Studies) Notable Tradebooks for Young People
If you are willing to slog through PDFs, there is a treasure trove of information in these lists. A little dated (2000-2008), but there are TONS of books here.
Other Language Arts Games:
Connections.