Lake Tract BSI

Welcome to Lake Tract's Basic Skills Page!

Please feel free to explore the links and resources we have posted on this page. If you would like to learn more about a specific teacher, simply click on his/her name on the top right hand side of this page to visit his/her individual page.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS ONLINE ACCESS & CODES:

Pearson-Reading Street

Pearson Realize

Username – student’s firstlastdept (add dept to the end of the firstlast username)

Password – DTlunchpin!

EXAMPLE OF WHAT PASSWORD WOULD LOOK LIKE- DT12345!

ELA BASIC SKILLS WEBSITES:

General ELA: ABCya! Arranged by grade level, this site contains a great set of computer based activities for grades K-5^th. K & 1^st grade have oral direction options. Holiday-oriented choices are included in each grade level.

Alphabetical Order: Great game for the SmartBoard in which students can move the words around to put them in ABC order.

BBC’s Bitesize Games: From the BBC, this site provides a number of interactive game options including rhyming words, phonics, ABC order, pronouns, punctuation, and more. Note: audio has British accent.

BBC’s Bitesize English: The next level of English activities includes reading, writing, spelling & grammar. Each activity includes an interactive learning game, a ―bitesize‖ lesson, and a quiz.

BBC’s Words and Pictures: For those who have completed Bitesize Games, here are activities for writing, more phonics, sight words, and more.

Dogo News: Kids‘ news articles & current events. ―Fodder for young minds

Fun For the Brain: A set of interactive games which can be used on the SmartBoard or learning center. From the website: ―Learn and review English grammar and early reading skills with these games.

GB4K (Global Broadcast for Kids): Entertainment, sports, news, and learning channels‘ created by students for students.

Game Goo – Learning That Sticks: Houghton Mifflin gives us a number of online games to practice alphabetizing skills, phonics, identifying synonyms & antonyms, and more.

Literacy Head: From the website: ―We gather visual art and organize it in reading and writing lessons and tools. From comprehension strategies to writing workshop mini-lessons, Literacyhead uses visual art to teach reading and writing standards in ways that are engaging and accessible to students with different needs.

Read-Write-Think: This classic site is a treasure trove of teaching materials‘. Check out the Student Interactives‘ option under Classroom Resources‘ for a number of interactive teaching tools.

Seuss’ Planning Calendar: From the website: ―Welcome to the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss! Here you will

find resources to share with your students, news about special events and annual celebrations, and tips on how to incorporate Seuss books into your plans throughout the school year.” Check out the̳ reasoning‘ option for activities on sequencing.

Starfall: This well-known site contains a number of activities for learning ABCs, reading, online stories, and more.

Word Wise: From FactMonster, this site has several options, including All About Books‘, Grammar and Spelling‘, ̳Speaking the Language‘ (includes idioms & proverbs), Mythology, and more. Check out the Analogy of the Day‘ as well. http://www.factmonster.com/analogies

The Writing Wizard: Handwriting worksheets (worksheets for math as well)

Book Lists

Book Adventure: ―Book Adventure is a free, online reading program for children in grades K-8, brought to you

by Sylvan Learning. The goal is to help kids learn to love reading through interactive tools, games and motivational rewards. We make it easy for children to find a book, take quizzes and win prizes for their reading success. Plus, our site is packed with tips and resources parents and teachers can use to boost reading skills and track progress.

*Note: requires a free login. Books are not available on line, but quizzes are.

A Book and a Hug: Book annotations, author interviews, and reading guidance. The database can be searched via category, reading level, and keyword.

Booktalks—Quick & Simple: Over 5000 book talks may be found at this site. Titles are indexed by author, title, subject, and interest level. Select Interest Level‘ to choose by grade level.

Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site: Explore literature by author, curriculum area, themes, and professional topics. Activities and teaching suggestions are included.

Free Reading: A collaborative set of 40 weeks‘ worth of material which includes a word list generator, sets of word picture cards, and a database of decodable passage worksheets (see tool section). In Decodable passages‘, you have the option of choosing fiction or nonfiction.

Storyline Online: From the SAG (Screen Actors Guild), over 20 books are read by actors. Each title includes the video where the story is read and a set of activity ideas.

Reading:

*Character Scrapbook: This Scholastic activity is a good one to use for introducing character analysis. Students begin with 10 things they know about the characters, using words to describe the character, appearance, personality, challenges, and accomplishments. Students can create up to 6 scrapbook pages for their character, with 1 page/category or topic. An illustration can be created and all pages can be printed.

Roy the Zebra: Interactive reading games by word or sentence level. NOTE: you must register (free) to use these games.

Story Place: ―The ultimate children‘s digital library‖, this site has stories read aloud, with activities to accompany them.

Readers’ Theatre:

Aaron Shepard: ―Reader‘s Theater Editions are free scripts for reader‘s theater adapted from stories written

by Aaron Shepard and others—mostly humor, fantasy, and world tales from a variety of cultures. A full range of reading levels is included, with scripts aimed mostly at ages 8–15. The scripts may be freely copied, shared, and performed for any noncommercial purpose, except they may not be posted online without permission.‖

Teaching Heart: ―A place for K-3 teachers with sharing hearts‖

Timeless Teacher Stuff: Dozens of readers‘ theatre scripts for K-3 are listed in this index.

Spelling:

Spelling City: Make customized spelling lists.

Spin and Spell: Spelling challenges cover several categories, including clothes, food, animals, transportation, and household items. Provides positive feedback given to students, and there is a help‘ option to see the word.

Vocabulary:

Make-A-Word: After the larger word appears on the screen, a student then drags the letters to the open part of the screen to create new words. Explore the ―Games‖ link for other SmartBoard options.

Visual Dictionary Online: Using a thematic index leads users to over 6000 words and definitions.

Word Game Time

Vocabulary Games

Writing:

Daily Writing Prompts: Designed for upper elementary and intermediate levels, the prompts have a visual to go along with the prompt.

KIdsWWRite: Students can read stories and poems by other young authors or submit your own writing for publication on the site.

Literacy Head Write Starts: Art tied in to reading and writing. Note: a subscription is needed to get into archives.

Stop & Go: From PBS, choose a video to serve as a story starter, then stop the story and complete it on your own. You can choose to have help from some of the PBS characters or complete it on your own. Final work can be printed or emailed, and is stored for 14 days.

Write Me a Story: From the website: ―Write Me a Story is the place where you can try your writing

skills, share your imagination, read fun stories and maybe even get published on the Internet! Each week we'll challenge you to write a story using the character, place and prop we give you. Your story can be as funny, sad or silly as you want. Each week we randomly select five stories by kids 11 and younger and five by kids 12 and older to put in the Ballot Box. That's where all KidsCom Kids can vote for their favorite story of the week. The two stories with the most votes in each age group will be showcased in Stunningly Stupendous Stories the next week!