Language+Arts

[[image:quillpen.gif width="101" height="105" align="right"]]Introduction
Below you will find strategies, suggestions and sites for your academically talented readers and writers. I welcome any suggestions or additions you have for this site.

[| Holmes School Card Catalog]
As you are looking at some of the suggested Language Arts activities below, you may find it helpful to know if a certain title is in our collection and how many copies there are of that particular title. Having multiple copies of the same book can be very helpful when doing literature circles with your students. Remember our district supports inter-library loan so another school within the district may have what you need.

[|Biographies and Autobiographies] : Life Models in the Classroom
by Bertie Kingore This site starts with an explanation of why reading biographies and autobiographies is important for gifted students. It shows students that successful people have come from all types of backgrounds and many have had to overcome great odds to accomplish their goals. In the section on learning experiences, there are many project ideas for students who are doing biography research. Many of these ideas would only take a little time to prepare the needed materials for students.

Research Projects
Research projects are very engaging for your academically talented students and when done correctly requires students to use their abstract thinking skills. As you are planning your research project for your students, remember that talking to your school librarian can get you started in the right direct and help you find the needed resources. I have also included our district's guidelines on research which has been aligned with the high school's research guidelines. You may also want to use the [|card catalog] to see which books our library owns that would help with your research project. Consider requiring different students to complete different task that best match their abilities and readiness.

Publishing Student Writing
Our gifted writers should be writing daily in a journal and writing for different purposes. We want these students to have opportunities to publish their work. Assign your top writers to write an article for [|F.Y.I.], our Holmes School student blog. Our 5th graders are in charge of the blog and can help your students by giving them suggestions on how to improve their writing piece, edit their work, and type the final copy. Consider starting a blog or wiki of your own to display student work online. Check the [|Holmes School] site under Staff to see some of the other blogs teachers have created.

6 + 1 Writing Resources
[|Web English Teacher] lists many resources for supporting the 6 + 1 Writing Traits. Unfortunately, the site does include some annoying pop up ads, but the sites seem so valuable for our academically talented that it was worth including. [|Writing Fix] was one of my favorite links on the site because of the ideas and student samples. Read some of the 6 + 1 Trading Cards. They are humorous.

Sites for Student Use
District 97 K-5 Research is a list of good research tools provided by Ms. Manek. [|Read Children's eBooks Online] is a collection of sites for students to read books online. The easiest site to navigate, most attractive, and has the most titles is the [|International Children's Digital Library]. [|Scholastic News] is a good source for both world and national news for 3rd-5th graders. Sticky Situation where students are asked to respond to an ethical dilemma and Reviews by You, book reviews written by students, are two sections worth exploring. [|Writing with Writers] are interviews with famous children's authors and activities and tips to improve student writing. [|Brain Pop] is a site that uses animation to teach concepts in all of the subject areas. The Standards section is very useful because you can enter your state, the subject, and grade and it will give you the animations that align with state standards. Gifted students could use this site as a springboard to further research.