| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp |
| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp. All rights reserved. |
| about the book |
| The Homeschool Diner's Guide to Homeschooling Special Situations Language Arts for Homeschoolers Writing resources Creative Ideas for Writing, Fun Resources, and Online Enrichment by Julie Knapp, copyright 2005 If you’d like to provide fun writing ideas for your child, the Internet is a great place to start. You can find free tutorials, clever ideas, fun writing prompts, enrichment, and creative inspiration. Check out a few of these fun and educational websites… ReadWriteThink Printing Press -- an free, onlne, guided interactive tool for creating and printing out a brochure, newspaper, booklet, and flyer, several other writing activities available, too Writing With Writers Workshops from Scholastic -- free online tutorials on different kinds of writing, includes news, folktales, book reviews, biography, science writing, etc., messages and tips from professional writers provide inspiration PIZZAZ !... People Interested in Zippy and ZAny Zcribbling -- creative writing and storytelling ideas Let's Get Creative! -- free online web activities from author Bruce Van Patter, ideas and prompts to spark imaginative writing and thinking Cure NanoWriMo's writer's block! by Language is a Virus -- writing games and gizmos to inspire creativity Traci's Lists of Ten -- great ides for writing projects (more creative than plain old reports) Thirty-Four Alternatives to Traditional Book Reports -- fun and creative ideas for all ages Writing Fix: Right-Brained Writing Prompts -- fun activities and creative ideas for writers - http://www.writingfix.com/rightbrain.htm Neuroscience for Kids Writing Projects -- lots of clever ideas for writing about brains and the nervous system Postcard Creator -- from Read Write and Think, a free online activity that allows students to type addresses and messages onto a blank postcard format, then print it out, students can then color or decorate the front side, fold or glue it add a stamp, and mail it (or use their pretend stamps for "internal mail delivery") Shape-Book Patterns -- dozens of boldly outlined printable shapes, choose with or without guide lines, great for descriptions, listing nouns or other parts of speech, or poems, free Create a Comic Strip -- from Hasbro MonkeyBar, scroll down to Comics 101 Picture prompts to Spark Super Writing -- pictures and cartoons The Book Report Sandwich Maker from Scholastic -- an interactive, fun way to write a tasty report, free Better Fonts -- over 10,000 free fonts, great for poetry and prose! Online Slang Translator -- convert English to IM text language 25 Funniest Analogies from Student Writers Grow Your own Story from the BBC -- Pre-K and up, a free online activity, "grow" a story by choosing from several plot options as a plant grows, student must print out and finish story on their own, reading skills not really needed because story is read to you as it develops RIF Reading Planet Game Station -- free online spelling and writing games, sign up then it is free Storytelling Activities from Story Arts -- can be used as pre-writing exercises and to generate ideas for written stories All You Need to Know About Cartooning -- cartoons are a great way to express humor, tell stories, or work thru issues -- also take a look at Make Beliefs Comix! -- free online comic-maker, choose from several pre-made characters, choose the mood of the character (happy, sad, mad, surprised), and type words into "bubbles" to make a comic/story KaBoom! -- a dictionary of comic book words as sound effects 5-Card Nancy -- create picture stories from cut-up Nancy cartoon frames Hula as a Literary Experience... by Vanessa Maañao The Five Paragraph Essay Slide Show -- amusing show and tell for the 5 paragraph essay Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric by Brigham Young University -- examines the art of effective writing and speaking, "...a discipline for training students 1) to perceive how language is at work orally and in writing, and 2) to become proficient in applying the resources of language..." Get Writing! -- free online mini-courses, tips, contests, inspiration for young writiers of all genres, from the BBC The Slam by Cricket/Cicada Magazines -- a place for teens over 14 to submit creative writing for general peer review **parents should pre-read entries on this website for appropriateness** WordSmiths -- an anthology of teen writing on the web, from the NY Public Library, accepted submissions are featured for 1 month **parents should pre-read entries on this website for appropriateness** FanFiction -- fiction written about characters or settings from published works by someone other than the original author, usually not authorized by the author and not sold for profit, considered an outlet for the storytelling tradition "... in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by folk..." A popular one for those 14 and up is MuggleNet Fan Fiction a Harry Potter FanFic site, **parents should pre-read all fan fiction for appropriateness** there can be mature content -- which is supposed to be flagged with *Warnings* -- but I advise pre-reading and printing out those that you find appropriate for your particular child Language Construction Kit -- for creating your own artificial language (for fantasy novels, games, etc) Starship Dimensions by Jeff Russell -- compares relative sizes of fictional starcraft to each other, The Hindenburg, Eiffel Tower, Apollo craft, etc., inspiration for scifi writing Lesson plans on Code Writing and Code Breaking Related Issues The Code of the Debater: Introduction to the Way of Reason by Alfred C. Snider, University of Vermont -- a free online text that covers basic debating skills from Debate Central, What Are the Progymnasmata?--preliminary rhetorical exercises that introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts and strategies. For more writing prompts and other writing resources check out Writing Programs, Curriculum, and Creative Alternatives |
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