Transform your students' television time to vocabulary time by having them tune in to these PBS show sites developed to enrich their word knowledge.

Martha Speaks

WordGirl

Word World

Here are some great online resources for getting children interested in poetry.

Poetry4Kids

Giggle Poetry

Favorite Poem Project

Scholastic Poetry

Marvin Terban gets kids laughing (and learning) about language with these illustrated books of funny idioms.

Mad as a Wet Hen!

Punching the Clock

In a Pickle

True confession time: I'd never read Ernest Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea until a couple of weeks ago, for this column. Yeesh, I know, I know, and I'm sorry. Walk away from this column if you must, convinced I'm not qualified to give you any advice for your ELA classroom. I wouldn't blame you. All I can say is that the high school I went to didn't have a cracker-jack curriculum, and, um, I hate fish. I really do. I have a phobia about all creatures of the sea, actually, and fish aren't even my most dreaded. Let's put it this way: if the book was titled The Old Man and the Squid, this column would be about a Jane Austen book.  Continue reading...

Here are some great online resources for getting children interested in poetry.

Poetry4Kids

Giggle Poetry

Favorite Poem Project

Scholastic Poetry

Here are some wonderful blogs about getting kids interested in literature.

The Well-Read Child

ShelfTalker

Scrub-a-Dub Tub

Kid Lit Kit