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Language Arts Resources

A Helpful Guide to Reading Better

One of the best ways to learn is from the experiences of others. And one of the best ways to do that is to make friends with the eminent dead. Through trial and error, over the years, I’ve come across several frameworks that help us improve how we read.

Wonderopolis

Welcome to Wonderopolis®, a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery in learners of all ages. Each day, we pose an intriguing question—the Wonder of the Day®—and explore it in a variety of ways.

Reading League

The mission of The Reading League-Oklahoma is to increase the knowledge, understanding, and use of evidence-based literacy practices across the state so that all students can learn to read. We are excited to have this group where dedicated educators, parents, and others who are interested in helping students read can come together to learn with one another so that all students can be successful.

 
Literacy Progressions

Literacy Progressions Update

The Literacy Progressions page on the ELA Framework has expanded from 12 skills to 25! The literacy progressions show topics such as informative writing and literary elements in a vertical progression, grades Pre-K to 12, along with commentary explaining the shifts and implications of the changes in the language of the standards. These progressions are helpful in vertical and horizontal alignment conversations at the district level. There are now 15 reading topics and 10 writing topics. The new topics include:

  • Author's Purpose
  • Literary Devices
  • Parts of Speech
  • Plot
  • Resources
  • Text Structures
  • Word Parts
  • Citations
  • Editing & Revision
  • Multimodal Presentations
  • Punctuation
  • Research Papers
  • Sentence Types & Structures
Writing contest

The Oklahoma Bar Association presents the Law Day Writing Contest, open to grades PK-12. Students will respond to a prompt based on their grade level provided by the Oklahoma Bar Association Law Day Committee or may submit an essay based on a prompt relating to the Law Day theme. Each prompt provided has been tailored to align with the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies. This is a perfect opportunity to collaborate with a social studies teacher in your building. Poetry and creative writing entries will also be accepted as part of the writing contest. The deadline to enter is January 11, 2019. Find more information on the contest website.

  • Grade 6What influence did our separation from England have on the creation of the Bill of Rights?
  • Grade 7: Choose a country in the Eastern Hemisphere that has a Bill of Rights. Compare that with the United States Bill of Rights.
  • Grade 8: The First Amendment protects five rights. Discuss why each of those rights was included in the First Amendment.
  • High School [Choose one prompt]:
    • Compare and contrast the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights with the similar protections granted by Article 2, Section 22 of the Bill of Rights to the Oklahoma Constitution.
    • Choose and discuss a case that had a direct impact on the right of Free Speech.
    • What does it mean to petition for governmental redress of grievances, and how is it used in modern society?
    • Should the First Amendment be revised based on advances on technology and our changing society? If so, what changes would you recommend?
    • Who does the First Amendment protect and why is that important?
    • How did the right to peaceably assemble impact the civil rights movement?
  • First-place winners in 6th through 8th grades will receive a $100 cash prize.
  • Second-place winners in 6th through 8th grades will receive a $50 cash prize.
  • First-place winners in 9th through 12th grades will receive a $150 cash prize.
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Parts of Speech

You no longer need to be afraid of teaching grammar. Teaching the parts of speech has never been more exciting or accessible, thanks to the many brave souls who are spicing up our lives with YouTube videos about nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions.