Grammar Girl

LQ: 8.8

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Brain grade: 9.2
Fun score: 8.3

Platform/Console: LWK Recommended Age: 10+ Thinking Skills Used: , Academic Skills Used: ,

Grammar Girl is primarily a web-based resource for grammatical rules, tips, and tricks. The website includes audio episodes of grammar tips as well as articles detailing common mistakes and misconceptions. New episodes are posted frequently, ranging in topic from “Affect versus Effect,” to “When to Use a Hyphen.” Additionally, the website offers a “Top 10 Tips” section for quick references relating to the most commonly made grammatical mistakes. Grammar Girl is also available in an app version, which provides quick and convenient access to the audio episodes as well as the main webpage. The website contains no offensive material, but is best suited for children ages 10+.

 


This app is good for kids who need help with:

Working Memory

Recalling and retaining information in our mind while working. Following directions.

The Grammar Girl episodes are available in text based and audio formats, offering tips, tricks, and rules for common grammatical mistakes or areas of confusion. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of written language and users can search for an episode about their specific need or question. Users must employ working memory in order to employ proper usage and rules of grammar following the lessons from Grammar Girl. For example, in the episode "When to Use a Hyphen," users receive tips, tricks, and hypothetical situations and examples of when a hyphen should be used between words. After listening to this episode, or reading the accompanying article, users should work to apply their new knowledge to their own writing. Recalling the parameters of grammatical rules is essential to articulate writing.

Focus

Getting started and then maintaining attention and effort to tasks.

The website and app features more than 350 episodes detailing different commonly made mistakes. Focus is employed by users both in using the website and applying it's lessons to their own work.

The length of episodes ranges, however, users must concentrate on the audio or text if they wish to benefit from Grammar Girl's lessons. Learning and applying proper grammar to writing requires diligence, dedication, and great attention to detail. Mistakes are easy to make and correcting them can be tedious, especially if the writer is unfamiliar with many grammatical rules. Crafting articulate, grammatically sound, and professional sounding writing requires a great deal of Focus from the writer both when creating the draft and when editing for mistakes. Grammar Girl is a great resource for quick reference in any stage of writing.

Writing

Grammar Girl can help young writers learn basic grammatical rules and other tricks for improving the quality of their writing. The website or app can be an excellent resource for the creative or editing phases of writing. Episodes are released frequently, so users can visit the site even before making mistakes to continuously learn and improve the quality of their writing. English is rife with confusing circumstances and rules, but learning when and how to apply them can make an enormous difference in quality and coherence.

Reading

Some users learn better from reading material than from listening to a spoken lesson. Grammar Girl also offers many grammar lessons in an article based format, which can be beneficial to writers who like to reference written examples of properly applied rules. Grammar Girl can help readers identify mistakes in the writing of their peers, their own writing, or even identify well executed writing in other places such as novels or textbooks. The more exposure a user has to well written material, the more likely they are to improve their own work.

Grammar Girl can be a helpful tool for your child to practice Working Memory, Focus, Writing, and Reading. Try some of the suggestions below, or contribute your own in the comment box at the bottom of the page.

Working Memory Activity

Your child should use school assignments and creative projects as opportunities to improve skill as a writer. Learning grammatical rules takes time, repetition, and practice. When your child is working to edit a written piece, Grammar Girl is an excellent source for learning where and how to apply tricky rules. Even when your child is not currently working on a written project, encourage listening to Grammar Girl's new episodes. Alternatively, try to identify specific problem areas in your child's writing by reading homework assignments or reviewing teacher corrections with your child. Look for lessons from Grammar Girl that relate to your child's problem area, listen or read the lesson, and instruct your child to write a few fun sentences that apply the lesson to a real situation.

Focus Activity

Identify your child's common problem areas. It may be helpful to compile a short list of the most common errors based on teacher recommendations or your own observations. After completing a first draft, your child should specifically concentrate on these areas first, assessing the assignment or written project for mistakes. For extra help, use Grammar Girl's quick and easy lessons as a supplemental guide for editing. Be sure your child concentrates on proper execution of grammar by reading and understanding the examples provided on the website or in the app. Your child can explore other lessons, but try to start in areas that your child shows the greatest weaknesses.

Writing Activity

Encourage your child to keep a grammar notebook, or section in a school notebook dedicated to grammar. When your child comes across a mistake in an assignment, or has a question about a particular rule, writing it down in a notebook and later using Grammar Girl as a resource to correct the mistake can helpful. Your child should include the original mistake, any notes about how to fix the mistake, and the repaired sentence in the notebook. Writing down the rule will help your child retain the information, and keeping a personal "toolkit" of grammar tips is excellent practice for any aspiring writer.

Listen to pod casts with your child about common problem areas before beginning a writing assignment. You can either use items from your child's personal list, or general tips from the top tips list. Pod casts are quick audio clips that will save your child time reading when they need guidance quickly and easily.

Reading Activity

Often times misunderstanding of grammar can make reading challenging. For example "their," "they're," and "there" all sound the same, but the meanings are different. Grammar Girl will help your child differentiate and understand difficult grammar concepts or common problems that early readers experience when trying to read unfamiliar texts. Ideally, your child will learn to identify grammatical mistakes, or even properly executed grammar, when editing or reading and be able to interpret literature more clearly on the first read through.

Grammar Girl & Dyslexia

Children with dyslexia often struggle to read, interpret, and decode text. In particular, many children have great difficulty with spelling and applying the rules of grammar to their own writing. Grammar Girl provides continuously updated articles and audio lessons designed to clear up confusion and educate students on proper grammar. For children who have difficulty communicating with clarity and proper execution in their writing, this website and app can be a quick and easy to follow resource for answering questions, correcting mistakes, and learning to avoid errors in the future.

How to Use Grammar Girl for Children with Dyslexia

  • Make note of your child's most common errors. Grammar Girl has a wide range of grammatical lessons and can be a useful supplement to classroom lessons and textbooks. For children who have difficulty reading and interpreting text, the website and app's audio lesson feature is an ideal companion. Look for and listen to lessons which pertain to your child's most frequent errors.
  • Create a grammar "toolkit." Frequent mistakes should be written down in a notebook. Your child can research the issue using Grammar Girl's audio and textual resources, paying special attention to examples of proper grammar. Your child include a brief note in the "toolkit" under a mistake which serves as a reminder of what was wrong and how to fix the issue. Include the repaired sentence in the notebook as a reminder.
  • Look for updates in the Grammar Girl app or on the website. Avoiding errors will improve the quality of your child's writing as well as the amount of time needed to edit and revise. New lessons are uploaded frequently, and your child should make reading or listening to a new lesson part of a homework routine. Explain to your child that learning correct grammar will improve grades, quality of writing, and decrease the amount of time needed for the essential steps of revision and editing.

Grammar Girl is just one reference guide for writers. Below are a few alternatives to keep in mind. Tell us which is your favorite in the comment box at the bottom of the page.

CCC Guide to Grammar and Writing

This website is another resource for getting grammar help in a variety of situations, from words and sentence structure, to research and PowerPoint formats. Visit the CCC Guide to Grammar and Writing here.

Grammar Book

The Grammar Book website provides an online searchable version of the content available in the traditional Blue Book reference guide. This website also offers free grammar quizzing to perfect your skills! Find out more here.

Grammar Guide

Grammar Guide is an app for Apple devices that serves as a quick and easy to use reference guide for daily writing. This app offers general hints, tips, and examples to help users make a decision when revising and editing. Find out more here.

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