Christmas Writing Activity - Revising the lyrics of Christmas Songs. Get students engaged in some creative writing before the holidays. Fun! Students can rewrite some of their favorite Christmas songs, such as White Christmas, Jingle Bells, and The Grinch. Three writing templates to get them started. Fun practice for expanding vocabulary...finding synonyms in a thesaurus, experinmenting with words. Photographs of projects done in class. Have fun! - HappyEdugator

The Gift of the Magi PowerPoint. Animated PowerPoint on The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, a classic Christmas story that is a good resource for the holidays. Focus on figurative language. Complete lesson with before, during, and after reading activities. Includes background information about the author, twelve critical vocabulary words, review of foreshadowing and suspense, and a link to read the story online. Students close read to find foreshadowing and suspense, and focus rereading on discovering figurative language. Includes definitions and examples of figurative language in the story, such as metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, and idiom. Discussion questions, explanations with examples of irony and allusion, and concludes with a short story writing activity with a 100 point rubric. Includes a quick interactive comprehension check. - HappyEdugator

Robert Frost - Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening PowerPoint. Poetry analysis for a close read of the poem and writing activity. Includes slides about the author, setting, characters, figurative language, alliteration, metaphor, end rhyme, internal rhyme, structure, meter, different interpretations (including a Christmas one), and a writing activity based on common core standards that requires citing text evidence. 27 slides. Enjoy

Your students will love this fun and interactive community helpers game. This is a PowerPoint game of Who Am I. Students get three clues to guess the job of the community helper. There are 14 different workers represented. Students have to figure out who it is from clues about where they work, what they wear, what vehicles they drive, and what tools they use. Fun for review or assessment. Project on your whiteboard or Smartboard, or use it at a computer center. No prep. Easy to use. This is a fun way to increase your students' vocabulary. To play: Put in slide show mode, and click on the slide to reveal the clues. Students make guesses after each clue. After the three clues have been revealed, click again for the answer to check. ©2017 HappyEdugator.

Have your students learn about holidays around the world and write acrostic poems about how people celebrate Christmas around the world. Includes informational text about ten different countries around the world and how they celebrate Christmas. You may wish to have students do additional research to write their poems. These are fun and easy to use for differentiation. You can choose longer or shorter poems for students, or you can give them choice. You can also require either words, phrases, or complete sentences on the lines. You can decide to rhyme or not. They do require some critical thinking and creativity. They make a great display, too. - HappyEdugator ©2016 HappyEdugator.

Icebreaker - Back to School People Search Handout. Use this at the beginning of the year as an icebreaker and getting to know you activity. Find someone who...Give this to the students, and give them time to find people on the grid and have them sign the box when they do. It's fun, and a good way for students to get to know each other. Afterwards, they will do a writing activity about the experience. You will end up not only getting to know your students, but you will have a work sample as well. Teacher directions included. - HappyEdugator

All about tornadoes! Fully animated PowerPoint with information on how tornadoes develop. Learn about tornado structure, their effects, and how they are measured with the Enhanced Fujita scale. Great addition to your weather unit. Includes facts and details about the following topics: What is a tornado? Where and when do tornadoes form? What are the effects tornadoes? How are tornadoes classified? What is the tornado strength scale? Preparation, Duck and Cover Watches and Warnings Forecasting and tracking Also includes a link to a video clip of students in a tornado drill. Ten question interactive review at the end with answers to self check. ©2017 HappyEdugator.

The Great Kapok Tree Rainforest Unit and Resources. Rainforest activities go with the book The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. 24 pages includes features of the rainforest, useful websites, art projects, vocabulary, main idea and summarizing activity and graphic organizer, fun facts about the kapok tree, rainforest animals, how can I save the rainforest sheet, chocalate cocoa recipe, math activity, science activity making a terrarium, geography sheet, layers of the rainforest, why rainforests are important and why they are being destroyed, along with a rainforest word search puzzle. Good for Earth Day, too. Cover page includes a bookmark "Reading About the Rainforest." - HappyEdugator

End of the Year I Am Poem - Make a Poet T Craftivity. Fun end of the year activity, beginning of the year activity, or any time you study poetry. PowerPoint on how to make an I AM poem and transfer it onto a t-shirt. 11 slides will walk you and your students through the whole process. Format for writing a metaphor I AM poem, and a format for writing another I AM poem included. Literature connection - metaphor poem example from All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. Students can use formats or create their own. Creative and fun! Students will love to wear their shirts. - HappyEdugator

Halloween Quiz. This simple and fun quiz about Halloween will test your students knowledge of some basic Halloween vocabulary and traditions. Students can fill in the blanks from the word bank. Pair and share, write a story with the words from the word bank, and color the Jack O Lantern afterwards. You can also cut out the word bank if you wish, and make a game for kids to "win" it! Included are word bank cards, a monster for early finishers to color, a key and a reward cut out for completing it correctly! - HappyEdugator

Biomes of the World PowerPoint. An overview of the different biomes of the world. Includes rain forest, temperate grassland, savanna, tundra, taiga, temperate forest, mountain, desert, and three major aquatic biomes- freshwater, saltwater, and estuaries. Average temperatures, rainfall, and interesting facts about the diversity of life in each. 34 slides. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Dolch Sight Words Activities - BUNDLE Weeks 1 - 10. 100 pages - Ten weeks of Dolch sight word activities for the first one hundred words from the Dolch sight words list. Activities include: flash cards/ memory game, color the words, trace the words, match the words, cut and paste the words in alphabetical order, and write the words in letterboxes. Enjoy! Weeks 1 - 10 covers the first 100 Dolch Sight Words. Be ready for the beginning of the year or use for test prep. Good for summer school or homeschool practice, too. - HappyEdugator

Ten activities to do with building brick blocks. Use the games individually on separate occasions, or make stations with them and have an event. Print out the cards and use to mark each station. Students go from station to station to complete the activities on the card. You can also break them into teams and see which team completes the activities first. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Give Me Five! is a simple way for students to remember what to do when you want their attention. Teach this highly effective strategy at the beginning of the year when you go back to school. You get a set of four posters that are ready to use for " Give Me 5 " classroom management strategy. Print out the design you prefer, sizing to 8x8 or 12x12. I recommend using card stock and laminating for continuous use and durability. Display in the front of your room when you go back to school where it is highly visible and demonstrate what you want students to do when you say, “Give me Five!” Practice often during the year. My students also all respond with “Yes, Ma’am!” or “Yes, Sir!” and raise their hand. The posters remind students to do these five things: 1. Eyes on me. 2. Mouth is silent. 3. Ears are listening. 4. Hands are empty. 5. Body is still. Finally, they must Do it Fast! ©HappyEdugator.

Summer Outdoor Fun Crossword Puzzle! Fun and free as a thank you to all my wonderful followers We all hate to see summer go, but hopefully it will last just a little bit longer. Enjoy this little piece of summer! - HappyEdugator

Back to school Wanted Poster. Have fun getting to know your students by having everyone in the class make these wanted posters during the first week. They will enjoy sharing and getting to know each other, too. Makes a great back to school wall display. You can also use these posters as an additional activity to go along with a reading, writing or social studies unit relating to an old western theme. Students can choose a character from a book to put on their poster. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Christmas Counting math and literacy sheets. Numbers 1 - 20. Students have to count Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments. Match them to the number word, then write the number in the box provided. They can also trace the number words and write the matching numbers.Christmas ornament counting cards included or use mini candy canes or Christmas tree shaped candy and have your kids count them out as they complete the sheets. Fun math activity for Christmas. Supports math, reading, and writing skills. Supports common core state standards! - HappyEdugator

Spider Webquest. Fun at Halloween or anytime. Explore the world of spiders. In this webquest, students will learn about a variety of different spiders, their habits and habitats, toxicity of venom, first aid, and interesting facts. Students will visit 3 websites and complete two different tables and answer the questions. Key included.

Valentine Quiz. Valentine's Day Activity for choosing the right word. Multiple choice questions about Valentine's Day. Help children with word choice. Students have to choose the best choice of three words to fill in the blank. Grammar usage that is often tested on standardized tests. Great for building an understanding of how words are used correctly. Especially good for ELL, ESL and ESOL students, who may need extra help in identifying subtle differences in word choice and easily confused words.

Valentine Quiz...a free Valentine's Day Activity for choosing the right word. Multiple choice questions about Valentine's Day. Help children with word choice. Students have to choose the best choice of three words to fill in the blank. Grammar usage that is often tested on standardized tests. Great for building an understanding of how words are used correctly. Especially good for ELL, ESL and ESOL students, who may need extra help in identifying subtle differences in word choice and easily confused words. - HappyEdugator