Alaska Study Questions Webquest. Includes an Iditarod Webquest, too. Students must answer 10 basic questions about the state of Alaska. Includes a list of safe websites for researching the questions. Questions are about location, climate, demographics, resources, etc. Iditarod webquest has 10 questions with a website to use for a guide. Students can complete as a webquest or do research to find the answers. Answer key for the teacher is included, which can be used as a guide for class discussion as well. A photo of bears fishing and the famous red lantern included to share with students. - HappyEdugator

Signal Word Posters. Set of 6 reading comprehension strategy posters to help students spot signal words or transition words in reading that show main idea, compare and contrast, cause and effect, sequencing, inferences, and fact and opinion. Hang up at the beginning of the year for back to school decorating with a purpose. Supports common core! - HappyEdugator CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3c Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3c Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3c Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3c Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.

All About Me Puzzle - Back to School. Fun beginning of the year activity. Print and go! All you have to do is sign! Students will take the sheet home, decorate the puzzle pieces about themselves, cut out (optional) and return to school to share with the class. This can be given out at Open House and the kids can return them on the first day, or you can give it out as their first homework assignment on the first day of school! You can use it as a fun filler activity early in the year or anytime you wish. Includes a puzzle piece sheet to print out on card stock, and a letter to parents with a poem detailing student directions. - HappyEdugator

Research Skills Vocabulary Practice Sheet. This worksheet is an introduction to research vocabulary. Students will need to understand the basic vocabulary they will need when conducting research in a library or media center. This short fill-in-the-blank activity will give them practice with some of the terms they will encounter when writng a report or on state tests. - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Counting Turkeys math and literacy sheet. Numbers 1 - 10. Students have to count the turkeys, draw a line to match them to the number word, then write the number in the box provided. Use turkey or feather shaped candy and have your kids count them out as they complete the sheet. Fun math activity for Thanksgiving. Supports math, reading, and writing skills. Supports common core state standards! - HappyEdugator

Commonly Confused Words and Practice Sentences. Good spelling help! Includes a handout of twenty commonly confused words that are often seen on state tests. Includes common homophones like there, they're and their; frequently confused words with usage errors such as its, and it's and should have vs. should of; as well as words such as sit and set and lie and lay. Also includes sentence practice to really make them think. Five sentences per page on four pages...students must fill in the blanks. Can be projected on the overhead or printed. Hand out the list on Monday, then use for a week of warm-ups, and then test on Friday.

Reading Strategy Strips - How to Think When You Read. Make active reading strategies more concrete and help students take personal ownership of using reading strategies taught in class. Students will focus on ways to approach their reading. This will empower students to become better independent readers by giving them actual tools they can use to figure out unknown words and gain comprehension of the text. Directions for the teacher: Print out strategy strips, cut out, and laminate. Use these during guided reading lessons. If possible, schedule guided reading groups for at least 25 minutes, four days a week. In small groups, introduce the text and have the students discuss the pictures, make connections and predictions. Immerse students in leveled texts that are on their instructional reading level in a variety of genres. As they read the story, choral read with the whole group or whisper read with individuals to figure out words in context. Write troublesome words on the white board and discuss which strategies will help. Discuss and elaborate on the strategy strips you wish to focus on that day. This depends on the stage of readers. Primarily, with emergent readers, Study the pictures and Read to understand work well. Early readers will be ready for Point at the words and Hear the sounds whereas, students who are already using active reading strategies may be ready for Read some more. Put these strips on white board with a magnet. If students are reading individually, troublesome words can be put on small white boards, and reading strips can be left on the table. Students can pull the strips for the strategies they used. Teacher can suggest other strategies that would be helpful. If a student makes a substitution, for instance, it is a good time to stop, write both words on the white board, and use the strategies to check the words. Use one set of strategies for the whole group. Play strategy detective and see if you can guess who is using which strategy. Students will notice that sometimes they will need to use more strategies than other times. This will help them figure out which books are just right, or if they are too easy or too difficult, so that they will be better able to select books that are appropriate for their level of development. Included here are the active reading strategy strips which you can print out and laminate, and the teacher directions, including an explanation and elaboration on what each strip really means. - HappyEdugator

Mother's Day Activity Pack - Mother's Day activities. Print and go. Includes an original Mother's Day song to learn, an original poem, a card, slides to print out to make pictures, poems, and handprints for Mom, a slide picture frame, a recipe for a sweet treat, and suggestions for crafts and ideas for gifts and easy things to do for Mom on her special day. For example, make butterflies with clothespins, clip them on twigs and make her a butterfly tree. Happy Mother's Day! 18 pages. - HappyEdugator

Dandelions by Eve Bunting Tic Tac Think. Differentiated assignment menu to use as an extension writing activity for the book. In this activity, students choose a task from each horizontal row. Students have a choice, but will have to make different text connections in each row. In some cases the teacher may want to specify certain tasks for individual students. You may challenge some students to complete all the squares for enrichment. PowerPoint format. You can display on whiteboard or print out slides as handouts. Included is a writing checklist for assessment. - HappyEdugator

Spring Vegetable Garden Signs - Fun Literacy Activity! Spring activities: Great handwriting practice! A good accompaniment to the book The Gardener by Sarah Stewart., or books about seeds. Have your students make vegetable garden signs! They can make these as a gift or just to celebrate the coming of spring. Print out the color slides on index cards (set up your printer to the desired size) or on card stock or tag board. Then students can trace the letters and name the vegetables. Students practice reading and writing; developing vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and fine motor skills. When finished, laminate and attach to craft sticks and let them take them home to put in the garden. Good to use in March, April, and May. For even more fun, plant a bean in a paper cup with potting soil and let it grow. Kids can take home their signs when their bean has sprouted. Or plant a school vegetable garden. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Good Writers Will Have Success - Traits of Good Writing Posters. Success becomes an acronym for the traits of good writers. 6 Traits include Ideas and Content, Word Choice, Fluency, Voice, Organization, Conventions, and Presentation. These can be printed as a handout, made into a transparency, projected by LCD, or even blown up into a poster. Students will be reminded about what it takes to be a successful writer. Hang up at the beginning of the year to get your students thinking before they write. - HappyEdugator

The White Giraffe - Webquest Comparing South Africa and England. Students research and compare the countries of South Africa and England, and write their results in the T-chart. This activity goes along well with the book The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John. Students have to research facts about England - United Kingdom and South Africa and write them in the chart. Builds background knowledge about the setting of the story. Students get their information from a reliable source - the world factbook at cia.gov. After they complete the webquest, students will see some interesting differences between the countries that can be fun topics for discussion. Enjoy. - HappyEdugator

Teaching Literary Devices - Daily Quote Exercises. 50 writing prompts - inspirational quotes for your students to write about. Explanations of literary devices and figurative language (such as similes, metaphors, symbolism, and analogy) used on the first twenty quotes for instruction. Use for daily journal activities. Good discussion starters. Have students copy the quote and paraphrase what it means to them and share. Slides can be projected on an overhead or printed out (you can adjust the size on your printer and print them out on index cards). Many possible uses for this resource. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Writing: How to Engage the Reader PowerPoint. Focus on writing using three strategies to hook the reader, with examples. These three different writing strategies to engage the reader and create a great beginning for a narrative account can be used to help students overcome writer's block, especially when preparing for state writing tests. For use in a standards-based writing program which supports common core. Includes a slide with several other strategies students can try as well. Updated August 2014 - HappyEdugator

William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying - essay test or examination for the novel. Questions are based on Faulkner's life, style, including characterization and organization, themes, symbolisms and ironies. You can choose to have students answer all of the questions or let them select. This can be used as a take-home open book examination. Grading form and answer key included. You can use this for backwards design, and use the answer key to drive your class discussions. - HappyEdugator

Storms - Wild Weather Word Scramble. This storm word scramble has words related to storms or precipitation. All the letters in the stormy words have been mixed up, and students need to figure out the correct words in the jumble. Can be used for a science unit on meteorology or weather or to go with a reading assignment. This is a fun sheet to use with any unit on weather, storms, disasters, or as a supplement to a story or book with bad weather, such as The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen, Star in the Storm by Joan Hiatt Harlow, or Anna, Grandpa, and the Big Storm by Carla Stevens. Twenty words. Key included. - HappyEdugator

Classroom Performance Evaluation Sheets for Reading and Writing. Oral reading rubric, writing rubric, and reading assignment tracker. Evaluate student's oral reading and writing with a simple rubric, and monitor completion of reading assignments with a simple classroom form developed for upper elementary and middle school students. Especially useful for novel study. Students and teachers can keep track of reading assignments, evaluate oral reading and writing about the selection. A tool that is quick and easy for teachers, and useful for students to use for self-evaluation and peer review. - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Writing - Countdown Cards. Fun Thanksgiving writing activity! Print and go quick wirtes or journal prompts forf November. Each card has a different theme for giving thanks. You can print these out and have your students write on them, or project them on a screen if you prefer. They can be used as journal prompts, task cards, literacy centers, or as a choice activity as well. This Thanksgiving, enjoy counting your blessings! Here's another idea: print them out on index cards and stick each one on the cover of a composition book. Then students write in the composition books and rotate them each day, so that each student gets to write in a different book each day. (Just ignore or cut off the dates) This way they also get to see what other students have written. (They can edit other entries, too.) You can also print them out on index cards and have students make a Thanksgiving Blessing Tree. After they write on the cards, punch a hole in them, string a colorful ribbon though, and hang from a tree! Or make a great interactive bulletin board with a tree made out of brown paper and have your students stick their blessings on the tree each day. Make it fun! - HappyEdugator

Mother's Day Coupon Book - Easy Printable Gift. Wish Mom a happy Mother's Day this spring by printing out this coupon book. Students choose the slides they wish to include to customize their own special coupon book for Mother's Day. Have them sign their name on the front, and put the slides together together to honor Mom as a thougtful gift. Includes cover page, back page writing activity, a special poem about how to use the book, and kids can add their own special touches, too, such as drawings, poems, stories, fingerprints, handprints, etc. With a white background or a color background. 27 different coupons. - HappyEdugator

Word Challenge - A Fun SmartBoard Critical Thinking Game. Students choose a letter with the random letter picker, and then a category with the random category picker, and then set the timer (which is adjustable to set to any amount of time). Good critical thinking time filler! Object is to make as many words as possible beginning with the selected letter that belong in the selected category. (For example, write words that begin with a in the category of fruit) If students don't like the 1st category board, then can choose a category from the second board. This game can be played by the whole class as individuals or groups. They can keep score by counting how many words they created, or play just for fun. Enjoy! Good critical thinking time filler!