Standards based persuasive writing rubric: use to measure students ability to write an argument persuasively by engaging the reader, stating a clear position, supporting details, excluding irrelevant information or arguments, creating an organizing structure, anticipating counter-arguments, providing closure, and following writing conventions. - Happyedugator Supports common core standards for writing an argument.

Homophone Match Worksheet. This is a challenging homophone matching activity for upper grades. Have students work in individually or in groups with a dictionary to look up unknown words. Words and definitions are chunked into groups of six. - HappyEdugator

Beginning of the Year School Bus Safety PowerPoint. Back to school safety! 15 slide PowerPoint with animation on school bus safety. Use for back to school or anytime for review. Basic safety tips about how to get on and off a bus, cross in front of a bus, and behave on a bus in motion. - HappyEdugator

Internet Safety PowerPoint - Pausing Before You Post. Strategies for students to use the internet and social media wisely. Students can discuss appropriate internet behavior on social media and ways to increase their internet security. Students can then take a pledge online at jostens to pause before they post.

Cinquain Poem PowerPoint. The step-by-step formula on how to write a cinquain poem, that provides examples for students to understand how the writing process works for these kind of poems. Includes a graphic organizer that you can print for the students to write on. One great way to use cinquain formula poems - students can write a cinquain poem for Mother's Day, Father's Day or Grandparent's Day. 12 slides. Enjoy! Updated April 2015. - HappyEdugator

Brain Teaser Sheet - Critical Thinking. Fun Brain Workout. Letter equations. May be challenging, but students will love trying to figure them out! A letter equation is a common combination of letters and numbers that are abbreviated. The trick is to figure out what the abbreviation means. For example, 7 d. in a w. is 7 days in a week. 22 brain teaser equations and key included. Good activity to get minds working for test prep. Exercise for the brain. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Swimmy by Leo Lionni Retelling Activity. After reading the book, retell the story again with this “real life” underwater photo story. Project the story on your whiteboard or SMARTBoard, OR print out the slides. Your students will love to see Swimmy and his friends come to real life. Supports common core. Enjoy!

Fourth of July PowerPoint. July Fourth - Independence Day - 4th of July. How and Why We Celebrate the Birth of our Nation. Great for summer camp. The Declaration of Independence made simple, Flag etiquette, Popular summer outdoor and indoor games and activities, Traditional food, How to make an American Flag cake, and Fireworks safety. American July 4th traditions for everyone to enjoy, for young and old, foreign or not. Goes with any Fourth of July unit. Great for introducing the summer activities of the Fourth to ESOL students and foreign high school students and adults as well. 15 Review Questions and Answer Key for self check.- HappyEdugator

Christmas Holiday Sensory Writing Practice Worksheet. A Christmas or winter holiday writing worksheet. Ten different Christmas writing prompts for sensory writing, to create imagery with a holiday twist. Students will need to show, not tell, using words that utilize the five senses. You may use the worksheet in centers. group work, or individual instruction. You may wish to have them complete all the exercises, choose some, or assign them individually. Includes three pages of sensory words for students to use if needed. - HappyEdugator

Poetry - Writing Poetry is EASY Smartboard fun and interactive activities. EASY stands for Emotional Appeals; Alliteration and Sound Devices; Similes, Metaphors and Figurative Language; and You Make the Rules. Students will love playing with words on the Smartboard and writing their own poems! - 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

Asthma: Understanding Asthma PowerPoint. Teaches the basics of asthma...what it is, what the symptoms are, how to use an inhaler, and what constitutes an emergency. This can be used with upper level students for a Health class or to inform teachers in elementary, middle grades, and even high school on what to look for and how to handle an asthma attack. - HappyEdugator

Differentiation: This is a student choice menu for extending learning around a literary piece or play. The theme is based on life during the time period of the setting. Students may choose an activity or activities from the menu to work on beyond what is being covered in class. Great for gifted or advanced students that get bored with the regular curriculum. Students can report back to the class, so everyone shares in the learning experience. Editable for your own classroom use. - HappyEdugator

Bullying in School PowerPoint - What Parents Should Know. Defines bullying and cyber-bullying, how to recognize bullies and victims of bullying, and what to do to help. 13 slides. - HappyEdugator

Reading: The Importance of Rereading Story Frame. Reading a short story? This story frame can be used with any short story to encourage students to reread for specific details on characters, events, setting, and conflict. A good way to have students think about what they read. This is also a useful activity to use as a substitute lesson plan! - HappyEdugator

Present Simple and Progressive Verb Tenses PowerPoint. Explains how the present simple and present progressive verb tense is used correctly in the English language. Grammar rules and structure are examined, and examples and graphic organizers show how the verbs are formed in positive sentences, negative sentences, and questions. 18 slides. - HappyEdugator

Brain Teaser Bingo Sheet. This fun activity will get them thinking! 16 Language-based brain puzzles are on a bingo grid. Students can choose to solve any four in a row, or be challenged to do them all! Teacher can also assign different combinations, and first student to solve them all can win the BINGO. Each square has a different type of activity, and students must use critical thinking, logical reasoning, and word knowledge to solve- such as synonyms, homonyms, palindromes, and compound words. Challenging. Great for gifted students. This can be used as a time filler around testing also. The second page is a key with answers to all the puzzles. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

The Velveteen Rabbit PowerPoint. Author Notes, Vocabulary, Comprehension Activities to go with The Velveteen Rabbit Or How Toys Become Real by Marjorie Williams Bianco. Great story for Christmas, Easter or Spring. Share this classic with your students, and use the PowerPoint slides to discuss difficult vocabulary as you read. There are comprehension questions for each chapter as well. I put these together at the end of the show, but you can reorder the slides if you wish to present it in chapters or smaller chunks. There is information also about the author and when the story was written. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Easter acrostic poem. Do you need a quick fun activity for Easter? This is a short 5 slide PowerPoint explaining how to write an acronym poem, also called an acrostic poem. This would be a good warm-up activity to use just before Easter or right before Spring Break. Included is a definition of an acronym or acrostic poem, two example poems using egg and Easter, an Easter vocabulary slide, and a slide prompting students to write their own poem. You could also print this last slide for students to fill in. - HappyEdugator

Of Mice and Men Final Test - Essay Examination. A final essay test for Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Questions are based on the writer's life, style, including characterization and organization. Students should be able to identify theme and symbolism. 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