End of the Year Poems. PowerPoint or Printables. Five original poems and photos to help you say good-bye to your students at the end of the year. Project on a whiteboard on the last day, or print them out on index cards to make inexpensive good-bye gifts. On PowerPoint, not PDF, so you can adjust your formatting to meet your needs. In color and plain black and white. Editing allowed for your classroom use only. Happy summer! - HappyEdugator

Back to School Words of Wisdom Handout. Use at Open House! Beginning of the year inspirational quotes. Give this handout of important life lessons to your students on the first day of school, to parents and students at back to school parent night or open house, or use it as a send off for the end of the year. Twenty-one important thoughts and inspirational quotes about how to live life to the fullest. A good character building tool to foster respect and responsibility. Parents will enjoy it on parent night as well. You can also use it during parent conferences to start off with a positive note. You can also have students select a quote to write about as a beginning of the year writing activity. - HappyEdugator

MLA Format Handout. This printable handout is a guide for students when making citations in essays using Modern Language Association (MLA) format. Includes general guidelines for margins, font and spacing, how the heading, title and page numbers should be formatted, and how to make citations for both long and short quotations, which are defined. An example included. - HappyEdugator

EST PREP Common Core Vocabulary for Middle Grades PowerPoint. Test prep for middle grades Language Arts. Academic vocabulary. Vocabulary words that may be tested on the new common core assessments for middle school Language Arts. Each slide has a word, a definition, and an illustration or animated graphic to help students remember. Can also be printed out on index cards and used for a word wall or as flash cards. Now updated with even more words! Helpful for test preparation. Includes Sprenger's words - essential and critical vocabulary for common core- HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Smartboard activity - Thanksgiving Now and Then. Venn diagram comparing the food of the first Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving today. Add to your Thanksgiving activities. Students drag the Thanksgiving foods to where they think they should go on the diagram. Then they can check the key to see if they are right on the next page, and link to an interesting informational article to read about the first Thanksgiving! Fun November activity! -HappyEdugator key words: Thanksgiving, Smartboard, Thanksgiving Venn Diagram, Thanksgiving activities, Thanksgiving interactive whiteboard, Thanksgiving critcal thinking, Thanksgiving history, Thanksgiving research, Thanksgiving food, Thanksgiving common core Standards RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.3

Complete Subject and Simple Subject Worksheet. Understanding basic sentences. The first step in finding subjects and predicates is to be able to find the simple subject and complete subject. This worksheet explains simple and complete subjects in simple, easy to understand terms and then give students fifteen sentences for practice. Students like using highlighters instead of circling the simple subject. Answer key included. - HappyEdugator

ELA test prep interactive PowerPoint on parts of speech, subjects and predicates, sentence structure, types of sentences, verb tenses and superlative adjectives that could be on standardized tests. Language Arts grammar and mechanics practice questions with answers to help your students master some of the kinds of questions they might face on standardized tests. Use as an assessment or a practice before state testing of standards. 30 questions. Animated graphics and instant feedback. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Symbiosis - Symbiotic Relationships PowerPoint. Colorful graphics and animated slides explain the differences between the three types of symbiotic relationships that exist in ecosystems: commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism. Nice addition to your ecology unit. Easy to understand terms.- HappyEdugator

Somebody Wanted But So Then. Fairy Tale Story Map - Students can use this story frame for writing a fairy tale and illustrating it. Graphic organizer for the story using Somebody Wanted But So Then pattern. Includes a box on the second page for student illustration. This can also be used as a summarizing strategy for students to summarize a story they've been reading. - HappyEdugator

A Christmas Carol Subject and Predicate Worksheet. Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this worksheet explains simple and complete predicates and subjects, and then students have to identify them in ten sentences that give facts about the story. No prep. Print and go. Key included.

Flowers for Algernon Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle. 30 Vocabulary words are hidden in the puzzle. Word list and key included. -HappyEdugator

Finding the Main Idea When Reading Non-Fiction PowerPoint. Interactive questions with immediate feedback and animated graphics. Explains main idea and how to find it when reading informational text. Common core requires more nonfiction reading! Students need to have a good understanding of what they read, and this is a key skill they need for success. Good for test prep! - HappyEdugator

4 Types of Sentences Worksheet. The four types of sentences - definition of and example of each given. Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamatory Sentences with definitions and examples, and then students practice converting one type to another, and learn a little about a couple of South American landmarks as well. Good for quick review for test prep, too. - HappyEdugator

Greek and Latin Roots. 30 WEEKS of Word Stems from Latin and Greek Roots. Basic Lists of Greek and Latin roots. prefixes, suffixes, and affixes, tests, and answer keys included. Perfect for Back to School. Teacher directions, suggestions for homework activities, and differentiation included. This program will prepare your students for standardized tests. Starting at the beginning of the year, go through all 30 weeks, and then spend some time reviewing these as test prep before state testing. Knowing these Latin and Greek roots (which are labeled as to origin) will help your students understand the building blocks of the English language. In this file you will find thirty sets of word stems from Greek and Latin Roots. Each page has ten stems, with their meanings and example words. After the first set, most pages will have two review stems from a previous page. The origin of each stem is marked L for Latin or G for Greek. Supports common core standards. Suggested for middle grades, but may be adapted for grades 4 - 5 by following the suggestions for differentiation. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator Standards L.4.4b, L.5.4b, L.6.4b, L.7.4b, L.8.4b

Reading Fluency - How to Assess and Develop Handout. Informational handout on reading fluency, how it is defined, measured, and developed. Includes a table of recommended reading rates and norms, and a list or websites and resources to get you started in helping your struggling readers. 4 pages. - HappyEdugator

Shades of Meaning Verb Cards - SAID. Cut out and laminate these 16 different cards illustrating different synonyms of the verb "SAID" Helps students understand connotation. With guidance and support from adults, students acquire new vocabulary by defining word relationships and nuances in word meanings, sorting words into categories, choosing and acting out the different meanings. Aligns to Common Core Standards. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.5d Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.5d Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.5b Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5c Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered). Additionally, words can be used for spelling practice, writing practice, and word walls. Includes definitions for the teacher. - HappyEdugator Standards L.K.5d, L.1.5d, L.2.5b, L.3.5c

Halloween Word Problems - Fun Practice. Halloween math practice in basic operations. 2 pages of addition and subtraction word problems and 2 pages of multiplication and division word problems. Teaches problem solving and critical thinking with a Halloween theme. - HappyEdugator

Rikki Tikki Tavi Writing Activity and Rubric. This activity is a good way to get students to summarize a story in a creative way. Have them write a newspaper article, including illustration, about the story they have read and use this rubric to guide their work. This works well with almost any story. I used it with Rikki-tikki-tavi with great success. Includes directions on how to write a newspaper article and information on inverted pyramid news stories. - HappyEdugator

Earth Day Word Search Puzzle. Earth Day Word Search has 19 vocabulary words, including earth, April, conservation, biodegradable, ecology, environment, reduce, reuse, and recycle, and more. A fun spring activity and a useful time filler for use after state testing. - HappyEdugator

Story Plot Map. This is a blank plot diagram or story map for use with any story or novel. Students can fill in the sequence of events after reading. Includes a separate page for notes and evidence. Supports common core! - HappyEdugator