TEST PREP Language Arts Standards Review PowerPoint is helpful for preparing for state tests. It has questions similar to those found on the standardized tests. 30 interactivequestions, 73 slides in all. Slides are set up so that students can answer the questions and then check their answers and discuss. Besides grammar, there are reading selections with questions about the selection as well. Supports Common Core standards for Language Arts. - HappyEdugator

Summer Reading List Grade 4 - 6. A suggested summer reading list to encourage reading. Nice handout to give to parents at the end of the year as a helpful guide to some good literature for children to read during the summer. Parents love it! Includes name of book, author, AR reading level and points value. Chosen for the text level of complexity required by the common core standards. - HappyEdugator

Expository Writing. Methods of Expository Writing Activity Handout. Practice identifying correct text structure. Students identify the type of writing they would use for each writing task. They can choose from process, comparison/contrast, cause and effect, or persuasion. 12 different scenarios for writing. Students can work in groups, with a partner, or individually on this assignment sheet. Based on the type of questions often given on standardized tests. Key included. - HappyEdugator

nformational Text Writing Rubric. Rubric for writing informational text, evaluating exceeds, meets, and does not meet standards for ideas, organization, style, and conventions. Supports common core standards. - HappyEdugator

Math Activity - What is Your Name Worth? Back to school, beginning of the year, end of the year, or just for Math fun! Great counting money and addition practice. Print and go. Students get with partners and determine the value of their name by adding the values of the letters from the given code, and check each other's worth. Whose name is worth more? Another sheet has students figure out the value of their weekly spelling words. Kids will soon be figuring out the "values" of all kinds of things, and getting math practice while they are having fun. - HappyEdugator

Elements in Fairy Tales Chart. Have students read 5 fairy tales out of the fifteen suggested choices and have them mark with an x the elements and characteristics of fairy tales they find in their stories.Students can read the fairy tales online at the suggested site and complete this as a webquest, or you may prefer to provide books for them to peruse. Either way, they will see through discovery that fairy tales have many characteristics in common. - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Homophones PowerPoint. Fun November Activity - a homophones search! It's an interactive Thanksgiving story to read. Students have to look for two incorrect homophones on each slide. There are twenty homophones (or homonyms)to find in all, two on each slide, and then students check themselves at the end. Key included on last slide. Fun and engaging, this original Thanksgiving story is about a little boy who travels across the country to visit his grandparents for a typical Thanksgiving holiday. Develops reading vocabulary and comprehension, spelling skills, and correct usage. Supports common core standards. - HappyEdugator Keywords: Thanksgiving, Homophones, Thanksgiving PowerPoint, Thanksgiving interactive, Thanksgiving activities, Thanksgiving word study, Thanksgiving vocabulary development, Thanksgiving reading, making inferences, frequently confused words, Thanksgiving common core

Nonfiction Vocabulary You Should Know Game Show PowerPoint presentation. A teaching game on vocabulary used in a nonfiction unit of study of informational text. Includes nonfiction, author's purpose, exposition, description, narration, and persuasion, types of nonfiction selections and their descriptions, nonfiction text structures, the difference between dialogue and dialect,as well as stereotype and bias. Good review for standardized testing. Reading more nonfiction is essential to the common core standards. Use for fun test prep. Prepare your students for the terminology. Supports common core state standards. RI.4.4, RI.5.4, RI.6.4, RI.7.4

Rhyme in Poetry Practice Sheet. This poetry worksheet defines rhyme and then lets students actively identify the rhymes in ten silly sentences. There are more than one rhyming pair in the sentences,and rhyming word endings are not always spelled the same, so students have to look carefully. Also, there are some words that students may not be familiar with, so that presents an additional challenge and a way to develop vocabulary by introducing new words. Key included. - HappyEdugator CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

Poetry Terms Crossword Puzzle. Terms include alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, imagery, rhyme, rhythm, tone, mood, metaphor and simile...18 terms and clues. Key included. Fun review! - HappyEdugator

Conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunctions - Subordinating Conjunctions SMARTBOARD. An interactive Smartboard lesson and activities on coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and how they are used in sentence structure. Two slides present the acronym FANBOYS for remembering coordinating conjunctions, and another has a hands-on activity where students make compound sentences with them. Two slides present subordinating conjuntions and how they make subordinate clauses, and another slide has a hands-on activity for making complex sentences. Solutions to the activities included. Students will also use commas and periods to punctuate their sentences correctly. On the last slide, students must sort the conjunctions into the correct vortex. Engaging and interactive lesson on the Smartboard, where students can touch and move the sentences and punctuation around. EDITABLE for your classroom use. You may wish to divide the sentences into chunks. - HappyEdugator

Behavior chart is a traffic light that you can display and use to manage classroom behavior. Fun for race car theme. Great to set up at the beginning of the year when you go back to school. This is a classroom management tool that should encourage better work and study habits. You can blow up poster size, print out, tape together and laminate. (Blow the poster up to poster size with a poster maker or have enlarged at a copy center.) Print out the 48 unique car name tags, laminate, and write names on them with transparency markers so that you can wipe them off and reuse them. You can attach cars to the posters using restickable glue sticks, which make them act like sticky notes. -HappyEdugator

Mesopotamia Crossword Puzzle. A cross word puzzle using the following vocabulary words: Paleolithic Neolithic Homo sapiens artisan Sumer ziggurat Mesopotamia polytheism Hammurabi Canaan Assyria There is a word bank at the bottom for struggling learners. Key included. - HappyEdugator

Back to School Classroom Expectations PowerPoint. Just what you need at the beginning of the year. Use at Open House, Back to School Night, or Parent Night. A basic slideshow template of classroom expectations for students at the beginning of the year. Fill in your own specifics. Back to school expectations include behavior, routines, etc. Project it on your SmartBoard for the first day of school. Editable. Revise for yourself as necessary. I also play it continuously looping at Open House at individual student computers, set up like kiosks. - HappyEdugator

Cumulative Test of Greek and Latin Word Roots or Stems. Greek and Latin Roots test to assess students on their general knowledge of word stems after we have studied basic Greek and Latin roots. It includes multiple choice, matching and fill-in type questions. A key is provided. The basic Greek and Latin word root lists, which include affixes, prefixes, and suffixes, are also available separately. 35 questions in all. Left editable for your specific needs, so you may customize for your class. Supports common core. - HappyEdugator CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., photograph, photosynthesis) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede).

Vocabulary Game - Race to the Finish! Can be used with any vocabulary list for students to practice their vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. Print out game board and student directions, (best on cardstock and laminated or placed in page protectors) and provide a die and a game piece for each player. Can be used as a file folder game. Works best with 2 - 3 students per board...but can be more. You can differentiate by allowing students to use resources or not. Also works well for gifted and talented kids who easily get bored. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Rikki Tikki Tavi Comprehension Quiz. A ten question quiz on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the short story by Rudyard Kipling. It can be used as an open book quiz. Vocabulary and comprehension questions. Explanations of why they chose their answer makes it a useful assessment tool. Key included. - HappyEdugator

Halloween Horrid Homonyms Worksheet. A Halloween writing activity. Many students get homonyms (or homophones) confused when they write, and this worksheet will help them practice using homonyms correctly. There are twenty sets of commonly misused homonyms, and students will write their own spooky sentences using the homonyms correctly. To make it more challenging, students can try to use both ( or all three) homonyms in the same sentence! Students can work with partners or individually, as the teacher directs. They can then write a Halloween story using their newly learned homonyms. Decorative lined paper included. The idea can be adapted for other holidays as well. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Shades of Meaning Verb Cards - SEE. Cut out and laminate these 16 different cards illustrating different synonyms of the verb "SEE" 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

Poetry Image Map. A graphic organizer for students to use to help them visualize images in the poetry they read. The organizer gives students space to identify the poem, describe 4 images they find in the poem, and a place to draw the images. Students can develop a better understanding of imagery when they have to create images from the words they read. - HappyEdugator