Smartboard Christmas activity - identify figurative language in Christmas songs. Students have to read through the lyrics of different winter tunes and Christmas songs and identify types of figurative language, such as metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, or idiom. Lyrics have examples highlighted in different colors, so they can try to figure out the color code. Each song has a snowflake link to a music video of the song. Five songs...fun activity for the holidays. Color code key is at the end, so they can check their answers, and a name that tune/figurative language quiz at the end, with key under the pull down shade. Happy holidays! - HappyEdugator

Halloween Smart Board Activities - Four different Halloween ELA activities for your Smartboard. Sort the Halloween vocabulary into Parts of Speech, complete a fill-in the blank or cloze story, put together some Halloween antonyms, and solve the Halloween crossword puzzle. All interactive activities. Answers can be checked right away for immediate feedback. - HappyEdugator

Poems Graphic Organizer. Using the acronym POEMS, this poetry graphic organizer allows students to show what they already know about poetry and poetic devices, including figurative language such as personification, onomatopoeia, metaphors, and similes. Useful as a poetry preview activity. Students take the wordsplash of vocabulary words, and match them to the graphic organizer. (Hint: The font of words that go together is the same! See if they can figure that out for themselves.) This can be used as an introduction to a poetry unit, and as a pre-assessment which can give you an idea if your students know anything at all before you even start. Use the graphic organizer to complete the study guides that are included. - HappyEdugator

Earth Day - Reduce Reuse Recycle PowerPoint. Celebrate Earth Day with these spring activities! Earth Day history, Earth Day flag, Earth Day anthem, Earth Day Activities and many different ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Teaches children the value of conservation and ecology. 13 slides. - HappyEdugator

Christmas Activities. Fun Christmas activities for the last week of school before the Christmas break. Six different sheets that are fun and require critical thinking! Three writing prompts, a math square, a wordsearch, and a scrambled story included, with answer keys. Print and go. No prep. Enjoy and merry Christmas! - HappyEdugator

Columbus Day Fun Activity Pack. Columbus Acrostic Poem, Writing Prompt, Word Search. Poem Handout, Mak-a-Word, and Fill-in Activity included. Twenty-six Columbus Day related words in wordsearch. October is a fun Fall month, and this is an engaging activity for building vocabulary and spelling skills. Also includes a reading handout of the traditional poem "In 1492" and a Christopher Columbus Fill-In the Blank Activity sheet. You can also use these as time fillers or as a substitute activity. - HappyEdugator

Limericks - Writing Limericks Handout and Activity Sheet. Fun St. Patrick's activity! How to write a limerick! Writing limericks handout explains the possible history of limericks, what limericks are, how they are patterned, and how they often contain figurative language like onomatopoeia, idioms, and hyperbole because they are meant to be funny. Activity includes practice activity with pattern, and writing an original limerick and illustrating it. A fun activity to do on St. Patrick's day, in the month of March, or anytime, really!.

September 11. Patriot Day activity. A kid-friendly version of the events of 9-11 and a flag coloring sheet. Includes some photos of the fire department memorial at Ground Zero (taken by me on a visit to NYC) Students can read the story, or have it read to them, and look at the photos.(Can be projected for the whole class to see.) Then they can learn about how the flag became a symbol of strength during the crisis, and complete the flag coloring sheet. (This sheet is similar to the one I sell for Memorial Day) INCLUDES a word search for early finishers. Thanks! - HappyEdugator

St. Patrick's Day Learning Fun! Map of Ireland Geography Activity. Using an atlas or the internet as a resource, students must label the blank map of Ireland with key places from the word bank and color according to directions. Includes a worksheet with questions about their map. An interesting educational activity that can be used for St. Patrick's Day, in the month of March, or anytime. Works great to build background knowledge when reading poetry and books set in Ireland or by authors from Ireland. Keys included. Updated February 2015.- HappyEdugator

Halloween Writing Activity for Smartboard. Halloween writing motivator. Five different Halloween characters...vampire, ghost, scarecrow, skeleton, and witch. Students drag the character traits they want for their chosen Halloween character into the box. They then can name their character and in their journal show, not tell, how their character demonstrates the traits they chose. Good Halloween Smartboard activity for the whole group or class, or use as enrichment for a center. You can choose to make one character a day for a whole week. Many character traits to choose from, some will build vocabulary by having to look up unknown words. Supports common core standards in writing. Happy Halloween!

Strategies for Teaching Different Learning Styles PowerPoint. Useful strategies and activities for different learning styles. Animated and colorful slides. There are several theories related to learning styles and multiple intelligences. Effective teachers consider their students' learning styles and use strategies adapted to their students' individual needs. Here are many different strategies to use for the different learning styles and multiple intelligences. For example, includes specific strategies and a list of activities for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

Easter Activity Pack - Literacy and Math Fun. Print and go. Four different sheets of math word problems, (two addition and two subtraction), ten count the eggs and trace the number word sheets, make an Easter card sheet, an original Easter poem to read, a create a word activity, an Easter word scramble, a jelly bean sort and graphing activity, an Easter maze, a history of Easter (the resurrection) and a history of Easter (bunnies and eggs). Lots of fun for April!- HappyEdugator

Labels - Space Theme. Stars and Space Kids or Aliens. Blank classroom labels with editable textboxes so you can just type in what you need. Created as ink friendly as possible. Includes: 8 large decorative frame 8 large rectangular blank labels (2 per page = total 16) 8 decorative nameplates with writing lines (2 per page = total 16) 8 smaller rectangular blank labels(2 per page = total 16) 8 smaller rectangular labels with writing lines(2 per page = total 16) 3 large square blank labels (2 per page = total 6) 3 smaller square blank labels (4 per page = total 12) 4 small circular labels (4 per page = total 12) 4 large circular labels ( 2 per page - total 8) Just print and copy how many of each style or size you need and laminate for durability.

St. Patrick's Day bookmarks. 6 different St. Patrick's bookmarks with pots of gold, green shamrocks, rainbows, and leprechauns that you can print out, laminate, and pass out to your students. March is a great month for spring book fever. Leprechauns remind students of the value of reading. Encourage your students to appreciate the value of books and treat them as treasure. Happiness is having a good book to read. Happy St. Patrick's Day! - HappyEdugator

February Famous Author Birthdays PowerPoint. To engage your readers and inspire your writers, show them the slides on these famous authors who had birthdays in February such as Langston Hughes, Jerry Spinelli, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Charles Dickens, to name a few. Each slide tells a little about the classic author and their most famous works. This winter, engage them in reading and writing! Have them choose from three writing assignments about these authors and their works on the last slide. - HappyEdugator

Spelling: Ex-Spelled Spelling GAME. This is a fun way to review a list of spelling or vocabulary words, or to use as an activity for a substitute teacher. Students have to spell words correctly or they have to sit down. Who will be the last one standing? The catch...each student only gives one letter! At the end of a word, the next student gets ex-spelled! Yikes! A fun word list is included to get things started. Supports Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.2b Spell correctly. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2b Spell correctly. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.2c Spell correctly.

Thanksgiving Word Wall Vocabulary Words. 30 Thanksgiving word wall words for the holiday and a blank template you can use to add your own Thanksgiving words. Promotes Thanksgiving writing! Decorated with pumpkins, apples, and fall leaves. Print out on cardstock and laminate for durability. Use them as flash cards or as discussion starters. Kids can use these words in their Thanksgiving writing, too. Some of the words included are: thanks pumpkin family Autumn cider pilgrims feast turkey Fall November cornucopia Mayflower Massachussetts and more! Happy Thanksgiving!

State Capitals of the United States PowerPoint Game. A fun way to practice learning the state capitals of all 50 states in the U.S. Divide class into two teams, print out two game boards and game pieces for each team, and see which team can correctly identify all 50 state capitals first. Interactive fun! Project onto whiteboard or interactive Smartboard. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Panther Dream by Bob and Wendy Weir Comprehension Questions. Studying the rainforest? This picture book is about conserving the African rain forest. This printable handout has comprehension questions about the story. Legendary Grateful Dead guitarist, Bob Weir and his sister, Wendy, wrote and illustrated (respectively) the children's book, "Panther Dream" in 1991 to raise awareness among children of the need to protect the world's rain forests. These comprehension questions go along with the book and help students find the main idea. Includes link to a video version of the book, if you don't have a copy, and an answer key. - HappyEdugator

January Famous Author Birthdays PowerPoint. To engage your readers, show them the slides on these famous authors who had birthdays in January, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, A.A. Milne, Jack London and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, to name a few. Each slide tells a little about the classic author and their most famous works. This winter, when students return from Christmas break, engage them in reading and writing! Have them choose from three writing assignments about these authors and their works on the last slide. - HappyEdugator