I have a total of 27 years teaching experience . After I received my M.Ed. from the University of Florida (hence the name "HappyEdugator"), I began teaching in elementary school, where I taught pull-out remedial classes for grades 2-5 and a section of K-1. Then I taught Pre-K for 5 years, before I went up to Middle School, where I have been in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Last year, I went back to 1st grade in a private setting. I have traveled worldwide and am also fluent in Spanish.
I have a total of 27 years teaching experience . After I received my M.Ed. from the University of Florida (hence the name "HappyEdugator"), I began teaching in elementary school, where I taught pull-out remedial classes for grades 2-5 and a section of K-1. Then I taught Pre-K for 5 years, before I went up to Middle School, where I have been in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Last year, I went back to 1st grade in a private setting. I have traveled worldwide and am also fluent in Spanish.
Word Pyramid PreWriting Activity. Back to school creative writing using their name! Fun anytime, but also a back to school or good beginning of the year writing activity. Handout will stimulate thinking and may have your students running for the dictionary! Students will have to think of words of various lengths to describe themselves, and then come up with a sentence using one of the words.Fold the flap up over the name and have other students read them and try to guess who wrote it. Later, students can write a personal memoir about themselves, and they have already had a jumpstart on their thinking and writing. - HappyEdugator
Martin Luther King Jr. Word Search Puzzle. Wordsearch based on Dr. Martin Luther King's life. Medium difficulty for your students to solve. Useful as an extension or reinforcement activity for when you study MLK or to support Black History month. Solution included, of course. Helps develop spelling and vocabulary. NO PREP. Print and go. Enjoy!
- 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
Election Day! Sentence Election Cooperative Learning Activity. This is a fun Language Arts middle school activity on sentence structure! Student groups make a slogan, a speech, and a poster to campaign for the best sentence structure: simple, compound, complex, or compound – complex. Each group will present their platform to the class.
Includes teacher directions, student directions slide to project overhead, student directions handout with requirements and scoring checklist, and a slide to print out with sentence structures on them for group selection. Enjoy! Supports common core standards for writing and speaking and listening. - HappyEdugator
Valentines Day Math - Counting Numbers 11 - 20. Hearts math and literacy sheet. Fun math activity for Valentine's Day. Counting practice for numbers 11 - 20. Students have to count the hearts, draw a line to match them to the number word, then write the number in the box provided. Use heart shaped candy; have your kids count them out as they complete the sheet. Supports math, reading, and writing skills. Supports common core state standards! Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
TURKEYS Writing Paper - Lined Paper - Turkeys Theme. Eight different turkey designs, two different sizes of lines for writing at different ability levels. Fun paper for Thanksgiving or anytime. Students will have fun writing with some cute little turkeys to inspire them. - Enjoy! HappyEdugator
Christmas Word Scramble for your students to enjoy. Use at your next Christmas party. Directions: A bad winter weather system hit the North Pole yesterday and knocked out the power. When the power was brought back on, Santa found out that all his computers had scrambled his filenames! Help Santa fix his computer files by unscrambling the words below. He needs all the help he can get this time of year! This holiday scrambler activity is fun and engaging word play. No prep. Print and go. Key included, of course. - HappyEdugator
Valentine's Day Bookmarks. Six Valentine's Day bookmarks: three inspiring and colorful bookmarks to give your students on Valentine's Day to instill a love of reading. Three more bookmarks to tell them you love them. Cute sayings like "Owl love you forever." Editable so you can personalize with student names. Print out on cardstock or tagboard and laminate for a bookmark that will last. Nice gift from teacher to student instead of a card.
Lesson Plan Outline for Middle Grades. Organize your plan with this lesson format made specifically for middle school. Includes a place to write your essential question, measurable objective, and standards at the top; activating strategies, teaching and summarizing in the middle; and differentiation and assessment and notes on the bottom. Everything in one place. Add this page to your teacher planner or binder. - HappyEdugator
Memorial Day Word Scramble. Fun Memorial Day activity for language, spelling, and vocabulary development. 2 puzzles! Print and go. In the one for upper grades, students have to unscramble 22 words that have to do with Memorial Day. In the other one, there are ten words for primary grades. Some of the words included: Veteran, Freedom, Poppy, Decoration, Military, United States. Keys included. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Owl Bookmarks - Owl Save Your Place! Cute owls will save the place for your lucky readers. Great for an owl theme! 4 different colors and 1 page in black and white that they can color themselves! These also make great gifts for a birthday, Christmas, or other events.
- HappyEdugator
Earth Day Bookmarks! Three colorful bookmarks based on an earth or world theme that you can give to your students as a gift for special days! Nice for Earth Day, but can be used anytime. Great Spring gift. Print out, cut out, and laminate.
- HappyEdugator
Valentine's Day - Coded Words activity sheet. A fun Valentine activity for students to do to fill in time or at your Valentine's Day party. Decode the Valentine related words using the decoder at the bottom of the page. Key included. - HappyEdugator
Halloween Dead Words and Dead Verbs Handout. Great for Halloween writing activities, or even throughout the year. Dead words are overused words that have lost their power. List of dead words, dead verbs, and some more interesting alternatives that should be used instead. There is a place for students to add to the list. A useful tool for students to use for reference when they write and revise. 2 pages.
- HappyEdugator
Pretend to Be an Animal Cards. A fun circle time dramatic play activity. Students come up and draw a card on a stick (or just a card if you do not wish to use sticks) and then act out the animal they selected in the middle of the circle.
They may ask for ideas from other students if they do not know how to act like the animal they chose.
When finished, the student selects another classmate to select a card. Play continues until all the students have had a turn.
There are a total of 32 cards to choose from. Enjoy!
- HappyEdugator
BATS Webquest. Fun at Halloween or anytime. Explore the world of bats. In this webquest, students will learn basic information about bats, their habits and habitats, types, and interesting facts. Students will visit a kid friendly website and answer ten questions. Key included. - HappyEdugator
St. Patrick's Day activity sheet. Print and go, On St. Patrick's Day, students can fill in the missing letters, match the words to the pictures, and color. Fun March activity for literacy centers. - HappyEdugator
Thanksgiving: A Thanksgiving Day Song. Get musical and teach your students this quick and easy Thanksgiving Day song. A fun song for all ages! Good Thanksgiving singing activity to fill some time around the holiday. You don't need a lot of musical talent for this Thanksgiving song. This fun little song about Thanksgiving is sung to the melody of "Santa Claus is coming to Town." It is easy to learn and to remember, and a great tune for all ages from preschool to adult. Includes score. Happy Thanksgiving!
- HappyEdugator
Valentines Day Math - Counting Numbers 1 - 10. Hearts math and literacy sheet. Numbers 1 - 10. Students have to count the hearts, draw a line to match them to the number word, then write the number in the box provided. Use Valentine heart shaped candy; have your kids count them out as they complete the sheet. Fun math activity for Valentine's Day. Supports math, reading, and writing skills. Supports common core state standards!
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4a When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4b Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4c Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.5 Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count out that many objects.
