Irregular Plurals - Latin and Greek Plural Forms. Irregular plural nouns. PowerPoint reviews the rules for forming plural nouns in English, and exceptions to those rules. Explains the rules for words with Latin and Greek origins and gives examples. These terms are often used in science and medicine. Practice questions are interactive. Good addition to your parts of speech unit. 19 slides. - HappyEdugator

Reading: Expectation Grid for Reading. A reading graphic organizer for fiction which can be used with Literature Circles. Give one to each group and have them fill in expectations. Also, it can be used as an anticipation guide, a guide during reading, or as a review for almost any novel or short story. I like to use it when we get to an important or exciting event in a story. Students have to determine why the event is important, the sequence of events leading up to it, the location and people involved, and the cause and possible effects of this event in the story. By using this reading strategy, students are often surprised to learn that they have just identified many of the elements of a story- the plot, theme, characters, setting, and problem. - HappyEdugator

Alphabet Bingo. A whole group game. 25 game boards for alphabet bingo, and directions on how to play. Students try to match the letter on their board to the one that is called. Vocabulary builder! Also includes 2 sets of alphabet cards for playing an Alphabet Memory Game, with directions. Each card has a letter in upper case and lower case, a word that begins with that letter, and a picture that represents the word. Students can play this game in a center. The game cards are also useful for other games and instructional purposes. They make great flash cards, reading practice cards, etc. - HappyEdugator

St. Patrick's Day Adjective Hunt - A St. Patrick's Day Literacy Activity. Fun center and critical thinking activity! Students match the adjectives on the gold coins to the four leaf clovers.Three nouns are listed on each clover. Adjectives are written on each gold coin. Object is to find an adjective that could be used to describe each of the three items on the shamrock and match the gold coin to the correct one. Print out, laminate, and use every year! Updated March 2015 - HappyEdugator

Smartboard Sight Word Create a Story. This Smartboard activity uses some Dolch words for students to generate a story. Students click on the frog to generate a word, read it, and write it on the board. When all the words have been generated, students try to tell or write a story using as many of the words as they can.

The Gift of the Magi Vocabulary TEST - Matching. Words from the short story by O. Henry. 12 critical vocabulary words. Students write the letter of the definition on the blank in front of the number of the word. Key included.

Handwriting - How to Write Lower Case Letters Animated PowerPoint. Learn to write manuscript lowercase letters. Teach your students lower-case letter formation and write letters the fun way. This animated PowerPoint shows students how to form the lower case letters of the alphabet. Students can watch how to print and then copy the letters on their own paper. Each letter is associated with an animal as well. Great for homeschool, too! Supports common core.

Grammar Task Cards - Language Detective. Includes 4 sets of 12 task cards. Each card has a sentence with an error. Students must figure out what is wrong with the sentence, and mark it on their answer sheet. Answer keys for each set. Skills covered: Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, and Spelling. Fun way to practice for standardized tests. Teacher Directions and Set Up: Cut out and print the four card sets on cardstock.. You may wish to laminate for durability. Print out the answer strips so that you have enough for each student. You may wish to make them double-sided to save paper. Print out at least one copy each of the answer keys. Cards sets may be used in a variety of ways. You may wish to put them in centers, and switch out the sets for four different days. They can also be distributed to four different groups as a group activity. Answer keys can be used for self- checking. Sets can be rotated to different groups. You can also use these cards for whole class games like Scoot, or Around the World.

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

Questions, Critical Thinking Questions and Journal Responses. This poem is often used at graduation celebrations because of the advice it gives. The writing prompts guide students to make connections and judge whether the poem is a positive piece of advice for today.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Plot Diagram Activity. Based on the book by Deborah and Gregg Lewis. In this sequencing activity, students will cut out the sentences and put them in the correct order by making a large plot diagram and gluing the sentences in place. Print out the sentences, and provide students with a large piece of construction paper, a marker, scissors, and glue. Encourage them to put them in order first, and have you check it before they glue everything in place. :) Good cooperative learning activity. Enjoy!

The Cremation of Sam McGee SMARTBOARD Activities. Poetry analysis on the smart board and writing activities for the poem by Robert Service. This poem is set at Christmas time in the Arctic in the late 1800's. Includes links to background information on the Klondike Gold Rush, Vocabulary words and definitions, a Vocabulary game, a link to the full text of the poem, Figurative language examples and interactive quiz, Comprehension questions and answers, links to a reading of the poem and a video, and writing activities. Includes a final writing task that supports common core standards. Enjoy!

Fiction Unit Study Guide Based on Common Core Standards. This study guide addresses common core skills in Reading and Language Arts addressed in a unit study of fictional literature. Includes a quick review of: theme point of view setting characters plot climax resolution context clues main idea supporting details conclusion genres prediction adjective clause adverb clause independent clause dependent clause prepositional phrase simple sentence compound sentence complex sentence compound-complex sentence comma semi-colon The study guide is a handout students can use to review the above. - HappyEdugator

Earth Day Vocabulary CARDS and Activities. Print these out on cardstock, and laminate if you desire for durability. Keep the sheets intact for this LEARNING ACTIVITY: Print out 2 sets of EARTH SHEETS. Divide class into groups. Give each group an EARTH activity sheet. Each group will work together and find three (or you decide how many) facts for each square. Give them adequate time to do this. (Try out my PowerPoint timer!) Have the groups report back to the class. You can also assign the rows on the cards to different groups. OR Cut cards out for these LEARNING ACTIVITIES: 1. Pull cards out of a hat (or other container) and assign to students for research activities. 2. Attach to Popsicle sticks and have students pull one when they are finished with other work. Require them to find out five facts about the word that relates it to Earth Day. 3. Put cards inside plastic Easter eggs and have students find them. When they return, have them earn a jelly bean for every word they can define or describe what it means to the planet. You can come up with other games to use with these, too! If you blow them up to poster size, you have Earth Day word wall words, too. Enjoy! -HappyEdugator

Short o Sound - Sounding Out Words PowerPoint. CVC words. Teach reading with phonics and decoding using word families! Short o Word Family. Slides introduce the sound of short o and have students practice blending short o sound with consonants to form one syllable CVC words. Students read the slides and get rewarded with fun shouts and cheers. This is the next step to reading after students learn consonant sounds and the sound of short a and short e. This animated PowerPoint has 17 slides of practice, with a slide of nonsense words and a slide of real words at the end of the presentation for teacher assessment. Supports common core standards. Great supplement for CVC word work.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat PowerPoint Presentation. A reading guide to the classic American short story by Bret Harte. Includes Vocabulary, author biography, slides on setting and characters, discussion questions, writing prompts, and end of story interactive quiz. 33 slides. - HappyEdugator

Alphabet Cooking Fun - Literacy Activities with Yummy Food. These activities combine cooking and kitchen fun with lessons in beginning sounds, letter sounds, letter recognition, and word recognition. Includes a permission slip for parents, a slide with a variety of fun ideas to get started, an alphabet food list, and 11 super fun activities with full directions, including making butter, fruit salad, and peanut butter! Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

The River by Gary Paulsen Story Map. This is a graphic organizer story map shaped like a raft that goes with the book The River by Gary Paulsen. Students can write story events in order on the logs of the raft. - HappyEdugator

Using Dictionaries Practice Sheet. This printable is hands-on practice for using dictionaries. Students are given five different words to look up, and then they must answer the questions about each word regarding either meaning, etymology, usage, part of speech, or syllabication. Many students only think of dictionaries as a place to find definitions. They are surprised to learn that there is so much more information included in a dictionary! Key included. - HappyEdugator

Parts of Speech TEST. Comprehensive assessment of student knowledge of the parts of speech. May be used as a pretest, a formative assessment, or summative assessment. EDITABLE for your own classroom use only. This is not a multiple choice test. Students will have to write and construct responses, which is a critical thinking skill. - HappyEdugator