Reading Strategy Strips - How to Think When You Read. Make active reading strategies more concrete and help students take personal ownership of using reading strategies taught in class. Students will focus on ways to approach their reading. This will empower students to become better independent readers by giving them actual tools they can use to figure out unknown words and gain comprehension of the text. Directions for the teacher: Print out strategy strips, cut out, and laminate. Use these during guided reading lessons. If possible, schedule guided reading groups for at least 25 minutes, four days a week. In small groups, introduce the text and have the students discuss the pictures, make connections and predictions. Immerse students in leveled texts that are on their instructional reading level in a variety of genres. As they read the story, choral read with the whole group or whisper read with individuals to figure out words in context. Write troublesome words on the white board and discuss which strategies will help. Discuss and elaborate on the strategy strips you wish to focus on that day. This depends on the stage of readers. Primarily, with emergent readers, Study the pictures and Read to understand work well. Early readers will be ready for Point at the words and Hear the sounds whereas, students who are already using active reading strategies may be ready for Read some more. Put these strips on white board with a magnet. If students are reading individually, troublesome words can be put on small white boards, and reading strips can be left on the table. Students can pull the strips for the strategies they used. Teacher can suggest other strategies that would be helpful. If a student makes a substitution, for instance, it is a good time to stop, write both words on the white board, and use the strategies to check the words. Use one set of strategies for the whole group. Play strategy detective and see if you can guess who is using which strategy. Students will notice that sometimes they will need to use more strategies than other times. This will help them figure out which books are just right, or if they are too easy or too difficult, so that they will be better able to select books that are appropriate for their level of development. Included here are the active reading strategy strips which you can print out and laminate, and the teacher directions, including an explanation and elaboration on what each strip really means. - HappyEdugator

Mother's Day Activity Pack - Mother's Day activities. Print and go. Includes an original Mother's Day song to learn, an original poem, a card, slides to print out to make pictures, poems, and handprints for Mom, a slide picture frame, a recipe for a sweet treat, and suggestions for crafts and ideas for gifts and easy things to do for Mom on her special day. For example, make butterflies with clothespins, clip them on twigs and make her a butterfly tree. Happy Mother's Day! 18 pages. - HappyEdugator

Dandelions by Eve Bunting Tic Tac Think. Differentiated assignment menu to use as an extension writing activity for the book. In this activity, students choose a task from each horizontal row. Students have a choice, but will have to make different text connections in each row. In some cases the teacher may want to specify certain tasks for individual students. You may challenge some students to complete all the squares for enrichment. PowerPoint format. You can display on whiteboard or print out slides as handouts. Included is a writing checklist for assessment. - HappyEdugator

Spring Vegetable Garden Signs - Fun Literacy Activity! Spring activities: Great handwriting practice! A good accompaniment to the book The Gardener by Sarah Stewart., or books about seeds. Have your students make vegetable garden signs! They can make these as a gift or just to celebrate the coming of spring. Print out the color slides on index cards (set up your printer to the desired size) or on card stock or tag board. Then students can trace the letters and name the vegetables. Students practice reading and writing; developing vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and fine motor skills. When finished, laminate and attach to craft sticks and let them take them home to put in the garden. Good to use in March, April, and May. For even more fun, plant a bean in a paper cup with potting soil and let it grow. Kids can take home their signs when their bean has sprouted. Or plant a school vegetable garden. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Good Writers Will Have Success - Traits of Good Writing Posters. Success becomes an acronym for the traits of good writers. 6 Traits include Ideas and Content, Word Choice, Fluency, Voice, Organization, Conventions, and Presentation. These can be printed as a handout, made into a transparency, projected by LCD, or even blown up into a poster. Students will be reminded about what it takes to be a successful writer. Hang up at the beginning of the year to get your students thinking before they write. - HappyEdugator

The White Giraffe - Webquest Comparing South Africa and England. Students research and compare the countries of South Africa and England, and write their results in the T-chart. This activity goes along well with the book The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John. Students have to research facts about England - United Kingdom and South Africa and write them in the chart. Builds background knowledge about the setting of the story. Students get their information from a reliable source - the world factbook at cia.gov. After they complete the webquest, students will see some interesting differences between the countries that can be fun topics for discussion. Enjoy. - HappyEdugator

Teaching Literary Devices - Daily Quote Exercises. 50 writing prompts - inspirational quotes for your students to write about. Explanations of literary devices and figurative language (such as similes, metaphors, symbolism, and analogy) used on the first twenty quotes for instruction. Use for daily journal activities. Good discussion starters. Have students copy the quote and paraphrase what it means to them and share. Slides can be projected on an overhead or printed out (you can adjust the size on your printer and print them out on index cards). Many possible uses for this resource. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Writing: How to Engage the Reader PowerPoint. Focus on writing using three strategies to hook the reader, with examples. These three different writing strategies to engage the reader and create a great beginning for a narrative account can be used to help students overcome writer's block, especially when preparing for state writing tests. For use in a standards-based writing program which supports common core. Includes a slide with several other strategies students can try as well. Updated August 2014 - HappyEdugator

William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying - essay test or examination for the novel. Questions are based on Faulkner's life, style, including characterization and organization, themes, symbolisms and ironies. You can choose to have students answer all of the questions or let them select. This can be used as a take-home open book examination. Grading form and answer key included. You can use this for backwards design, and use the answer key to drive your class discussions. - HappyEdugator

Storms - Wild Weather Word Scramble. This storm word scramble has words related to storms or precipitation. All the letters in the stormy words have been mixed up, and students need to figure out the correct words in the jumble. Can be used for a science unit on meteorology or weather or to go with a reading assignment. This is a fun sheet to use with any unit on weather, storms, disasters, or as a supplement to a story or book with bad weather, such as The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen, Star in the Storm by Joan Hiatt Harlow, or Anna, Grandpa, and the Big Storm by Carla Stevens. Twenty words. Key included. - HappyEdugator

Halloween Quiz. This simple and fun quiz about Halloween will test your students knowledge of some basic Halloween vocabulary and traditions. Students can fill in the blanks from the word bank. Pair and share, write a story with the words from the word bank, and color the Jack O Lantern afterwards. You can also cut out the word bank if you wish, and make a game for kids to "win" it! Included are word bank cards, a monster for early finishers to color, a key and a reward cut out for completing it correctly! - HappyEdugator

Classroom Performance Evaluation Sheets for Reading and Writing. Oral reading rubric, writing rubric, and reading assignment tracker. Evaluate student's oral reading and writing with a simple rubric, and monitor completion of reading assignments with a simple classroom form developed for upper elementary and middle school students. Especially useful for novel study. Students and teachers can keep track of reading assignments, evaluate oral reading and writing about the selection. A tool that is quick and easy for teachers, and useful for students to use for self-evaluation and peer review. - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Writing - Countdown Cards. Fun Thanksgiving writing activity! Print and go quick wirtes or journal prompts forf November. Each card has a different theme for giving thanks. You can print these out and have your students write on them, or project them on a screen if you prefer. They can be used as journal prompts, task cards, literacy centers, or as a choice activity as well. This Thanksgiving, enjoy counting your blessings! Here's another idea: print them out on index cards and stick each one on the cover of a composition book. Then students write in the composition books and rotate them each day, so that each student gets to write in a different book each day. (Just ignore or cut off the dates) This way they also get to see what other students have written. (They can edit other entries, too.) You can also print them out on index cards and have students make a Thanksgiving Blessing Tree. After they write on the cards, punch a hole in them, string a colorful ribbon though, and hang from a tree! Or make a great interactive bulletin board with a tree made out of brown paper and have your students stick their blessings on the tree each day. Make it fun! - HappyEdugator

Mother's Day Coupon Book - Easy Printable Gift. Wish Mom a happy Mother's Day this spring by printing out this coupon book. Students choose the slides they wish to include to customize their own special coupon book for Mother's Day. Have them sign their name on the front, and put the slides together together to honor Mom as a thougtful gift. Includes cover page, back page writing activity, a special poem about how to use the book, and kids can add their own special touches, too, such as drawings, poems, stories, fingerprints, handprints, etc. With a white background or a color background. 27 different coupons. - HappyEdugator

Word Challenge - A Fun SmartBoard Critical Thinking Game. Students choose a letter with the random letter picker, and then a category with the random category picker, and then set the timer (which is adjustable to set to any amount of time). Good critical thinking time filler! Object is to make as many words as possible beginning with the selected letter that belong in the selected category. (For example, write words that begin with a in the category of fruit) If students don't like the 1st category board, then can choose a category from the second board. This game can be played by the whole class as individuals or groups. They can keep score by counting how many words they created, or play just for fun. Enjoy! Good critical thinking time filler!

Frequently Confused Words Packet - Supports Common Core! Includes a Poster or Handout on how to study commonly confused words, Four sets of frequently confused spelling words for study, four quizzes, and answer keys. The word lists are typed in text boxes, so they can be cut out and put on index cards. Students can then write the words on the other side of the cards. They will have a set of flashcards that they can then use to quiz each other for practice, and a way to self-check. Give out the words at the beginning of the week and have them take a quiz on Friday. These four sets will provide four weeks of practice! If you would like, do one set one week out of the month instead of their regular spelling words. However, you use them, enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving ABC Word Wall List. A Thanksgiving word list for your Thanksgiving word wall. Sorted alphabetically. You can also use as a handout. Students can use these Thanksgiving words to write picture books, stories, poems, or songs about the holiday. Have them try to use a word from each letter of the alphabet in a story. Teachers can use the list to design Thanksgiving printables, puzzles, skits, and other holiday activities. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Bearstone by Will Hobbs study guide. Notes on the author and characters, 3 sets of questions and 3 sets of vocabulary words from the novel.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Final Test - Essay Examination. This is an essay test or final examination for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Questions are geared to assess understanding of themes, symbolism, characterization, and plot. Students must select one of four quotes by critics, and prove them with evidence from the novel. This can be used as a take-home open book examination. Grading form is included as well. - HappyEdugator

Christmas adjective clause worksheet with 15 different sentences. Students have to identify the adjective clauses in the sentences related to the winter holiday. Useful in December to keep focused on the learning, even when the holidays are coming! Helps students understand sentence structure. Can be used in class or as homework practice. Common core standard in Language Arts. No prep. Print and go. Key included. - HappyEdugator