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.
End of the Year Assignment Menu. This end of year assignment is a great final project. Useful for differentiation. Print and go. Students like to have a choice to complete any of 6 different projects to demonstrate what they have learned in the course of the school year. Displayed in two different formats. One is presented as a menu choice board, and one is presented as strips that you can cut apart and then have them select by chance. Rubric included. Revised April 2015. - HappyEdugator
Christmas Alliterations Activity. A printable handout for Christmas explaining how alliterations and tongue twisters are formed, with an area for your students to come up with ten of their own. Have your students create their own Christmas alliterations on this handout. Wonderful winter work. December is definitely delicious! Includes cards with holiday related words for students to turn into alliterations and place on a wreath. - HappyEdugator
Plot Summary Guide. Summarize the plot elements of any fiction short story or novel with this handy sheet. Based on the common core standards of analyzing how particular story elements interact, like how the setting shapes the plot. Students will list the characters, determine the protagonist and antagonist, describe the setting and its relationship to the plot, describe the conflict, complications and rising action, the climax, falling action, and resolution of the story. - HappyEdugator
Reading Strategies - Active Reading Strategies Concept Map. Graphic organizer can be blown up into a poster, used as a transparency, or projected on your LCD. The six active reading strategies on the map are Connect, Predict, Visualize, Question, Clarify, and Evaluate. Students learn what active reading strategies good readers use. Based on a beetle or bug theme. Includes a motivational poster with a BEETLE theme. Color and black and white versions. Here is my BEETLE acronym - BE EDUCATED EXPECT TO LEARN EAGERLY! :)
- HappyEdugator
Exit Slip - Cell Phone Ticket Out. Use this exit slip summarizer sheet as a summarizing activity. Have students write you a text message on the phone screen to summarize what they learned from the lesson or ask any questions they still have. Can be used as a quick informal assessment of student learning. - HappyEdugator
Animal Farm Study Guide Handout. Reading Animal Farm by George Orwell? A printable study guide handout which asks students to come up with their own descriptions of major characters in Orwell's Animal Farm, and also asks them to list and discuss the commandments the animals used for their laws. Students will also have to use higher level thinking to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the novel.
Christmas Puzzle - Christmas crossword puzzle. Fun! Black and white version and color version included. Key included. No prep. Print and go. Ink friendly. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Tic-Tac-Think Activity. Includes a copy of the poem for the students to read, and a menu choice activity with items requiring making connections: text to self, text to text, and text to world.
Happy New Year Word Search Activity. Start the New Year with a wordsearch puzzle to get those minds thinking again. Good for first day back from break. Key included. - HappyEdugator
Narrative Elements Graphic Organizer. This fiction reading guide or graphic organizer will help students with identifying literary elements when they read fiction selections.
Nonfiction Vocabulary You Should Know Test. Goes with my Nonfiction Vocabulary You Should Know PowerPoint, but can be used separately. 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. 25 fill-in the blank style questions with a word bank. Reading more nonfiction is essential to the common core standardsthat are assessed on many state tests. Prepare your students for the terminology.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
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
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
100 Points Book Report Rubric for Fiction. A detailed book report guide that is easy to grade! This rubric for a book project on fiction will help students write a book review that is well-developed and thoughtful. Each section is detailed as to what is required, and the total points possible equals 100, making it easy to grade. The rubric is divided into 9 sections: the introduction, characters, plot, setting, theme, conclusion, composition structure, and paper format. Each section defines what is required in that section of the report, including the total points possible. Promote independent reading, critical thinking and organizational skills all at once. You can print out the picture and caption on the cover page and use as a poster in your room, too.
This rubric is included in my Middle School Writing Rubrics BUNDLE
100 Points Research Paper Rubric. Writing a research paper? Use this detailed rubric for a research paper that is easy to grade! Specific standards based requirements for a research paper and will promote a high degree of performance. Based on a 100 points, It is easy to grade and students can self evaluate their work. Performance elements include: Purpose and Focus, Organization and Development of Ideas, References and Documentation, Formatting, and Conventions. Promotes independent reading, critical thinking, organizational skills, writing style, and citing sources without plagiarism. - HappyEdugator
3D Diorama Project. Use this project as a culminating activity for any unit of study in English, PSHE, history or science. I like to use it after reading a class novel, but I have also used it in PSHE after we studied a region or a country. Includes a student handout with directions and grading checklist, and detailed directions with photos. Thanks and enjoy! - Happyedugator
A. A. Milne Biography Activity and Constructed Response. A short nonfiction text for students to read, with questions about the selection and a constructed response question. Learn how Winnie the Pooh came into being. Supports common core standards that require more intensive reading of nonfiction text and more writing about the reading, citing text evidence. - 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
