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.
Dolch Sight Words Activities - BUNDLE Weeks 1 - 10. 100 pages - Ten weeks of Dolch sight word activities for the first one hundred words from the Dolch sight words list. Activities include: flash cards/ memory game, color the words, trace the words, match the words, cut and paste the words in alphabetical order, and write the words in letterboxes. Enjoy! Weeks 1 - 10 covers the first 100 Dolch Sight Words. Be ready for the beginning of the year or use for test prep. Good for summer school or homeschool practice, too. - HappyEdugator
Paraphrasing - Steps to Great Paraphrasing PowerPoint presentation, including what is paraphrasing and why it is important. Stimulate students to think. Strategies to turn what they are reading into written summaries. Helpful when teaching how to research and write notecards and source cards. Students need to know how to paraphrase to avoid plagiarism by putting their research into their own words. Happy writing! - HappyEdugator
Back to school Wanted Poster. Have fun getting to know your students by having everyone in the class make these wanted posters during the first week. They will enjoy sharing and getting to know each other, too. Makes a great back to school wall display. You can also use these posters as an additional activity to go along with a reading, writing or social studies unit relating to an old western theme. Students can choose a character from a book to put on their poster. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Mystery Vocabulary PowerPoint. Common vocabulary words necessary for understanding a mystery unit. Whether reading or writing mysteries, these are the essential words every student should know and understand, such as sleuth, perpetrator, alibi, clue, evidence, deduction, plot, setting, etc. These slides include words, definitions, and a match-up assessment at the end. 20 slides. Supports common core state standards.
- HappyEdugator
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
This activity will help your students identify adjectives in text. They will search for adjectives in the story, and try to find them all. My students like to use highlighters to find them, but you can have them circle or underline them if you desire. Also includes a reference sheet and key. Great activity to do after studying adjectives with my All About Adjectives PowerPoint. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
This Indefinite Articles PowerPoint has 15 practice slides Help your students know when to use the articles "a" and "an." Includes answers after each slide. - HappyEdugator
Editing Activity - What I Did on Spring Break! Great test prep! Find the mistakes in the sentences and make corrections in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. 25 sentences with common errors. Students have to become the "teacher" and correct the poorly written sentences they have found in their students' writing about their Spring Break vacation. These came from actual student mistakes. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Children's Book Writing Project Rubric. Story Writing. Have your students write a children's book with PowerPoint, using this rubric as their guide. Help them incorporate literary elements, and make it easy for yourself to grade! This rubric considers the writing process, introduction, organization, problem/conflict, characters, solution/resolution, setting, spelling and punctuation, and specific requirements. - HappyEdugator
Drama Extension Activities PowerPoint. Includes five extension menu choice boards for differentiating instruction for any drama unit. These were developed originally to be used with the plays "A Christmas Carol" and "The Diary of Anne Frank," but can be used with any play or dramatization. There are extension menus or enrichment activities for author, time period, play comprehension, drama terms and an independent study guide and a menu of reading project ideas for multiple intelligences-auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Also included is an oral presentation rubric and a peer evaluation form. Useful for gifted students who need extra independent work. You will also have a color slide for each menu for projection on a white board and printer friendly student handout. Editable for your own classroom use. Enjoy. - HappyEdugator
Rikki Tikki Tavi - Simple or Compound Sentences Practice Activity. This sheet has six sentences taken from the short story Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling. Students need to determine if the sentences are simple or compound. Good partner activity.Key included.
MLA Format Handout. A reference guide for students when making citations in essays using Modern Language Association (MLA) format. Includes general guidelines for margins, font and spacing, how the heading, title and page numbers should be formatted, and how to make citations for both long and short quotations, which are defined. An example included.
- HappyEdugator
Subject Verb Agreement PowerPoint. Interactive. 25 practice sentences for students to find the correct verb and then check. Includes sentences that have indefinite pronouns. A fun way to practice. Animated graphics and sound. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Parts of Speech. Students identify parts of speech in context in this quick print and go activity. Can be used for practice or assessment. Student identify the the part of speech of the 25 underlined words in the passages, and write the answers on their own paper. Key included. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Endangered Animal Brochure Project with Rubric - The White Giraffe. Also includes research report assignment and rubric. Students must take on the role of an endangered African animal protection activist. Student task is to create a brochure for the public to inform them of the dire need to preserve the species that he or she chose to advocate. The brochure must persuade others of the importance of their animal, and the urgent need to preserve it for the future. Includes student handout and 100 points rubric. Left in editable format so you may modify for your classroom needs. May be used as a supplemental extension activity when reading The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John, or may be adapted for science or a research unit. (Just remove novel name) Includes a template for the students to use to make their brochures and an endangered species list. Supports student writing of informational text and argument that the common core standards stress, and the use of technology in the classroom.
Figurative Language in A Christmas Carol Worksheet. Using quotes from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, students have to identify types of figurative language such as metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, and allusion. Also includes a handout on types of figurative language. No prep. Print and go. Key included. - HappyEdugator
Standards
RL.6.4, RL.7.4, RL.8.4, CCRA.L.5
What is Poetry - an introduction to any Poetry Unit. Start off your poetry unit by asking What is Poetry? and What is a Poet? On the handout provided, students will read what T.S. Eliot had to say about it, and then come up with their own answers. Also included in this file are several pages of introductory materials a teacher can use to start students thinking about poetry. - HappyEdugator
Literary Terms for Fiction TEST. Elements of Literature multiple choice test on 33 critical literature terms or story elements of literature that are important to student understanding of fiction texts, such as plot, theme, conflict, setting, etc. 10 pages, including key. It is based on my literary terms for fiction handout which is also available to use as a study guide. - HappyEdugator
Parts of Speech: The Eight Parts of Speech quiz. Three different parts. Part A - This is a short fill in the blank quiz on the eight parts of speech. Students have to write the part of speech that matches the definition. Part B - Students have to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in sentences. Part C - Students have to identify pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections in sentences. Use one, or all three. Simple and easy to grade. - HappyEdugator
