Tall Tales Story Pattern. How to write tall tales! This is a simple story pattern that can be used to help students write their own tall tale. They can fill in the blanks to create a story sketch, which they can then elaborate and expand on to create their own personal tall tale. Good to use as a follow up to a unit on tall tales, or after reading a tall tale such as Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. Helps students avoid writer's block by scaffolding and gives them the confidence to comlete their own story. Writing practice is essential to the CCSS (common core state standards ) in Language Arts. - HappyEdugator

Reading - In Class Reading Log. On this Pop Into A Good Book reading log, students can keep track of their in-class reading, by recording title, author, genre, finished/abandoned, rating, and difficulty. When log is completed, they will select their favorite book. Movie and popcorn theme. Perhaps reward your class for reading with a movie and popcorn! - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving: The First Thanksgiving. Teaching the history of Thanksgiving? The First Thanksgiving fill-in the blank story or cloze activity will add to your unit. Students can fill in the blanks of the story using the Word Bank. This is a fun vocabulary building activity and provides historical background for the holiday as well. 1 page worksheet and 1 page key. - HappyEdugator

MLA Format Handout. This printable handout is a 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

Veterans Day Word Scramble and Veteran's Day Word Search. Fun word puzzles for Veterans Day. This word scramble has 16 words related to Veterans Day - such as heroes, honor, patriotic, military, veteran, etc. Like a jumble, students have to unscramble the letters to come up with the words. The Word Search has 24 words hidden in the puzzle. This is a fun activity that helps develop vocabulary, word recognition, and sorting and classification skills. Answer keys are provided. - Happy Edugator

Leaning Checklist - self evaluation sheets for daily learning for the classroom, homeschool, or summer school. Lots of uses. Can be used in cooperative groups, centers, or as exit ticket for whole group instruction. Great learning tool for interactive notebooks. Students can use the checklist to monitor their own progress. Includes a checklist for Monday - Saturday. Each checklist has a box for - I read, I wrote about, I investigated, I discovered , I created, I practiced, I completed, My favorite activity, and My overall effort. A large box at the bottom of each page allows for drawing, additional writing, notes, or comments. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator.

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.

Columbus Day Crossword Puzzle. 20 words related to Columbus Day in this fun cross word puzzle. Key included. - HappyEdugator

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