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.
Shades of Meaning Verb Cards - WALK. Cut out and laminate these 16 different cards illustrating different synonyms of the verb "WALK." 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
Public Speaking PowerPoint - How to write and present a speech. Presentation explains purpose ( Persuade, Inform, and Entertain), points to consider such as subject, audience, personality, and occasion. Discusses the process of planning a speech, including the body, the introduction, and the conclusion, writing an outline, and preparing the delivery. 25 slides.
India Travel Brochure Project. Student project with rubric. Students create a travel guide on India on a tri-fold construction paper. Students imagine they are travel guides leading a tour of India and must give their group an overview of India's history, geography, language, government, economy, religion, climate and attractions. Student instructions for the project to handout, teacher directions, brochure template, and a detailed rubric included. Rubric measures use of class time, writing conventions, attractiveness, organization, creativity, relevance of graphics, required elements including sources, and knowledge gained. - HappyEdugator
Drama Warm Ups - Fun role playing activities to get students moving, thinking and creating. Whether you are teaching drama in literature, a drama course, or sponsoring a drama club after school, these activities will be engaging and fun, and will lead to higher level thinking and creativity! 15 pages of different activities with examples and suggestions to get started. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Christmas Homophones Search - The Night Before Christmas. Fun printable handout for December. A Christmas activity searching for homonyms and homophones in a crazy homophone version of the famous Christmas poem "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clark Moore. Supports common core standard to spell correctly. Challenging activity using poetry: I recommend you use partners. It will take your students some time to find and correct all of the incorrect homonyms in this one. No prep. Print and go. Student answer sheet and key included. - HappyEdugator
Robert Frost - Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening PowerPoint. Poetry analysis for a close read of the poem and writing activity. Includes slides about the author, setting, characters, figurative language, alliteration, metaphor, end rhyme, internal rhyme, structure, meter, different interpretations (including a Christmas one), and a writing activity based on common core standards that requires citing text evidence. 27 slides. Enjoy
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction short story that is rich in figurative language and theme. This PowerPoint with animated graphics introduces three common types of figurative language- similes, metaphors, personification- in before reading activities. Then, during reading, students can look for these types of figurative language and write them down in the chart shown on the screen. (Also available separately as a printable) After reading activities include discussion questions and writing activities. The last slide has links to the online video, and students can make a Venn diagram to compare the movie to the short story
Back to School - Kindergarten Language Arts Practice FREEBIE. Students have to connect the alphabet letters in the right order to get the children to school and back home. Upper case and lower case letters. Good back to school quick assessment. Enjoy this free product and have a great year! - HappyEdugator
CCSS K.RF.1d
Prepositional Phrases PowerPoint. Don't Let Them Confuse You! Animated and interactive. Defines prepositions and prepositional phrases, gives examples of prepositional phrases with nouns, pronouns, gerunds, and noun clauses, discusses problems with subject-verb agreement and intervening prepositional phrases, has a short quiz on identifying prepositional phrases in sentences and not confusing them with infinitives, and finally, presents five questions on common usage problems with typical prepositional phrases. 18 slides.
- HappyEdugator
The Cay PowerPoint Introduction is an engaging and interactive slide show for previewing the book The Cay by Theodore Taylor. 24 slides with animated clips. If you are planning to read The Cay in class, this PowerPoint will introduce your students to the setting, characters, plot, theme and vocabulary, and build background knowledge that they will need to comprehend the book. Great book for hurricane season. Students can discuss with partners how they would survive on a desert island, or you could have them write about this and share with each other. Then discuss how difficult it would be to do it blind! No spoiler at the end...they will have to read to find out if Phillip and Timothy survive the oncoming storm. - Enjoy!
- HappyEdugator
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Short Story Unit. What you need to teach The Necklace: Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, Cause and Effect, Observing Details, Making Inferences, Dialogue, Word Scramble and Fill-in, Essay Questions. Answer key included. -
Valentine Quiz. Valentine's Day Activity for choosing the right word. Multiple choice questions about Valentine's Day. Help children with word choice. Students have to choose the best choice of three words to fill in the blank. Grammar usage that is often tested on standardized tests. Great for building an understanding of how words are used correctly. Especially good for ELL, ESL and ESOL students, who may need extra help in identifying subtle differences in word choice and easily confused words.
Writing - Effective Expression in Writing PowerPoint. Practice Revising! Test prep! Effective expression in writing helps students understand the main characteristics of effective writing: being consistent, expressing ideas logically, being clear and precise, and following conventions. Students must revise sentences that have specific problems (such as subject-verb agreement, pronoun shifts, fragments...), then check to see if they were right. Animated effects make this a useful interactive tool. Show them the poorly written sentence, let them see if they can figure out what is wrong and fix it, then show them the correction. 20 animated slides with graphics. Notes for the teacher included. Helps prepare for state tests! - HappyEdugator
Common Prefixes and Suffixes PowerPoint. Learn what are prefixes and suffixes, why they are important to know, and the most common prefixes and suffixes that are used in English. 25 slide PowerPoint presentation has animated graphics, common prefixes and suffixes, and interactive practice slides with answer keys.
Watership Down Parts I - IV with Author and Character Notes BUNDLE. Includes all four of the Vocabulary and Question sets and the Author and Character Notes. Buy the complete set and save! - HappyEdugator
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. Two versions of a final test for the short story. Includes constructed response questions.
The first version includes vocabulary and has three sections: Fill-in the Blank, Multiple Choice, and a Constructed Response requiring evidence from the text to support the answer. 25 total questions, plus a constructed response. 5 Fill in the blank questions, and 20 multiple choice, with key. Grading scale given for constructed response. This test assesses understanding of story vocabulary, literary elements, and reading comprehension.
The second version of the test does not assess vocabulary, but also has three sections: Multiple Choice, Short Answer Constructed Response, and Essay. All of the constructed response questions require text evidence, critical thinking, and are of the rigor expected for the new standards. 16 multiple choice questions, 3 short answer questions, and 1 essay.
They are on separate pages, so you may choose which parts of the test you wish to give.
- HappyEdugator
Symbolism PowerPoint - What is Symbolism? Understanding symbolism in literature, including definition of a symbol, recognition of symbolic pictures, how symbolism affects reading comprehension, and a step by step guide to identifying symbols in a story or other literary text, which can be used as a practice activity with the story you are reading. Animated and thought-provoking slides, which may lead to interesting class discussion. - HappyEdugator
Adverbs - Fun Worksheet and Word Search. Students need to identify adverbs in 20 sentences and then find them in the wordsearch. Fun practice that helps students become more familiar with adverbs as parts of speech. Fun test prep! Good activity to use the day before or after a long break, like Spring Break. - Happyedugator
