End of the Year Summer Wordsearch: a fun end of the year activity, or use for summer camp or other summer activity. Challenging end of the year word search with summer words that can be a fun filler activity! Very engaging. 20 words in this wordsearch which are ONLY found on the diagonals. Key included. - HappyEdugator

Collective Nouns of Animal Groups PowerPoint. Lists the collective noun names for different animal groups. For example, a congregation of alligators, a sleuth of bears, and a murder of crows are just a few of the unusual group animal names found in the English language. Useful when introducing subject-verb agreement with collective nouns. Discuss whether they are singular or plural. Students are also challenged and encouraged to try to come up with their own collective nouns at the conclusion of the slide show. 20 Informative slides. Fun addition to a parts of speech unit. Supports common core!

Reading Test Prep. Reading comprehension practice using an excerpt from the short story The Corrector of Destinies by Edward Wellen. Includes excerpt of story, vocabulary fill-in the blank activity, graphic organizer for story elements, and 12 multiple choice questions about the story setting, characters, plot, author's purpose, theme, and figurative language. Questions support standards tested on standardized tests. Supports the rigor required of common core. Can be done independently or as guided practice. Good for a substitute activity as well. Key included. Grades 7 - 12. - HappyEdugator

Characterization Handout - Making Characters Memorable. Helps students with characterization in their narrative writing. It outlines what good writers should consider in order to introduce characters and bring them to life. What do readers want to see in a character? Is the story plot driven or character driven? What are the internal and external character traits? Who is the antagonist and protagonist? Are both vital to the story? What are the conflicts, internal and external? Have students use this handout as a guide when creating a character sketch or in reading to evaluate how an author uses characterization. Includes a sheet for students to use to brainstorm internal and external character attributes for a character they want to create.

Past verb tenses PowerPoint. More than 30 slides on the four past tenses students often get confused: the past, the past progressive, the past perfect, and the past perfect progressive. Grammar rules are given for each tense, with plenty of examples for positive statements, negative statements and questions. Sound and animation added to keep it lively. Best used in chunks.

Vocabulary Builder - Pump Up Your Vocabulary in Ten Easy Steps PowerPoint. Going back to school? Give students vocabulary strategies that will help them build a strong vocabulary for reading and writing. Interactive PowerPoint lesson. Ten vocabulary builders. The ten steps for building vocabulary include: Pronounce words correctly Use a dictionary Use a thesaurus Make word cards Use mnemonics Use context clues Distinguish between multiple-meaning words Learn word origins Study word parts and Distinguish connotation and denotation 33 slides with activities for practice and answers. Materials required: a dictionary for each student or group of students, and 4 index cards for each student.

Sentences; All About Sentences PowerPoint. Animated. Sentence types and sentence structure. Interactive. Describes kinds of sentences (such as declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative), subjects and predicates (simple and compound), fragments and run-ons, simple, compound, and complex sentences, and adverb and adjective clauses. Great test prep! Has everything students need to know about sentences and sentence structure and gives short practice exercises which can immediately be checked. Teaches common core standards. Students can also copy notes on each lesson, and a list of subordinating conjunctions, and more. Each of the thirteen sections with practice and feedback can be a separate minilesson! - HappyEdugator

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John Vocabulary List. Vocabulary list for the novel, organized by chapter. Can be given to students as a study guide or handout, and as they read the book they can research the words, and vocabulary activities can be developed using these words. Includes three pages of word lists without the definitions to use for reseaching and discovery learning, and eight pages of word lists that include the definitions. Enjoy.

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

Standards based persuasive writing rubric: use to measure students ability to write an argument persuasively by engaging the reader, stating a clear position, supporting details, excluding irrelevant information or arguments, creating an organizing structure, anticipating counter-arguments, providing closure, and following writing conventions. - Happyedugator Supports common core standards for writing an argument.

Homophone Match Worksheet. This is a challenging homophone matching activity for upper grades. Have students work in individually or in groups with a dictionary to look up unknown words. Words and definitions are chunked into groups of six. - HappyEdugator

PowerPoint on After Twenty Years by O. Henry with before reading activities to preview the story vocabulary, highlights of the author's life, and the literary elements of foreshadowing and omniscient point of view. Includes a link to the story to read. During reading, students must look for clues to how the story ends, and after reading, check their predictions. The following slides are a mini-lesson on independent and subordinate clauses and sentence structure. Students will learn about complex sentences. A writing activity follows in which students are asked to incorporate subordinate clauses into their work. Animated graphics make it fun and interesting. Updated January 2015 -

Cinquain Poem PowerPoint. The step-by-step formula on how to write a cinquain poem, that provides examples for students to understand how the writing process works for these kind of poems. Includes a graphic organizer that you can print for the students to write on. One great way to use cinquain formula poems - students can write a cinquain poem for Mother's Day, Father's Day or Grandparent's Day. 12 slides. Enjoy! Updated April 2015. - HappyEdugator

Brain Teaser Sheet - Critical Thinking. Fun Brain Workout. Letter equations. May be challenging, but students will love trying to figure them out! A letter equation is a common combination of letters and numbers that are abbreviated. The trick is to figure out what the abbreviation means. For example, 7 d. in a w. is 7 days in a week. 22 brain teaser equations and key included. Good activity to get minds working for test prep. Exercise for the brain. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Swimmy by Leo Lionni Retelling Activity. After reading the book, retell the story again with this “real life” underwater photo story. Project the story on your whiteboard or SMARTBoard, OR print out the slides. Your students will love to see Swimmy and his friends come to real life. Supports common core. Enjoy!

Christmas Holiday Sensory Writing Practice Worksheet. A Christmas or winter holiday writing worksheet. Ten different Christmas writing prompts for sensory writing, to create imagery with a holiday twist. Students will need to show, not tell, using words that utilize the five senses. You may use the worksheet in centers. group work, or individual instruction. You may wish to have them complete all the exercises, choose some, or assign them individually. Includes three pages of sensory words for students to use if needed. - HappyEdugator

Poetry - Writing Poetry is EASY Smartboard fun and interactive activities. EASY stands for Emotional Appeals; Alliteration and Sound Devices; Similes, Metaphors and Figurative Language; and You Make the Rules. Students will love playing with words on the Smartboard and writing their own poems! - 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

Differentiation: This is a student choice menu for extending learning around a literary piece or play. The theme is based on life during the time period of the setting. Students may choose an activity or activities from the menu to work on beyond what is being covered in class. Great for gifted or advanced students that get bored with the regular curriculum. Students can report back to the class, so everyone shares in the learning experience. Editable for your own classroom use. - HappyEdugator

Reading: The Importance of Rereading Story Frame. Reading a short story? This story frame can be used with any short story to encourage students to reread for specific details on characters, events, setting, and conflict. A good way to have students think about what they read. This is also a useful activity to use as a substitute lesson plan! - HappyEdugator