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.
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
Present Simple and Progressive Verb Tenses PowerPoint. Explains how the present simple and present progressive verb tense is used correctly in the English language. Grammar rules and structure are examined, and examples and graphic organizers show how the verbs are formed in positive sentences, negative sentences, and questions. 18 slides. - HappyEdugator
Brain Teaser Bingo Sheet. This fun activity will get them thinking! 16 Language-based brain puzzles are on a bingo grid. Students can choose to solve any four in a row, or be challenged to do them all! Teacher can also assign different combinations, and first student to solve them all can win the BINGO. Each square has a different type of activity, and students must use critical thinking, logical reasoning, and word knowledge to solve- such as synonyms, homonyms, palindromes, and compound words. Challenging. Great for gifted students. This can be used as a time filler around testing also. The second page is a key with answers to all the puzzles. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
The Velveteen Rabbit PowerPoint. Author Notes, Vocabulary, Comprehension Activities to go with The Velveteen Rabbit Or How Toys Become Real by Marjorie Williams Bianco. Great story for Christmas, Easter or Spring. Share this classic with your students, and use the PowerPoint slides to discuss difficult vocabulary as you read. There are comprehension questions for each chapter as well. I put these together at the end of the show, but you can reorder the slides if you wish to present it in chapters or smaller chunks. There is information also about the author and when the story was written. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Easter acrostic poem. Do you need a quick fun activity for Easter? This is a short 5 slide PowerPoint explaining how to write an acronym poem, also called an acrostic poem. This would be a good warm-up activity to use just before Easter or right before Spring Break. Included is a definition of an acronym or acrostic poem, two example poems using egg and Easter, an Easter vocabulary slide, and a slide prompting students to write their own poem. You could also print this last slide for students to fill in. - HappyEdugator
Of Mice and Men Final Test - Essay Examination. A final essay test for Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Questions are based on the writer's life, style, including characterization and organization. Students should be able to identify theme and symbolism. You can choose to have students answer all of the questions or let them select. This can be used as a take-home open book examination. Grading form and answer key included. You can use this for backwards design, and use the answer key to drive your class discussions. - HappyEdugator
Chromebooks Rules for the Classroom - If your school is using Google Chromebooks in the classroom, you can use these technology rules for using notebooks in the classroom to get your kids started. You can adapt these rules to various notebooks or other laptops on a cart, or even for iPads. Left EDITABLE so you can change them for your classroom needs. Just project them on your SMARTBOARD or whiteboard and go over them with your kids before you begin. Use the last slide to review. Uesful for any subject, and a good resource for computing class. Hope you find it helpful!
Poetry Book Project. Students will create a poetry book by writing 11 different poems from a list of subjects, and each poem will require a different element of poetry including figurative language (metaphor, simile, idiom, personification, hyperbole) or sound device( onomatopoeia, alliteration). Students must also include one of each type of poetry given (limerick, ode, haiku, ballad, free verse, etc) Detailed rubric included. - HappyEdugator
A great activity to do with this PowerPoint is to have the kids write their own dialogues. I cut out of magazines some interesting pictures of all kinds of different people interacting. I glued them on cardstock, with the words Who? What? Where? When? and Why? written on each card, and laminated them. I passed the cards out, and students had to imagine what the people were saying to each other in the pictures, and then write the dialogue, using correct punctuation. They also had to later incorporate the dialogue into a short story that answered the five W questions/ The kids enjoyed this activity and got very creative with their stories! Enjoy! :)
HappyEdugator
Correlative Conjunctions Study Guide. Study guide and worksheet on correlative conjunctions. Definition, Examples, and practice using correlative conjunctions correctly in a sentence. Subject/verb agreement and pronoun/antecedent agreement using correlative conjunctions when writing sentences. Key inlcuded. Supports common core. -HappyEdugator
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.1e Use correlative conjunctions (e.g., either/or, neither/nor).
Commonly Confused Words TEST. Good spelling help and standardized test prep. Fifty questions of commonly confused words that are often seen on state tests. Includes common homophones like there, they're and their; usage errors such as its, and it's and should have vs. should of; as well as words such as sit and set and lie and lay. Should really make them think. - HappyEdugator
Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs - Short Story Unit. Includes Anticipation Guide, Vocabulary, Plot Summary, Use Your Vocabulary sheet with key, About the Author, Comprehension Quiz with key, Essay Questions and Short Answer Questions that require students to use evidence from the text in their answers to support common core.The Monkey's Paw is a great spooky ghost story! A good read for Halloween or anytime. Enjoy!
Rebus Puzzles - a fun critical thinking activity. Figure out the word puzzles. Great to do with partners, or use as a warm up. Print and go, Works especially well for gifted and talented students who enjoy challenges, but will work with other student populations as well. Enjoy! - Happyedugator
Writing an Objective Summary with Rubric. Handout on how to write an objective summary based on common core standards. Often a constructed response will require a summary of the text. Includes rubric for evaluation.
Elements of a Fairy Tale PowerPoint. This PowerPoint will introduce your students to the main characteristics and elements of fairy tales, such as magic, royalty, characters, lessons and more. Animated slides will engage your students. I use this presentation to introduce a unit on fairy tales. Use it in combination with my Elements of Fairy Tales chart, then have students read several fairy tales (I assign at least 5) and let them determine what elements they can find in each story. - HappyEdugator
