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.
March Craftivity: Lion and Lamb Mobile. Here comes Spring! Directions on how to make a cute mobile decoration for the Month of March with a lion face made from a paper plate, and cute little lambs that hang down made from Dixie cups, cotton balls, and pipe cleaners. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, so the saying goes. Your students can take this mobile home and hang on their porch to catch the March wind.
- HappyEdugator
This word wall book also makes a great ABC Book - alphabet book for students to create their own. Fun for back to school or at the end of the year. Use with a word wall and many other vocabulary activities. Younger students can draw pictures to represent each letter, while older students can use the books as a review of a story, social studies or science unit, vocabulary activity, etc. Each page has an uppercase and lowercase letter at the top, a picture to represent the beginning sound, and a drawing box to write the letter. Lines for writing 12 different words. You can also use as a summarizing activity and have students find words that begins with each letter for their lesson, unit, novel, or even the whole year in review! Enjoy!
Analyzing Context Clues PowerPoint. Strategies help students figure out unknown words in text. Build vocabulary and reading comprehension by teaching common context clues. This PowerPoint has explains five different context clues: definition, synonym, antonym, example, and inference. Practice activity at the end with answers. 15 slides. Good for test prep! - HappyEdugator
A list of 120 writing prompts that will keep your students writing for most of the year! These ideas will motivate students to write creatively and may inspire them to write more! Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
One of my favorite Easter activities is reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. It is a children's classic that is especially fun to read at Easter time. This PowerPoint will help your students understand the vocabulary in the story. Great story for Easter or Spring. Share this classic with your students, and use the PowerPoint slides to discuss difficult vocabulary as you read. The slides are in alphabetical order, but you can reorder the slides if you wish to present them in the order of the story. Each slide has the word, a definition, a graphic, and a sentence from the story. Use them before, during, or after reading to increase comprehension and expand vocabulary. Includes a link to the story if you don't have a copy.
Valentine's Day. Valentine Activity Fun Pack for Primary Grades. Valentine's Day activities for math and language arts, puzzles, bookmarks, bracelets, and a Valentine story with comprehension questions. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Ending Sounds Matching Game. Teach phonemic awareness and build vocabulary. This is a Literacy Center that is fun for your emergent readers! Students match the ending sound of the picture on their game card to one of 6 pictures on their game boards.
Included materials:
Game Sign for Center (Slide 1)
Directions for Center (Slide 2)
Game boards: 8 for variation of play (Slides 4-12)
Game cards: 60 (Slides 13-23)
Manage Your Literacy Center:
Print out materials on cardstock.
Laminate materials for durability.
Materials can be stored in large gallon zip lock freezer bags.
Model the game for students and emphasize ending sounds by stretching them out.
Demonstrate how to clean up the center when the game is over.
State Standards: Supports Phoneme matching: Final sounds. Builds vocabulary and phonemic awareness.
•Game Board 1 - stop, bed, sock, shell, ear, elf
•Game Board 2 – dog, key, cave, crib, broom, bag
•Game Board 3 – penguin, bus, nose, worm, bib, tent
•Game Board 4 – lollipop, turtle, box, lemon, carrot, goose
•Game Board 5 – school, chick, knife, car, pig, hose
•Game Board 6 – shoe, sun, ram, truck, fish, giraffe
•Game Board 7 – chair, ship, eye, badge, yellow, nickel
•Game Board 8 – fruit, brush, mouth, match, cry, five
Students (non-readers) may name their pictures with similar items. ( for example, lamb = sheep)
Apple Sled Kite Deer Elephant Fan
Tire Crab Violin Watch Frog Zoo
Gum Harp Lion Jet Kitten Lamp
Map Nut Ostrich Paint Brush Rat Flag
Abacus Cake Exit Tooth Thumb Butterfly
Fox Guitar Horse Jug Fridge Mop
Pie Olive Pumpkin Rose Scarf Wolf
Umpire Magnet Vet Yard Web Avocado
Tomato Wood Piano Yogurt House Tree
Watermelon Train Drum Camel Scissors Tack
Rake Brush Bridge Ball Cash Radish
This set includes 26 Burlap and Chalkboard Accountable Talk Posters, and 26 duplicate posters in black and white if you need to save ink. The set includes an editable poster for each style, so you can add your own wording! Use these posters to remind students what to discuss in a group, and hold them accountable to get the work done.
You can also give each group a set of these as cards to work with. When you print, go to settings, select four slides per page. Print, cut out, and laminate. You can save them in dollar store soap boxes, ziploc baggies, bind them into little booklets, or put them on a ring. - HappyEdugator
Chalkboard and Burlap Word Wall Headers and Sight Words. Decorate your classroom this school year with this chalkboard and burlap alphabet Word Wall. Includes Fry and Dolch Sight Words. Dolch words Pre-Primer through Grade 3, and the first 100 Fry sight words. With the blue trim, they will go with a nautical theme or shabby chic, too! You can also use the letters to make welcome signs, or create other messages.
Includes:
26 pages chalkboard and burlap headers - two styles, circles and rectangles, and with two blank ones for each style
82 pages of chalkboard and burlap sight words - Dolch through Grade 3 and Fry 100 Most Frequent
- HappyEdugator
Walrus Facts and information all about walruses. If you are studying arctic animals, introduce your students to walruses with this PowerPoint presentation about these amazing marine mammals.
Includes slides on:
What is a walrus?
Physical features - with a link to a video on walrus sounds
Flippers
Skin
Tusks
Whiskers
Diet
Life Expectancy
Reproduction
Range
Population
Behavior
Threats - Natural Predators
Threats - Climate Change
Threats - Ship Traffic and Oil Spills
21 slides of informational text on walruses. - HappyEdugator
Bell Ringers - Common Core - Sentence Structure. Thirty ways to practice identifying simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. Quick 5-7 minutes of practice that will help students build writing skill using sentence structure. Includes a couple of slides with information on what sentence structure is and why it is important. Each slide has an activity and an answer slide so they can quickly check themselves. These can also be printed out on index cards and turned into fun task cards. Supports Common Core. - HappyEdugator
Harriet Tubman - PowerPoint explains the history behind the American Heroine, and how she led slaves to freedom, fought against slavery, served in the Civil War, worked for women's rights and suffrage, and served her community with humanitarian efforts to help the needy and the elderly. Slide topics include -
Who was Harriet Tubman?
Early Life
Suffered Cruelty as a Slave
Marriage
Determined to Be Free
Escape
The Fugitive Slave Act
Rescuing the Family
Rescue Missions
Close Calls
Tough Love
Religious Faith
Rescuing Her Parents
John Brown
Harper's Ferry
Civil War
After the War
Harriet Remarries
Later Years
Queen Victoria
Final Years
Listening to Her Inner Voice
Honors - Statues, Stamps, and $20 bill
Legacy
Shades of Meaning Verb Cards - Bundle of Six Sets. Cut out and laminate these 16 different cards IN EACH SET illustrating different synonyms of the verb "LAUGH, SEE, SAID, JUMP, RUN, AND 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. Buy the bundle and save 20%!
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
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
Phonics PowerPoint Bundle. Includes 8 PowerPoints to help students with decoding and sounding out words:
Letter Sounds PowerPoint.
Short a Sounding Out Words PowerPoint
Short e Sounding Out Words PowerPoint
Short i Sounding Out Words PowerPoint
Short o Sounding Out Words PowerPoint
Short u Sounding Out words PowerPoint.
Word Families PowerPoint.
Word Families.
- HappyEdugator