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.
4 Digit Subtraction - with Regrouping Practice Worksheets. Includes ten worksheets with 20 problems per page. 5 sheets with a mix of three and four digit subtrahends, and 5 sheets with all four digit subtrahends. Some problems do not require regrouping to make kids think if they need to regroup or not. Keys included. You can print one on one side for class practice and one on the back for homework practice. Supports national curriculum. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
A Geologic Time Scale PowerPoint. A summary of the eras in Earth’s geologic history. Includes slides on Azoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenzoic, and Neozoic eras. Slides cover from the origin of the planet to the rise of humans. Timeline included. Quiz included with key at the end. - HappyEdugator
Business Letter Writing. How to Write a Business Letter Handout. This technical writing handout is a handy guide on how to write a business letter. Shows how a business letter is formatted, and the six main parts of a business letter: heading, inside address, salutation, body, closing, signature. Includes a blank template, a handout on writing strategies, a persuasive map, and rubric.
Leadership - Ten Qualities of a Good Leader PowerPoint Presentation. Helpful at the beginning of the year. Includes ten qualities that make a good leader. Some of the characteristics of a good leader include self-confidence, a sense of justice, and self-control. Good BTS character education activity or use when you are discussing classroom rules and behavior expectations. We tell kids to be good leaders,and not followers, but they need to know how. Good for back to school or the beginning of the year to provide students an understanding of expectations. Use at the beginning of the year to motivate. Use at the end of the year to review important life skills. (For professional development, insert the word teacher for leader, and student for follower) Animated slides, Partner activity and writing assignment included, along with some quick review questions.
- HappyEdugator
Christmas Pictionary and Charades Game. A fun Christmas game of Pictionary or Charades - where all words are related to Christmas, Winter, or December, and even include Christmas songs and Christmas movies. 99 Different Cards! Print out Cards. Cut out and Laminate. You can then use the cards to play the game Pictionary or Charades. Just team up. Either game is for four or more players. The more, the merrier! The object of the game is to have fun! Fun party game at school or at home! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! - HappyEdugator
Behavior Management Warning Cards. Classroom management tool.. Slip quietly on a desk and don't stop teaching! Be prepared for the beginning of the year or anytime you need a behavior plan. Explain to your students when they come back to school at the beginning of the year that you will expect them to follow your classroom expectations. Give them examples of positive and negative behaviors Tell them that once you give a verbal warning, you expect the behavior to stop. If it does not, and you have to address the issue again, they will quietly, without disrupting instruction, be given a behavior warning card. Just put it on their desk and don't stop teaching! They must sign it, date it, and write the behavior they are being warned about on the back and return it to you. You keep the card for documentation, which is useful for parent conferences or in the event of an office referral. Includes a plain set without name and date if you wish to use repeatedly without documentation. Includes cards with place for name and date, blank cards with a line to write on that you can customize, Last Chance cards, Stop! cards, and Oops! cards...which you can use as you choose. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Frayer Model. Blank Frayer Model Graphic Organizer. Build vocabulary by having students use this graphic organizer to define the term in their own words, provide relevant characteristics and pictures, and give examples and non-examples from their own experience. Includes two versions for differentiation, and two formats...one larger for projecting on a screen, and one smaller with a place for student name and date for printing. Thanks!
Keep all your parent contacts in one place on this easy to use spreadsheet. Includes a separate sheet for each month of the school year, a field for last name, first name, date, and a field with a drop down menu for type of contact (phone, email, etc.) Editable for your classroom needs. - HappyEdugator
Synonyms. Other Ways to Say...Synonyms for Commonly Overused Words. Ten different charts you can use to help your students choose the best words when writing. These can be placed in centers, made on index card rings, or blown up into posters to hang on the wall. Lots of different ways to say common words such as said, walk, run, happy, sad, good, bad, nice, laugh, and like. Great reference tool for students to use when writing. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Bell Ringers - Common Core - Context Clues. Thirty vocabulary in context warm-ups. Quick 5-7 minutes of practice that will help students build vocabulary and determine meaning of unknown words in text. Two slides with strategies for using context clues that students can apply to their daily warm-ups. Each slide has a passage that students must read and then figure out the meaning of the underlined word. They are given four multiple choice answers. Each slide has an answer slide so they can quickly check themselves. After they check, they are directed to write the word, their own definition of the word, and to create a sentence using the word. These can also be printed out on index cards and turned into fun task cards. Supports Common Core. - HappyEdugator
Speech Presentation - Teacher Evaluation Sheet. Easy checklist to assess a student's performance when making a speech or presentation. Assess whether student exceeds, meets, or does not meet standards for organisation, staying on topic, supporting ideas, logical arguments, appropriate sources, voice clarity and volume, etc. Has a column for N/A, so it may be used to evaluate an expository or persuasive speech. Nice to use on presentations given at the end of each grading period. - HappyEdugator
ABC Summarizer. This free summary sheet has students look for things that begin with each letter of the alphabet to summarize their learning. Students can even summarize the school year at the end of the year! As a summarizer, it can be used to conclude a unit of study, a lesson, a novel or short story, or even a movie. May be an assessment tool as well. There is a place for extra notes at the bottom. Supports common core! Thank you for looking. Please check out my shop. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Reading Strategies - Bookmarks and PowerPoint. Use these bookmarks and PowerPoint minilesson to help your students use 7 different reading strategies when they get stuck on a word. Includes bookmarks (double-sided), teacher directions, handout, and PowerPoint slide presentation. - HappyEdugator
Following Directions TEST - A Tricky Following Directions Lesson. Fun for April Fool's Day, too! Give this following directions test to your students, and try not to laugh too much when they are taking it. If they don't read the directions first and do what the directions say, they will be shocked at the end to find out they only had to do number one...write their name! Great test preparation activity to get kids ready for standardized tests, too! Enjoy!
Punctuation - Punctuating Dialogue PowerPoint FREE! Improve writing by using quotation marks! Punctuation is important! Show students how to use quotation marks in dialogue correctly. 10 slides explain the correct way to punctuate dialogue. Explains split quotations, capitalization, commas, question marks, exclamation points, and periods. Helpful for understanding where to place punctuation. Good for reviewing for state tests. Supports Common Core!
CCSS L 3.2c - using commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2b Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
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
Myth Writing Lesson for Middle School. Fun for your mythology unit or writing lesson. Includes lesson plan details, assignment handout, and rubric. Students will learn the elements of myth, research a mythological hero, and write their own narrative on how the hero they chose can solve one of a list of problems that face middle school kids today. - 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
Valentine Quiz...a free 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. - HappyEdugator
