Elephants - Fun Facts About Elephants PowerPoint. Learn about elephants! 21 slides of fun facts about elephants, which can be used to introduce a jungle theme unit of study. Informational text for reading practice. Learn the differences between African elephants and Asian elephants. What do elephants eat? Where do elephants live? Engage students and grab their attention, or build background knowledge for reading books with elephants, like Babar the Elephant or The Magician's Elephant. Updated August 2014. - HappyEdugator

Giraffes - Fun Facts About Giraffes PowerPoint. Learn about giraffes! This giraffe PowerPoint has interesting and fun facts about the life of a giraffe. Informational text can be used to introduce or supplement a jungle theme unit or a unit about the zoo, giraffes, or African animals. Engage students and grab their attention, or build background knowledge for reading books with giraffes, like "Giraffes Can't Dance." It can even be a fun supplement to the book "The White Giraffe." - Happyedugator

Book Project Rubric. This rubric was created to go with my Book project for independent reading assignment, but works well with almost any book report. One version has a word count included, and the other version does not, for differentiation. Both versions are included here. - HappyEdugator

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

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco Tic Tac Think. Differentiated assignment menu to use as an extension writing activity for the book. In this activity, students choose a task from each horizontal row. Students have a choice, but all will focus on symbolism, perspectives, theme. In some cases the teacher may want to specify certain tasks for individual students. You may challenge some students to complete all the squares for enrichment. PowerPoint format. You can display on whiteboard or print out slides as handouts. Included is a writing checklist for assessment. - HappyEdugator

Poetry - Types of Poetry TEST. There are eight different poems on this test, and students need to match them to their type. Diamante Haiku Limerick Sonnet Ballad Concrete Lyric and Free Verse You can have students write the type of the poem next to the poem on the test, or to save paper, students can number 1-8 on a separate piece of paper and match the poems to the word bank at the bottom. Updated 2016 - HappyEdugator

Sentences. Sentences Practice Worksheets. Students need to understand complete sentences. Good practice for identifying and fixing fragments, and run-ons, and review of sentence types: declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Includes seven different practice sheets. Keys included. Revised June 2015 with additional content.

Parts of Speech Scavenger Hunt. Find the different parts of speech in books or other texts. A sheet for each of the eight parts of speech. Verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections and prepositions. You will need to provide a variety of picture books for your students or let them use their books that they are reading for independent reading. You could also select stories to use from a textbook, or project a text on your whiteboard. Students have to find as many of the specified part of speech as possible in the time allowed. Great for differentiation. Use as a whole class activity, in centers, or in cooperative learning groups. You can rotate students to different centers, each with a different story or book and a different part of speech to search for, or you can have all students search for the same part of speech in a particular text and use it as a review

Writing Paper - Lined Paper - Rock and Roll Theme. Writing paper for your Rock Star classroom. Guitars, drums, and fun music notes decorate and inspire.

Memorial Day Word Scramble. Fun Memorial Day activity for language, spelling, and vocabulary development. 2 puzzles! Print and go. In the one for upper grades, students have to unscramble 22 words that have to do with Memorial Day. In the other one, there are ten words for primary grades. Some of the words included: Veteran, Freedom, Poppy, Decoration, Military, United States. Keys included. Enjoy! - 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 -

Back to School Study Skills Tips for Success PowerPoint. Great study tips for back to school! 13 slides with animation on basic study skills, such as setting up a study center, organizing papers, prioritizing assignments, and managing time...plus more! Use on the first day of school to get students off to a good start. The slides can be printed as posters as well. Last slide ends presentation with an inspirational quote from Bill Cosby.

Reading - Independent Novel Reading Assignment. Keep your students focused on learning with this weekly independent reading assignment. Students select the novel they wish to read, and then read during a silent reading time. This assignment will have them learning new vocabulary, summarizing, and analyzing what they read with response to character, setting, plot, theme and author's style. The first page is a handout detailing the assignment, and the other pages are the student work pages. Includes a partner sharing activity. Enjoy! -

Animal Farm Study Guide Handout. Reading Animal Farm by George Orwell? A printable study guide handout which asks students to come up with their own descriptions of major characters in Orwell's Animal Farm, and also asks them to list and discuss the commandments the animals used for their laws. Students will also have to use higher level thinking to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the novel.

Expository Essay Writing PowerPoint and Graphic Organizer. Guide students step by step through an expository writing prompt, using a four square graphic organizer. Students will learn how to put their ideas in logical order to support their thesis statement, develop an introductory paragraph with a hook, and develop a concluding paragraph that ends with a punch! Includes printable graphic organizer template to print (black and white), links to online resources, and a writing prompt for students to develop into their own 5-paragraph essay. Helpful test prep to develop writing for state standardized writing tests. -

Back to School Quotes PowerPoint. Beginning of the year inspirational quotes to motivate your students with success strategies for the new school year.Use at Back to School Night, Open House, Parent Night, or on the first day of school. Smooth Sailing through the Year Ahead - Beginning of the Year introduction. Slides have a sailing theme with a variety of photos of tugboats, barges, yachts, and ships on the Hudson River. I have added a music clip from Microsoft to play across all the slides, but you can change it to something different if you would like or if the link ever becomes broken. (Add your own music or use music from PowerPoint clip art) to start the beginning of the year off in the right spirit. Use it any time you wish to motivate your students to be successful. Slides can be printed out as posters or on cards for the classroom as well. Smooth Sailing Through the Year will put your students on the right course for success. Quotes from famous people such as Mark Twain, Norman Vincent Peale, Henry Thoreau, Dale Carnegie, Ben Franklin, Mark Spitz, and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few, promote character traits necessary for success. The inspirational quotes are accompanied by the photos of boats on the Hudson River, and can advance automatically with the music. Total playing time is about 4 minutes.

Valentine's Day Bookmarks. Six Valentine's Day bookmarks: three inspiring and colorful bookmarks to give your students on Valentine's Day to instill a love of reading. Three more bookmarks to tell them you love them. Cute sayings like "Owl love you forever." Editable so you can personalize with student names. Print out on cardstock or tagboard and laminate for a bookmark that will last. Nice gift from teacher to student instead of a card.

Parts of a Book PowerPoint. Basic parts of a book from the cover, spine and pages to what is inside. Distinguishes between fiction and nonfiction books, and explains how a book is organized, from the title page, table of contents, to the index and bibliography. Animated graphics make it engaging. Supports common core standards. Revised with more content in June 2014 - HappyEdugator CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1 Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.1 Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

Figurative Language Color Idioms. Idioms with color words. One sheet is a multiple-choice sheet and the other students have fun coloring the matching idioms and their meanings. Includes a chart of colors and their moods.Supports common core. Enjoy! - 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