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.
Rikki Tikki Tavi Writing Activity and Rubric. This activity is a good way to get students to summarize a story in a creative way. Have them write a newspaper article, including illustration, about the story they have read and use this rubric to guide their work.
This works well with almost any story. I used it with Rikki-tikki-tavi with great success. Includes directions on how to write a newspaper article and information on inverted pyramid news stories. - HappyEdugator
Earth Day Word Search Puzzle. Earth Day Word Search has 19 vocabulary words, including earth, April, conservation, biodegradable, ecology, environment, reduce, reuse, and recycle, and more. A fun spring activity and a useful time filler for use after state testing. - HappyEdugator
Story Plot Map. This is a blank plot diagram or story map for use with any story or novel. Students can fill in the sequence of events after reading. Includes a separate page for notes and evidence. Supports common core! - HappyEdugator
TEST PREP Language Arts Standards Review PowerPoint is helpful for preparing for state tests. It has questions similar to those found on the standardized tests. 30 interactivequestions, 73 slides in all. Slides are set up so that students can answer the questions and then check their answers and discuss. Besides grammar, there are reading selections with questions about the selection as well. Supports Common Core standards for Language Arts. - HappyEdugator
Summer Reading List Grade 4 - 6. A suggested summer reading list to encourage reading. Nice handout to give to parents at the end of the year as a helpful guide to some good literature for children to read during the summer. Parents love it! Includes name of book, author, AR reading level and points value. Chosen for the text level of complexity required by the common core standards. - HappyEdugator
Expository Writing. Methods of Expository Writing Activity Handout. Practice identifying correct text structure. Students identify the type of writing they would use for each writing task. They can choose from process, comparison/contrast, cause and effect, or persuasion. 12 different scenarios for writing. Students can work in groups, with a partner, or individually on this assignment sheet. Based on the type of questions often given on standardized tests. Key included. - HappyEdugator
nformational Text Writing Rubric. Rubric for writing informational text, evaluating exceeds, meets, and does not meet standards for ideas, organization, style, and conventions. Supports common core standards. - HappyEdugator
Math Activity - What is Your Name Worth? Back to school, beginning of the year, end of the year, or just for Math fun! Great counting money and addition practice. Print and go. Students get with partners and determine the value of their name by adding the values of the letters from the given code, and check each other's worth. Whose name is worth more? Another sheet has students figure out the value of their weekly spelling words. Kids will soon be figuring out the "values" of all kinds of things, and getting math practice while they are having fun. - HappyEdugator
Elements in Fairy Tales Chart. Have students read 5 fairy tales out of the fifteen suggested choices and have them mark with an x the elements and characteristics of fairy tales they find in their stories.Students can read the fairy tales online at the suggested site and complete this as a webquest, or you may prefer to provide books for them to peruse. Either way, they will see through discovery that fairy tales have many characteristics in common.
- HappyEdugator
Thanksgiving Homophones PowerPoint. Fun November Activity - a homophones search! It's an interactive Thanksgiving story to read. Students have to look for two incorrect homophones on each slide. There are twenty homophones (or homonyms)to find in all, two on each slide, and then students check themselves at the end. Key included on last slide. Fun and engaging, this original Thanksgiving story is about a little boy who travels across the country to visit his grandparents for a typical Thanksgiving holiday. Develops reading vocabulary and comprehension, spelling skills, and correct usage. Supports common core standards. - HappyEdugator
Keywords: Thanksgiving, Homophones, Thanksgiving PowerPoint, Thanksgiving interactive, Thanksgiving activities, Thanksgiving word study, Thanksgiving vocabulary development, Thanksgiving reading, making inferences, frequently confused words, Thanksgiving common core
Nonfiction Vocabulary You Should Know Game Show PowerPoint presentation. A teaching game on vocabulary used in a nonfiction unit of study of informational text. Includes nonfiction, author's purpose, exposition, description, narration, and persuasion, types of nonfiction selections and their descriptions, nonfiction text structures, the difference between dialogue and dialect,as well as stereotype and bias. Good review for standardized testing. Reading more nonfiction is essential to the common core standards. Use for fun test prep. Prepare your students for the terminology. Supports common core state standards.
RI.4.4, RI.5.4, RI.6.4, RI.7.4
Rhyme in Poetry Practice Sheet. This poetry worksheet defines rhyme and then lets students actively identify the rhymes in ten silly sentences. There are more than one rhyming pair in the sentences,and rhyming word endings are not always spelled the same, so students have to look carefully. Also, there are some words that students may not be familiar with, so that presents an additional challenge and a way to develop vocabulary by introducing new words. Key included.
- HappyEdugator
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
Conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunctions - Subordinating Conjunctions SMARTBOARD. An interactive Smartboard lesson and activities on coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and how they are used in sentence structure. Two slides present the acronym FANBOYS for remembering coordinating conjunctions, and another has a hands-on activity where students make compound sentences with them. Two slides present subordinating conjuntions and how they make subordinate clauses, and another slide has a hands-on activity for making complex sentences. Solutions to the activities included. Students will also use commas and periods to punctuate their sentences correctly. On the last slide, students must sort the conjunctions into the correct vortex. Engaging and interactive lesson on the Smartboard, where students can touch and move the sentences and punctuation around. EDITABLE for your classroom use. You may wish to divide the sentences into chunks. - HappyEdugator
Behavior chart is a traffic light that you can display and use to manage classroom behavior. Fun for race car theme. Great to set up at the beginning of the year when you go back to school. This is a classroom management tool that should encourage better work and study habits. You can blow up poster size, print out, tape together and laminate. (Blow the poster up to poster size with a poster maker or have enlarged at a copy center.) Print out the 48 unique car name tags, laminate, and write names on them with transparency markers so that you can wipe them off and reuse them. You can attach cars to the posters using restickable glue sticks, which make them act like sticky notes. -HappyEdugator
Mesopotamia Crossword Puzzle. A cross word puzzle using the following vocabulary words: Paleolithic Neolithic Homo sapiens artisan Sumer ziggurat Mesopotamia polytheism Hammurabi Canaan Assyria
There is a word bank at the bottom for struggling learners. Key included. - HappyEdugator
Back to School Classroom Expectations PowerPoint. Just what you need at the beginning of the year. Use at Open House, Back to School Night, or Parent Night. A basic slideshow template of classroom expectations for students at the beginning of the year. Fill in your own specifics. Back to school expectations include behavior, routines, etc. Project it on your SmartBoard for the first day of school. Editable. Revise for yourself as necessary. I also play it continuously looping at Open House at individual student computers, set up like kiosks.
- HappyEdugator
Cumulative Test of Greek and Latin Word Roots or Stems. Greek and Latin Roots test to assess students on their general knowledge of word stems after we have studied basic Greek and Latin roots. It includes multiple choice, matching and fill-in type questions. A key is provided. The basic Greek and Latin word root lists, which include affixes, prefixes, and suffixes, are also available separately. 35 questions in all. Left editable for your specific needs, so you may customize for your class. Supports common core. - HappyEdugator
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., photograph, photosynthesis)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.4b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede).
Vocabulary Game - Race to the Finish! Can be used with any vocabulary list for students to practice their vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. Print out game board and student directions, (best on cardstock and laminated or placed in page protectors) and provide a die and a game piece for each player. Can be used as a file folder game. Works best with 2 - 3 students per board...but can be more. You can differentiate by allowing students to use resources or not. Also works well for gifted and talented kids who easily get bored. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
Rikki Tikki Tavi Comprehension Quiz. A ten question quiz on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the short story by Rudyard Kipling. It can be used as an open book quiz. Vocabulary and comprehension questions. Explanations of why they chose their answer makes it a useful assessment tool. Key included. - HappyEdugator
