Martin Luther King Jr. Two fun sheets to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Each has an informational text passage about MLK for students to read. Great for Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month, or to go with any unit on the Civil Rights Movement. After they read the text, students need to unscramble the words in the word scramble puzzle. The trick - The words can all be found in the passage. Includes two sheets that tell the story of Dr. King, and answer keys. Enjoy! - Greg Smith

The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice PowerPoint. An introductory preview of the book, with a glimpse of the plot and characters, important vocabulary, themes, and a little about the author. Includes links to information, videos, and music about the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano to build background knowledge. Good read! - Greg Smith

Writing Prompt Cards - 48 Writing Task Cards. Quick writes with grammar connections. These writing prompts will help develop good writing skills for expository, narrative and argument writing. The 48 writing prompts also include a grammar application...such as subject and predicates, sentence structure with compound and complex sentences, pronouns, verbs, direct objects, etc. Students will enjoy the imaginary and real life scenarios and will practice grammar skills in context. Enjoy! - Greg Smith

What is a Portmanteau? Activity. Background information on portmanteau, definition, portmanteau in literature, functions of portmanteau. Students determine the portmanteaus from the given words...interactive and self checking. May be shown as a slideshow or printed out and used as task cards for a center. Also includes activity on making a personal portmanteau with a template for a poster. Great beginning of the year activity! - Greg Smith

Twenty One Balloons Novel Study. Based on the novel by William Pene DuBois. Includes Plot Overview, Vocabulary by Chapter, Discussion Questions, Informational Text on Volcanoes, Volcano Crossword Puzzle, Map Labeling Activity, Internet Research Questions on Krakatoa, Quiz with key, Study Guide with key, Test with key, Coloring page, Justification Page, Around the World Sequencing, and What Would You Do? Culminating Activity. 23 pages.

Foldables for Interactive Notebooks - How to Create Foldables for Interactive Notebooks. Step-by-step directions on how to fold paper for eleven different foldables that you can use in interactive notebooks.

Kids will love this Thanksgiving Write the Room. Cards and Recording sheet. 8 words to write for a fun Thanksgiving activity: cornucopia turkey dinner turkey pilgrim Indian corn headband piece of pie Two recording sheets - one with pictures and one without for differentiation. Recording sheet has primary lined paper (with dashed middle lines). Includes color and black and white versions. - Greg Smith

Kids will love this Halloween Write the Room. Cards and Recording sheet. 8 words to write for Halloween: ghost pumpkin monster spider candy skeleton cauldron vampire Two recording sheets - one with pictures and one without for differentiation. Recording sheet has primary lined paper (with dashed middle lines). Includes color and black and white versions. - Greg Smith

Kids will love this Election Day Write the Room. Cards and Recording sheet. 8 words to write for a fun Election Day activity: vote election ballot debate booth candidate President poll Two recording sheets - one with pictures and one without for differentiation. Recording sheet has primary lined paper (with dashed middle lines). Includes color and black and white versions. - Greg Smith

This place setting craft is a fun way to practice holiday writing! Hang the Thanksgiving Placemats up for a great bulletin board or hall display before sending them home for parents to enjoy this Thanksgiving Day. Includes all the material needed to be glued onto large size fall-colored construction paper (brown, orange, red, yellow - a variety is nice). A great way to integrate writing into your plans, and kids will enjoy this color, cut and paste activity. Plates Header Silverware There are several different styles and options for differentiation. Four levels: No lines, single line, primary and intermediate lines. Three different styles of plates: I am thankful for... Happy Thanksgiving! Our Feast ©2016 Greg Smith.

Fun gnomes writing paper for your little gnome writers. Gnomes can also be used for elves! 7 different styles. In color and black and white, with the option of no borders. Includes a friendly letter template. All papers have a place for name and date. Your students will be able to write letters, stories, poems, and more with this set of papers. Great to go with books on gnomes, like No! No! Gnomes, or to write letters to desk gnomes. Enjoy! - Greg Smith ©2016 Greg Smith.

This resource is a helpful language activity for students with special needs, autism, or English language learners, because it helps build common everyday vocabulary and language with word picture cards. Students use the picture words to fill in the blanks of the story. Includes flash cards of all the picture words used for practice in fluency. - Greg Smith

Kids will love this Veterans Day Write the Room. Cards and Recording sheet. 8 words to write for a fun Veterans Day activity: flag veterans Air Force Marine Army Navy freedom parade Two recording sheets - one with pictures and one without for differentiation. Recording sheet has primary lined paper (with dashed middle lines). Includes color and black and white versions. - Greg Smith

This PowerPoint will help your students analyze themes in the book Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. Use it after having read the book to have class discussion about the themes of friendship, appearance, and acceptance in the novel. Includes journal writing prompts, group work, homework, and a whole class hands-on activity to do to understand challenges facing people with disability. - Greg Smith

Kids will love this Christmas Write the Room. Cards and Recording sheet. 8 words to write for a fun Thanksgiving activity: Santa elves gifts tree fireplace chimney reindeer sleigh

Subject Verb Agreement practice and review. Students will have fun with the Jeopardy style PowerPoint game. Students play it similar to the game show...by answering with the question. Enjoy! - Greg Smith

Ready made basic sight word flash cards for second grade. Just print, cut out, and laminate for durability. No pictures...just the words. Black and white, ink friendly. Good for acceleration in first grade and remediation in third grade, too. - Greg Smith

Magic E Wand and Cards Set. Students will have fun making CVCe words with these magic e wands! They will master the difference between short vowel and silent "e" spelling patterns in this activity. Includes : 6 large magic e cards 20 large short vowel CVC word cards 12 small magic e cards 40 small short vowel CVC syllable cards Teacher Directions Student Recording Sheet Directions: Print, cut out and laminate the magic “e” stars and attach to craft sticks with tape or glue. Print out the short CVC word cards, cut apart and laminate. Place cards around the room. Students must read the words, hold the wand up to the word cards and cover the star with the magic e, and reread the new CVCE word they see. Students can record their words on the recording sheet. Optional: You can use the smaller magic “e” stars to continue the activity as a table game or center making nonsense CVC words into long vowel CVCE words. Font is Century Gothic.

The set of punctuation posters will dress up your room for back to school, and serve as reminders to your student when they are writing. Includes posters for the following types of punctuation, including ones with U.K. terminology, as well: Period - Full Stop Question mark Exclamation point - Exclamation mark Comma Colon Hyphen Semi-colon Apostrophe Quotation marks - Speech marks Parentheses - Brackets Ellipsis Each poster has the name of the punctuation mark, a picture representing it, and a little blurb about how it is used. You can print out (Sized 8 1/2 X 11, but you can enlarge) or project on your whiteboard or Smartboard for a lesson. - Greg Smith