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.
Public Speaking PowerPoint - How to write and present a speech. Presentation explains purpose ( Persuade, Inform, and Entertain), points to consider such as subject, audience, personality, and occasion. Discusses the process of planning a speech, including the body, the introduction, and the conclusion, writing an outline, and preparing the delivery. 25 slides.
Poetry - Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt. Find figurative language while reading poetry! This is a simple hands-on activity to use with students to get them to recognize figurative and sensory language in poems. Students have to find examples of figurative and sensory language such as idioms, personification, hyperbole, metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, alliteration, consonance, assonance, and rhyme. Students can work individually or in groups. You can make the activity a grade or make it a game with the winners getting the highest number of points. Includes teacher directions, student assignment sheet, and student recording sheet. Poems not included. Pull a variety of poetry books from the media center and allow students to search through the various texts. I take my students to the media center and have them work in groups, looking at books stacked on their tables. No doubt some of your pupils will get hooked on poetry after reading the variety of poems in this activity. Enjoy!
Supports these Common Core Standards, and also needs to be reinforced in higher grades as well.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5a Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5b Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5a Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context.
- HappyEdugator
Paraphrasing - Steps to Great Paraphrasing PowerPoint presentation, including what is paraphrasing and why it is important. Stimulate students to think. Strategies to turn what they are reading into written summaries. Helpful when teaching how to research and write notecards and source cards. Students need to know how to paraphrase to avoid plagiarism by putting their research into their own words. Happy writing! - HappyEdugator
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
These are practice sheets for multiplication facts using the commutative property of multiplication: a x b = b x a. Includes practice sheets for multiplication zero through the twelve times table. 13 worksheets. - HappyEdugator
Diary of Anne Frank PowerPoint for teaching play by Goodrich. 23 slide presentation walks through the play The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett scene by scene with essential questions, activities, vocabulary and check tests. Editable for your classroom use. - HappyEdugator
Homophone Match Worksheet. This is a challenging homophone matching activity for upper grades. Have students work in individually or in groups with a dictionary to look up unknown words. Words and definitions are chunked into groups of six. - HappyEdugator
Commonly Confused Words TEST. Good spelling help and standardized test prep. Fifty questions of commonly confused words that are often seen on state tests. Includes common homophones like there, they're and their; usage errors such as its, and it's and should have vs. should of; as well as words such as sit and set and lie and lay. Should really make them think. - HappyEdugator
Figurative Language PowerPoint game. A fun interactive way to practice identifying types of sound devices and figurative language used in poetry and writing. One slide reviews definitions of similes, metaphors, idioms, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, and onomatopoeia before the start of the game. Students are given two sentences and have thirty seconds (fifteen seconds each) to decide what type of figurative language or sound device the underlined words function as in a sentence. (Time's up when the lines under the greyhound vanish) They can work with a partner and use wipe-off white boards or write the answers down on paper. After time is up, the sentences will disappear. Click again to check answers. Advance slide and click to start with a new set of sentences. 36 sentences in all. Updated and revised! (Please note - some people have expected that there is sound and a countdown timer. There is no sound or countdown timer...I cannot add that without removing the animation. Students just watch the racing dog and the two lines - when the first line disappears, they have to hurry up before the second line goes and time is up.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5a Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5b Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5a Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context.
- 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!
Icebreaker - Back to School People Search Handout. Use this at the beginning of the year as an icebreaker and getting to know you activity. Find someone who...Give this to the students, and give them time to find people on the grid and have them sign the box when they do. It's fun, and a good way for students to get to know each other. Afterwards, they will do a writing activity about the experience. You will end up not only getting to know your students, but you will have a work sample as well. Teacher directions included. - HappyEdugator
Sentences - Complex Sentence Worksheet and Handout. The first page of this document is a handout that explains sentence structure, and how to distinguish between simple, compound, and complex sentences by identifying independent and dependent clauses and the use of subordinating conjunctions. The second page lists some common subordinating conjunctions and has fifteen practice sentences to be completed by students to make their own complex sentences. Black and white ink saver and color version included. Also included a key with possible answers for discussion. Print and go. No prep. Supports common core state standards. - HappyEdugator
Science Fair Project Student Guide. Includes 100 science project ideas, directions for creating a science fair project, how to graph and record data, and how to make a display board with dimensions and helpfu hints for success. I have also added information on how to create a logbook with rubric, parent letter, parent tips, a list of helpful websites, and a volunteer form. 19 pages. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator
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 marks, and periods. Helpful for understanding where to place punctuation.
Mystery Writing PowerPoint. How to write a mystery story. Do your students like detective stories? Have your students write a mystery story using the strategies presented in this PowerPoint presentation with animated graphics. How to write a good beginning, middle, and end, and use clues and a red herring to engage the reader. Start a class detective agency, where students can become detectives and solve the mysteries. Supports common core state standards. Animations and sounds. 24 slides.
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction short story that is rich in figurative language and theme. This PowerPoint with animated graphics introduces three common types of figurative language- similes, metaphors, personification- in before reading activities. Then, during reading, students can look for these types of figurative language and write them down in the chart shown on the screen. (Also available separately as a printable) After reading activities include discussion questions and writing activities. The last slide has links to the online video, and students can make a Venn diagram to compare the movie to the short story
Summer Outdoor Fun Crossword Puzzle! Fun and free as a thank you to all my wonderful followers We all hate to see summer go, but hopefully it will last just a little bit longer. Enjoy this little piece of summer! - 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