Word Nerd

In a classroom that never sleeps...

A new superhero emerges from the shadows...

To save the grammar day.

Word Nerd takes the duty of educating and informing YOUR students about the most pressing grammar concepts of day very seriously.  But he does have a sense of humor and a very catchy theme song!

So run, walk, jog or sashay over to this website to download the first episode of Word Nerd for FREE.

Nerd Out.

Writing Dude 2.0

This is my baby, his name is Writing Dude.

I created him as a way to teach writing skills to my first graders using my SmartBoard and all of the fun bells and whistles I'm able to incorporate into my lessons.  At first I created theme music (intro & closing) and was pretty proud of myself.  I got some feedback one day about wishing he could talk and read what is in the speech bubbles in his lessons.  That stuck with me and I've finally worked on it and have been successful!

The software is called Notebook and my personal laptop has the most up-to-date version which has a recordable microphone...problem solved.  BUT my school computer that is connected to my SmartBoard cannot use that version and must use an older version, and for some reason the recordings don't work.  So plan B was to use a voice changing app on my phone.  The one I'm going with right now is

It's a bit time consuming, but I like the results.  You can check out #15 of my Writing Dude series by clicking below.

Even if you don't have a SmartBoard, you can still use these lessons.  All you need is a computer (with the Notebook software installed on it...it's FREE and great!) and an LCD projector.  You can project the lesson and manipulate it from the computer (students just can't use it interactively).  You are also able to export the lesson to a PDF format.

Let me know if you have any questions about Writing Dude or SmartBoards in general because I've become super proficient with them and love it!

Smartboard FREEBIE

I love my SmartBoard a lot! I have so much fun creating lessons and activities with the Notebook software and it makes my teaching flow so nicely and my student's are more engaged.  

So I was planning for this coming week and opened a file about contractions as it comes up again in our Houghton-Mifflin curriculum.  But I took one look at it and thought, "Ew, that's pretty ugly and boring.  It needs a makeover."  And voila, an updated contraction review that I'll use this morning.  
Click on it to get it :-)

Go check out lots more FREEBIES over at 

Manic Monday

I held my first ever blog giveaway this past weekend, to celebrate the completion of my Writing Dude SmartBoard series.  I'm happy to announce that

Amber L. was the winner and has received the entire 13-lesson MEGA pack as her prize!  I'd like to do another giveaway this summer and am thinking about my Readers' Theater Partner Play packs as prizes...

It's Monday again and I'm still on vacation in Minnesota, where I'm from.

Yesterday we went to a neat festival in Virginia, MN called the Land of the Loons Festival and I bought a very cute handmade bag.  Tomorrow I need to run 12 miles as my last long run before next Saturday's half marathon.  All this while Anchorage is experiencing lots of sun and hot temperatures....rare for that place we call home!

So enough babbling and let's link up with Charity over at 

where I'm sharing an Alphabetical Order SmartBoard file.  One of my goals this summer is to get more of my SmartBoard stuff ready for TPT.  I use my SmartBoard for EVERYTHING and LOVE making games, activities and lessons with it.  I do my entire year of math lessons with it!

Freebie Friday

I'm linking up with 

Now that it's summer, I have much more time to work on creating teaching materials.  The first thing I tackled was finishing up my Writing Dude SmartBoard lesson series.  There are 13 lessons that teach important skills and concepts for beginning and progressing writers.  Lesson 10: Proofreading, is my  freebie this week!