Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas


myspacedvd to ipod video convertertalkingphoto, dvd to psp convertertalkingphoto, dvd to zunetalking photo album

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Merry Christmas


Get a Voki now!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

More Christmas!


Storyline Online is a site I have posted about in the past. Click on the link and then click on MoreStories to find The Polar Express. We all know and love that book! Lou Diamond Phillips does a great job of reading that to us. Remember that streaming video often has some stops and starts along the way.

Follow this link for lots of worksheets with a Christmas theme.


Remember Tales of Curiosity? That site has two videos for Christmas. One is The Night Before Chistmas and the other is The Truth about Santa Claus. Both are great but make sure you preview them before sharing with students.


Mr. Donn has lots of resources on Christmas. This link will take you to powerpoints, lesson plans, plays and almost anything else you might need or want. Looks like a one-stop shopping excursion to me! Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing that in his blog!

Larry Ferlazzo shared another great site. Teachers First's Holiday Central has links to numerous holidays. Just scroll down to Christmas to follow that link to many, many other links that it will make your head spin. Fortunately the links give a brief overview and have grade levels listed. That should make your life a bit easier!

I was just notified via email about Scholastics section on Celebrating Winter. Check it out for lots of ideas.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

December Resources-Christmas Around the World

Here's a list of good links for your upcoming unit on Christmas Around the World.




Santa's Net Click here to go to the Traditions page. You'll find a list of countries with an overview of customs and traditions from that country. Look to the left and click on recipes just in case you want to try some foods from other areas.

Christmas Celebrations Around the World has ALL things Christmas! For country information, just click on the flag and you will go to an info page that will explain some of the traditions. Look at the bottom for anything else you might want for the holiday season!

Another page with country information is Christmas Around the World. Click on the county to get the brief overview.

World View is an older site but there is some good information here. You will open to a world map with links either on the map or right below. I tried to go to some of the links at the bottom but was unable. Try clicking on them though because I think you could find some good things here also.

Here's a neat activity copied directly from Education World..."Writing. Ask students to pretend they have pen pals in foreign countries. Their pen pals celebrate Christmas (or other holidays) in a way very different than they might do. Invite students to write letters to their pen pals to explain how their families celebrate the holidays."

Kaboose always has great info and resources. Clcik on the link to find a short list of countries. When you get to the country info you may find activities, crafts and songs to help you plan your unit.

Christmas Around the World is a web site developed by a teacher. She has an extensive list of countries with links, some that are already listed above. Make sure you scroll up and down because she has links to other holidays.

Christmas Traditions Around the World from How Stuff Works looks pretty good. Not all countries are included but I think many of you will find some information.

History.com has some good videos to use on the histroy of Christmas. Remember to always watch these before showing them to students. Scroll down the page to find other resources. Some things are informational only but can certainly help with your unit.

Keep in mind that I still have my membership to ABCTeach. If you need any printables, let me know and I will check aavailablity of country specific worksheets. I'll continue to add resources over the next week so keep checking back!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Make Five

Here's a simple math game to practice addition, subtraction or multiplication. You can use this on the whiteboard or have pairs of students take turns on a computer. All you have to do is click on the math problem that goes with the number at the top. It is similar to tic tac toe and students are trying to make a line of 5 correct answers. Each student will be designated with their own color. Have fun practicing those facts!

The House of Scary Words


I know...this sounds like a Halloween story. It's not! This is an interactive book which allows students to read the story and change words and pictures to make their own book. The book can be printed out to add to your classroom library.

The book is 17 pages long with quite a bit of reading to it and it doesn't seem to have a spot to stop and save. It looks like you need to finish the project in one sitting. At the end you will see a print button and a save as a pdf. If the kids save the book, remember to have them save it in their file. Hope your kids have fun writing their book!

Tales of Curiosity

I was looking for a short video about Paul Revere this weekend and followed a link from Surfnetkids to Tales of Curiosity. I didn't find what I wanted however I did find a small collection of videos that might be of interest to you.

I particularly like the video of A Visit from St. Nicholas read aloud with the great illustrations from the book. It's less than 6 minutes and most kids would enjoy this.

A Curious Trip in the Solar System was also good however there are pictures of the gods and some are scantily dressed. Check the video out before you show it to the children. It is certainly not offensive but I am sure the kids will giggle when Mars comes up on the screen!

I'm going to bookmark this site and watch as they add new videos. This looks like a keeper!

Writing Fix


Thanks to TipLine for sharing this resource! Writing Fix is a website from the Nevada Wrting Project. It's been around since 2001 and I keep wondering how I missed this great resource. You find all you need for writing here...prompts, lessons, ideas, activities, professional development...anything and everything.

Have you run out of ideas for writing topics? Click the prompt link and you will be given a random writing prompt to use. I was given one to describe my first kiss! Now I wouldn't share that one with kids but you can click again to get another prompt!

I found guides you can print, books you can order but most importantly I found ideas and samples. Sometimes I just need to see the project to decide how I might use the lesson.

Expect to spend some time here. It's a great website and is packed with lots of information that can help you with writing in the classroom.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

WatchKnow


This is a wonderful resource for teachers. Here's how they describe their service:

“What is WatchKnow? Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal.”

The site is easy to navigate. Just go to the left side to search subject areas and click away. A good number of videos are hosted by YouTube which is blocked here in WV but other hosting services are included.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day is just around the corner. Here are some links to some good resources.

Pete's Powerpoint Station has hundreds of slide shows for all kinds of topics. Check out the link for his Veteran;s Day powerpoints.

VA Kids has some neat games. This link takes you to a word jumble. Take a few minutes to review other things on this site.

Education World has a basic webquest of Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It asks students to explore the Unknown Soldier website and then answer 5 questions.

Histroy.com has a number of videos on Veteran's Day. Check them out before you share them with the kids and remember that streaming video sometimes has stops and starts!

Fact Monster has lots of information about Veteran's Day. Anything you want to know is right here.

Thanks to Anne Marie and Larry Ferlazzo for sharing resources

Scholastic Webcasts

Did you miss the RL Stine webcast last week? You can still watch it. Just click on this link to watch a recorded session. RL Stine Webcast

Many students were able to watch the 39 Clues webcast and it was GREAT!!! I think we all loved this. In case you missed it, you can still watch it by clicking on this link. 39 Clues Webcast

I'll keep a look out for upcoming webcasts and let you know when they are happening. This really is a great way to motivate the kids to read, read, read!

Thanksgiving Handprint


This looks like great fun for our primary students. Seems to be simple to do and the finished project looks quite nice for a family gift or a bulletin board decoration. Thanks to Kids Craft for tweeting this and all the RTs out there!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Game Classroom


Looks like lots of games for grades K-6 here! Thanks to MrsDi for tweeting this on Twitter!

R.L. Stine's Webcast


Here's a great opportunity to watch a webcast with R.L. Stine. It's perfect timing...Goosebumps and Halloween. The webcast is scheduled for 1:00 on October 28. A teacher's edition is available right on the Scholastic site.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Math Apprentice


This is a great site for middle school students that explores the relationship of math to real world applications. Students learn the roles of math in various careers and actually play games that allow them to use math skills to complete an activity in a virtual business. You could use this in a whole group to explain how the math skill is used or students could explore independently.

Dr. Mike's Elementary Math Games


Don't be turned off by the word elementary. This site has resources for all grades!

Direct from the site...
"Elementary Math Games is an educational website focused on mathematics. We feature free math games online and printable math worksheets for students and teachers. Our elementary math resources cover first grade through eighth grade mathematics. The games and worksheets on this site are broken down by grade."

Mr. R's World of Math


This is a great site for elementary math. You'll find videos, stories, poems and songs to use! Find it on my portaportal also!

Weebly

Last week I participated in an on-line professional development for building my personal website using Weebly. It appears to be a simple program that allows teachers to build a classroom site, have 40 additional sites for students and host it on a Weebly domain...all for free! I will be working this weekend to build my site so you all can check it out AND I will refer you just in case you might be interested in your own classroom site. When I refer you, I will receive additional sites. That will be important when I work with middle school grades. So...if you receive an invite to Weebly, please check it out even if you do not think you will build a site! Hmmm...just a bit confusing...but I will continue to share info about this and perhaps do a PD after school one day. If you are interested in learning more, just let me know and we can work together to get you moving quickly!! Don't forget, you can go to the Weebly site by clicking on the title of this post.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Lifetime of Color


Sanford has redesigned their website with the teacher in mind. They have lesson plans and activities to integrate art into the regular classroom curriculum. Here's what they say about the lesson plans...

"Our lesson plans will make all of your classroom subjects more colorful! Incorporate art, creativity and color into a variety of subjects like science, social studies, math and reading to help students grasp concepts. Complete with background information and downloadable visual resources, these lessons are also tied to National Visual Arts Standards."

You'll also find a link at the bottom of the page to sign up for educational promotions.

Parade of Games


Oh My...here's a great site from the University of Wisconsin. Here's what they say about this site...

" The Parade of Games web site was created to provide educators and trainers with easy-to- assemble educational games in a technology- enhanced environment to support key learning points. The site demonstrates the creative use of popular game shows and other familiar games to reinforce learning.

Educators and trainers can select and download those PowerPoint games that support your learning objectives and are compatible with the technology capabilities of your learning environment. We hope you enjoy the site and we welcome your feedback."

There are a number of great game templates and all you have to do is add your information. The games are in PowerPoint. If you need some help with this, just let me know. I'd love to try out some of these!

Friday, October 16, 2009

A Billion for a Billion

YouTube again! :( You'll need to watch this at home. This 60 second video focuses on world hunger.

Leveling Appalachia

Larry Ferlazzo tweeted this link today. The video is 20 minutes and well worth the time! This was done by Yale Environment 360. Just click on the title to go to the page with the video.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Word Safari

Here's another site for students to use to practice their spelling words. Students type in up to 7 of their words for practice. It took me awhile to figure it out and I finally had to actually read the directions! Students move the character with the directional keys to touch the letters that spell the word. If they touch an animal, a balloon pops. When all the balloons pop, the game is over. I didn't last very long with this game but I think kids would have no problems with moving the character! They would have a great time playing this at home.

The Big Green Rabbit

I had a great time this morning checking out a new site shared by Kevin Jarrett on his blog, Welcome to NCIS-Tech. The Big Green Rabbit targets young children and focuses on the environment. Children may play a game, watch a video, sing a song, or learn a dance. I watched a video and the story about the Tortoise and the Hare was shared. This is a great site for Pre-K-1st.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Reading Lady

This morning Skipz shared a great resource on Twitter. Reading Lady has many tools to use for language arts. When you click on a topic at the top, you will move to the section on the page. Notice the checks. Although they do not look like links, if you click on them, a document will open. I especially liked the writing section and found some great posters for the 6 traits of writing. Some of the documents are word and some are PDF. Do you know that if it is a PDF, you can not change it. Word allows for revisions. The powerpoints are for teacher use and provide some PD on reading strategies. Good stuff here! Take some time to explore this site!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

October Resources

H1N1
Help our students stay healthy this winter with these educational resources.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for these resources.


BrainPop has a free movie on the Swine Flu complete with a quiz at the end.

BrainPop, Jr has a free movie on washing hands.

Check out the lesson plans and associated resources from BrainPop. You may have to sign up for a free acount to get to this page!

Education World has some lesson resources on how students can lower their risk of catching the flu.

Center of the Cell is an interesting game for older students. They will learn about how flu spreads and take steps to stop the spread. In the first stage of the game I spread the flu to thousands of other people. I think I will start over again!!

Thanks to Richard Byrne for sharing these resources!

Global Handwahing Day is October 15th. Check out these resources for educating your students about washing hands.

Here's a great music video on washing hands. You may have to watch this at home since it is on YouTube. Grrr..still blocked here in WV.



H1N1
Kids Health has lots of great info for students. One section looks at Swine Flu. This is more of an information site and less of an activity site!

Don't forget to scroll down and check out other links. Scrub Club is listed and that relates to healthy behaviors for prevention of the flu!

Check back for more as I update this posting!

Fish Food

This a fun game to use when you are working on the food chain. It's eat or be eaten in the ocean. The more you eat the larger you grow. Watch out for the bigger fish!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Science Bob


I'm following a new person on Twitter and am so impressed with the resources she shares. Her twitter name is dianedell. She recently tweeted about Science Bob's fun Halloween experiments. Those ideas are great fun and follow along with our recent student assembly at TAEP. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to make some slime.

MAKE SOME HALLOWEEN SLIME
Slime and Halloween go together like, well, slime and Halloween. Here’s 2 ways to add a little slime to your October.
Do it yourself slime - If you’ve got a little glue and some powdered borax, you can easily mix up some slime by following the instructions right on the site!

Make sure you click on HOME and explore all of this site for experiments, videos and other ideas for the science classroom.

Thanks Dianedell and Science Bob!!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Scrub Club


Thanks to diandell's tweet for sharing this site. Students can use this interactive site to learn how to avoid the flu. There are songs, games, webisodes and information to learn about the villians which make us sick. It looks to be great fun and educational, too!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Vision of Students Today

Mr. Byrne, teacher and blogger (Free Technology for Teachers) shared this video recently. Although it has been around for some time, I had not seen it and wanted to share it with you. Since it is a youtube video, you will have to watch it at home. If you have an extra 4.45 minutes, I think it is worth your time!

Rhyme Race

Here's a great rhyming game to use on your whiteboard. Students roll the dice and move their marker. If they land on a space which is the same color as their marker, they are given a chance to name a rhyming word. This needs to be a teacher-involved activity since the computer does not tell them if their answer is correct. It would be great for intervention with small groups. The game can have up to 4 students/groups. Try it out. I think you will like it. Thanks to I learn Technology for this tip!

The Tenement Museum


All 5th Grade teachers using Scott Foresman for Reading. This resource would be excellent to use with Unit 1 Week 5! Check it out and see how you could use this great site.

Blackline Masters for Math

Here's a site with lots of blackline masters for math. All you have to do is click on a link and print out the worksheet! It's that quick and easy...except you will have to study the sheets to make sure they work with your lessons! There are oddles of worksheets here! Thanks to Kelowna teacher, Sharon Affeld and Pete who writes the blog, The Teacher List.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Document Cameras in the Classroom

Here's a great slide show for using a document camera in the classroom. Thanks to Mark Warner for sharing this on Ideas to Inspire. To watch this video, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the square with the box inside. When you put your cursor on the square it will say "open in new window." It will open full screen in a new window. Click on the forward button at the bottom. When you are finished, click Esc. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs


Now this looks interesting. I haven't seen Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (rated PG) and have just begun to explore this site. It looks like a promo for the movie but I think students might have a great time checking it out. In school, I would just share the link with students so they could look it over at home. Except for the literary connection, it does not appear to align with specific CSOs.

Do you remember that I have a PortaPortal for students? I have added this to the Neat Web Sites section.

Animals Talk


I have had great fun playing with this site! It is easy to use and fun, too! Have students write a script, remembering all those things you are teaching with Kansas Writing. When they go to talkingpets.org, they will need to pick an animal, type the sentences and play. Backgrounds and voices can be changed and the pets can have accessories. When the students are all finished, they can save and watch their video. If you want to save it for the future though, you will need to copy the address and/or email it to yourself. I'll keep looking to see if there is a way to save it in the program! Have fun!!

Friday, September 18, 2009

If you Printed the Internet...

Did you know that if you READ the Internet, it would take 57,000 years to get through all that information? That's a lot to read!!! That astounds me and I tell that tidbit to everyone I meet ! Now everything on the Internet is not good to read or valid info but none the less it is an interesting fact to share. Click on the title to learn other fun facts about the amount of info on the Internet!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Geo Mysteries



I'm always on the lookout for science sites and was thrilled when "I Learn Technology" shared Geo Mystery. There are several interactive mysteries to solve. Students solve the mysteries by watching videos and working through experiments.

Game Classroom

Here's a great site with lots of games for Math and Language Arts. Choose the grade level and check out all the games. Looks good to me!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Johnny Appleseed


Celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday on September 26th! Vickie Blackwell always has great resources and wonderful ideas!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I Play Math Games


Here's a math site for printing out games AND it is FREE!!! Check the site for specific skill areas, print out the game, pull out the dice, cards or other manipulatives and get going! This is great for small group activities and differentiation. Enjoy!!

The Write-n-ator!


MrsD shared this site on Twitter. Although it is aligned with CSOs from New Hampshire, it would still work for us. Take a minute to look at the NH objectives to see how that aligns with WV CSOs. You'll find a "mission", a video and a writing challenge. There are several pages of projects so make sure you check all of them to align to the skill you are teaching. I noticed one on synonyms, another on alliteration and another on vocabulary development. Lots of neat ideas to use to supplement your writing lessons! I would suggest using the program on the whiteboard and have students write their document on word (or paper) to share with you.

The Story Starter

Here's an interesting site with over 370,000 story starters. You click the bar and get a random story starter. Some are odd but really push for creative ideas! Keep in mind this is not an education site and it is a random generator so use this with caution. I might just use it to help me with an idea but not neccessarily have students use the site. It's plain and to the point. No need to even look at directions for using it! Easy, peasy! Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing this on Twitter! Let me know what you think about this site!

Childtopia


Here's a great site for beginning readers. You can find lots of great resources here...worksheets,crafts, but my favorite is Tales. Click on that link and you will find audio stories! The site is from Spain however you will see that English is the default language. I did notice a very slight accent as a story was read but nothing to distract students. The site has ads and some are in Spanish. To get rid of those ads and to show with full screen, you have to subscribe to premium services and PAY!!! The small screen works for me!

Grimm Fairy Tales

Thanks to Reader Reviews: Surfing the Net With Kids for sharing this site! Grimm Fairy Tales is dedicated to the Brothers Grimm and their stories. You can read stories, listen to stories, play games, and get some info about the Brothers. After esploring this site, head to the bottom of the page to check out some other fables and fairy tales.

September - Constitution Day

Thursday September 17, 2009

The National Constitution Center
The site includes many resources. Most are free. Check out the lesson plans on the right side of the site. Here's something neat to do with your class:

Virtual Field Trip: Signing the Constitution
September 17, 2009, at 9 a.m.

Classrooms around the country can join the National Constitution Center via live webcast for a special demonstration in Signers’ Hall about the signing of the Constitution. Participants will also learn more about the Center’s new virtual field trip program. Educators can register to join the event on the Constitution Center’s website.

If you are interested in doing this, please let me know no later than Tuesday so I can do a quick PD with a laptop and projector so you can do this in your classroom.

Thanks to AnneMarie of Talking Smartboards & Much More
Constitution Relay Game
This is a neat game you could project and do as a large group. Questions are asked about the Constitution and you would type in the answer.

The Bill of Rights Game
This game review the Bill of Rights and has an elementary and secondary level.

American SymbolsThis game is so simple to use. A question is asked about an American symbol and students drag the symbol to the appropriate box.

Vickie Blackwell always has lots of great resources for all curriculum areas. Check out her Constitution resources at

You can always find great ideas and resources from Thinkfinity. I did a search and found hundreds of lessons. You can check them out at Thinkfinity. Refine your search by putting in your grade level and the specific type of resource.

If you need help with Thinkfinity, please just ask. It is a great resource that will make your life easier!

Constitution Day
It's a bit lat however you may order one free copy of the Constitution from this site. Don't stop at the free booklet. Keep scrolling down to find oodles of resources including lessons, links and a poster contest!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Keyboard Climber


Students always need to practice their keyboarding skills. Check out this neat game for help with those typing skills! The goal is to have the monkey climb higher and higher. If a student types the wrong letter, a cocnut drops on the monkey's head and he falls down. This would be a great site for students to practice at home! Share the address with the students. Just click on the title to go to the site.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Thinkfinity-Back to School


Mark Moore, WVDE, sent a link to some great back to school activities. Click on the title of this post to check them out. You'll find interactive games, podcasts and activities for Math, Science, History, Reading & Language Arts!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Phonevite

We made AYP!!! Yipee!!! And you found out about it via an on-line phone service. You can sign up for a free account and send land line messages to up to 25 people...for free! Think about letting parents know about the upcoming parent/teacher conferences, classroom parties,or any number of messages and/or reminders. It's simple to use. First you need to put in the numbers and then you record the message. Phonevite sends the recorded message to the numbers you registered. Simple and free...what could be better than that??

Monday, August 17, 2009

Mini Movies

I found this great site with mini movies on varous subjects and was so excited! Most of the movies are quite short but would be great to use to add a bit more excitement to your lesson. The site looks somewhat new and still has room for growth but I think you'll find some things to use.

Check out this video on The World's Largest Glacier. It's less that 2 minutes but has some great footage!

Watch more Planet Earth videos on AOL Video

Saturday, August 15, 2009

ABC Teach


I have subscribed to ABC Teach for years and have found it to be one of the sites I can count on for printable resources. They are having a back to school special this year and are reducing the membership fee by $5. You can buy a year's membership for $35! Keep in mind that there are free resources also. Check out this link for some back to school resources. http://www.abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/back_to_school/

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Back to School Collections

Check out the Microsoft Back to School Collection. You'll find downloads for forms, bookmarks, lesson plans, certificates, etc for students, teachers and administrators. Before you start to build your own form, make sure you look at this site first. Take a few minutes to look at the entire collection. I found some neat multiplication tables in the student section! If you don't find what you like, go to templates and browse the downloads. You might just find what you need and save yourself some time!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

kidsnumbers.com


Direct from the site..."KidsNumbers.com is the absolutely free math resource designed by teachers, specifically for students and children of all ages. A place where students can practice all aspects of math, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, in a fun and pressure free way."

Monday, August 10, 2009

Office Depot


Have you signed up for a Star Teacher membership at Office Depot? Stop in this Saturday for a teacher Aprreciation Breakfast and giveaways. They are giving 10%discounts for this week just for teachers. Click on the title for more information. You can also sign up for the Star Teacher on-line!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Animoto

Animoto for Education - Bringing your classroom to live
Sign up for a free Animoto account. Animoto provides tools for making videos in your classroom. For those of you who followed my Australia blog, you might remember I used this to make a very short video. I wasn't happy with the video but at the time I did not know that educators were offered the free premium service. As soon as my account is approved, I'll make a video to share with you! Other bloggers/educators rave about Animoto.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Teacher from the Black Lagoon


Check out this video from Scholastic. Mike Thaler reads The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. Use your projector to show the 5 minute video. You can click on the title of this posting to go directly to Scholastic, then click on a button at the bottom of the video to maximize the screen. OR you can view it directly from this blog. This is a great book that targets first day jitters.

Must Pop Words


Here's an interesting interactive for vocabulary development. Letters drop and kids type words using the letters. Students have to use the letters before the screen fills up! The game typically starts with an advertisement but you can cancel that with a small button at the bottom of the screen. Click on the title to play the game.

Interactive Clock


Teaching time?? This is a great clock to use on an interactive whiteboard. You can move the hands to set time and have students tell the time or have them set a specific time. Click on the title to go to the interactive clock. Great resource!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Summer of 2009


Follow my travels to Australia. Check out http://mountaintoptechie.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

We Didn't Start the Fire

This short history of the US is set to Billy Joel's song We Didn't Start the Fire. 4+ minutes of memories put to music is fun to watch!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Great Source i Write


The link takes you to the Grammar Handbook where you can view mini-lessons in video format however take some time to look through this site for lots of writing help. WOW!!