Getting Nerdy FAQ

We cover everything life science, including the scientific method, cells and cellular processes, genetics and heredity, evolution, classification, human body systems and ecology. We are always expanding and revising our curriculum, so you’ll always get content that is changing with the times. Our differentiated lessons can span from 5th grade up to 10th grade depending on the level of your students, with our more rigorous dissection models being used in honors/AP biology/anatomy and post-secondary universities and colleges.

Great question! Whether you purchase a subscription or a single product you will follow the same directions to access your lessons. We recommend you use a personal email vs school email when purchasing in order to make sure your school doesn’t block any communications we send. To access your purchases, simply head to our store and click on “my purchases” in the right-hand navigation. Once there, enter your email to gain access to your purchases. Inside your purchases, you’ll see a list of your products, including any links to download your lessons. If you’ve purchased a subscription, click on “manage subscription” – on the next page, click on “view items” to access the links to all of your resources. One important thing to note: always use a personal email versus a work one as school firewalls often block access to unrecognized external websites.

Nope. Sorry, but that’s like you taking the Cheerios right out of our mouths. All of our lessons are single teacher licenses. We work hard to create lessons for our teachers, and when you share or post them to common Internet spaces for others to access free of charge, you are impacting our ability to continue Getting Nerdy. You CAN, however, buy a license for your buddy, or send them to us for their own license. Here’s everything you need to know about how our licensing works: Licensing. Your lessons come as a digital download licensed only to you or your school, depending on the license type you purchased. 

Yep! Just reach out to us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to get you a quote. For information on our licensing , go here: Licensing

Good question. Yes and no. We DO NOT provide editable PDF documents for a couple of reasons. The fonts and clip art are often from third-party vendors that require us to secure their property as part of their terms of use, as well as to protect our own copyright. We do, however, provide editable PowerPoint presentations (within reason). You can edit to add information or remove information, but you may not take portions of our PowerPoints and add them to your own to sell or list online. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. 

We taught according to the increasing complexity of topics. We always began with teaching the nature of science using the scientific method. Then we start small with our cells unit – the building blocks of life. On to our genetics unit and how those cells replicate and pass on information to create organisms, often with changes such as mutations and adaptations, which leads to our evolution unit. We then taught about the diversity of characteristics from single-celled bacteria all the way up to the kingdom of animals, leading into the human body and how the body is organized into systems. Finally, we reach our ecology unit and talk about how all of these organisms and the human race interact with one another and our environment.

Unfortunately, no. We cannot create actual “lesson plans” for teachers as the requirements for each teacher, school, district, grade level, state, etc. vary SO much. We provide the master lesson guide to tell you how long each lesson lasts and what items are paired together. By following the PowerPoint you should be able to create a lesson plan from start to finish, stating your topic, objective, opener, lesson notes, activities, and exit activities where applicable. You got this!

First of all, we are honored that you would reach out for advice from us. While we would love to help with every request for advice on teaching, we are super busy taking care of all of the inner workings of Getting Nerdy, but that doesn’t mean we are abandoning you! A great place to ask your question would be in our curriculum group on Facebook. There are TONS of teachers in there that can offer support for you. Here’s a link to join the group if you aren’t already a member: Teacher’s Lounge

First off, anything you post online MUST BE PROVIDED IN A SECURE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT. Our materials can easily be used in Google Classroom environments and with some tweaking, can also be used in other LMS’s as well. Here’s a blog post we wrote about how yo use our products in an online environment: Distance or Online Learning

We understand that not everyone has the same technology. In instances when you don’t have access to a Microsoft subscription, you can still access the PowerPoint for free via the web – all you need is a Microsoft log in. If that doesn’t work or you want additional permissions for access, you can always purchase a standalone subscription to PowerPoint or download a free online PowerPoint reader from the web – there are tons of options out there. PDF documents are typically always available to open from any Mac or PC. If you’re having issues or do not have the technical support to open a PDF, there are also online PDF readers. If you’re STILL having issues, reach out to your technical support team at your school.

We have TONS of freebies that represent all of our different product lines! You can grab them all here: FREE SAMPLES

Our products are aligned with the top three sets of standards used by most of our customers – the NGSS, Texas TEKS, and the Georgia Standards of Excellence. You download our alignment matrix here: Middle School Alignment Matrix

ABSOLUTELY. Our products are a one stop shop for everything you need to teach life science, with many of our labs using materials you can find in your own home or your local grocery store or slides that are embedded into our PowerPoints. Our dissection models are the perfect supplement to homeschool curriculum when specimen are difficult to use in a home environment. You can grab our materials list for each of labs here: Unit Materials Lists. We got you!

We try to keep ALL teachers in mind when creating our curriculum, so that’s why we use common household items in our labs and activities. You can grab our materials list for each of labs here: Unit Materials Lists. We got you!

It depends on the lesson! We have lessons that can fit into a 40-55 minute classroom (think mini-labs) and lessons that can take up to 7-10 days (cat dissection models). It all depends on the ability of your students, if you choose to add or subtract information from the lessons and how much work you assign to be completed at home. Many of our lessons are differentiated so that you can meet the needs of your diverse learners.

Simply email us at [email protected] and we will enroll any new teachers on our end. Teachers retiring from our lessons will be unenrolled and no longer have access to updates. This licensing process applies to both individual products and subscription products.

Just like Charlie at the end of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, you get EVERYTHING! All of our unit bundles, STEAM stations, dissection models (not the vinyl though), word walls, interactive notebooks, seasonal products… everything! As more content is created, it is added to your subscription dashboard, so you’ll always have a fresh supply of new products. Whether you choose an annual or monthly subscription, you’ll get access to all of our lessons and any new lessons we create as long as you keep your subscription active.

Our monthly subscription will be $22.99/month or $220 annually. You will be charged on the same date of every month. Schools and districts can get a discounted price on these… simply head to our membership page and click on the link to submit a request for license pricing.

Now that we’ve gotten the subscription portion of our business off the ground, we are super excited to focus on adding new content. You can expect at least 1-2 new lessons a month.

Just like our regular lesson licenses, the same applies to our subscription. It is is one teacher license. Materials should not be shared with other teachers in your school. Simply send them our way to receive their own monthly or yearly subscription to our curriculum.

Yes you can! Use it on any of your personal classroom devices – ipad, phone, personal or school computer, but please do not share your login with other teachers or students.

If you wish to upgrade from a monthly basis to a discounted yearly basis, please reach out to us. We will enroll you in the discounted yearly subscription. If you wish to change to a monthly subscription, please wait until your yearly subscription is set to renew. We can not prorate or discount after purchase.

Please don’t go….don’t goooooo away. If we can’t keep you as a subscriber for any reason, please contact us at [email protected] so we can cancel your subscription or you can cancel in your subscriber dashboard.

If you are a monthly subscriber, your access to materials will be revoked within three days of cancellation.

Annual subscribers, don’t fret... you’ll still have access to your materials until the date of renewal so there’s still time to enjoy your lessons.

Nope! Our lessons are already deeply discounted in the subscription model. If you’re looking for an extra save, choose our yearly subscription over our monthly subscription.

You can cancel your subscription in your subscriber dashboard once you log-in. 

Whether you are a monthly subscriber or an annual subscribers, don’t fret... you’ll still have access to your materials until the date of renewal so there’s still time to enjoy your lessons.

We are so sorry you’re having difficulty downloading files. Please try the download from your purchases again. Be sure to allow the download to go to completion and then right-click on any zipped file to extract files to your desktop. If you’re still having difficulty after this, reach out to us at [email protected]. 

First of all, make sure you are opening the file from Adobe versus from your browser. We also recommend that you make sure your Adobe reader is up to date, restart your computer, download the product again, extract the files by right clicking the folder and try opening once more, making sure you’re opening in your a=Adobe reader and NOT in your browser. In an apparent attempt to make teachers freak out while trying to print something, Adobe made some recent updates that causes printing errors to occur. Don’t fret! They have a fix – head here to see if this will solve your problem: Adobe printing fix

We promise, there is nothing wrong with the PowerPoint. As stated in the first few slides of our PPTs, our presentations are meant to be viewed in slideshow mode, since they contain overlays which animate seamlessly when played properly. Enjoy!

Our digitals products can be used in both Google Classroom and Microsoft School. You can access instructions for using them here: Digital Directions for Google Classroom and Microsoft School

We sure did! We sent several emails about the switch but they may have gone to your spam folder. Anyhow, simply go here for individual purchases "my purchases" found in the right-hand navigation of our store front. Enter your email address that you used to purchase and your products will be delivered to your inbox. You can get to this link anytime by clicking on my purchases on the right hand navigation on our store page. If you still can’t access, shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll look into it!

If you have a membership, you'll access through here: Nerdy Science Membership

You are purchasing digital downloads and receive them immediately upon completion of your transaction. Since we cannot determine if or when you downloaded any product, our refund policy is that we do not provide refunds on digital products unless there is something wrong with the product or the product is duplicated in another product you purchased. You can reach out at [email protected] if your purchase meets one of these criteria.

Please reach out to us – we’re happy to help! Obviously, tech issues vary widely, so we always recommend reaching out to tech support at your institution to remedy technical issues first. If you’re still unable to figure it out, shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to assist!