One of my fondest memories of special projects was this Thanksgiving Traditions lesson that I did with my 3rd and 4th graders. Take a look! It’s easily adaptable for any age, and involves a menu of activities that invite students to write a toast, share their family holiday traditions, create a menu, and more.

And if you haven’t already, explore our Spotlight on American Indians. We’re featuring a Trail of Tears lesson plan, and our Thanksgiving movie will be free through Sunday! It features 3 great Activity Pages (including short answers, a graphic organizer and vocabulary), and a fun, fact-filled FYI full of extension possibilities. For K-3 content, check out BrainPOP Jr.’s Thanksgiving movie.

Enjoy, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Now if that’s not a feel good photo, I don’t know what is! Carrie Crawford, Librarian at Northbridge International School of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, sent this in! I think it’s one of my favorite pictures ever.

The kids in the library use BrainPOP all the time for finding information on their Units of Inquiry, playing games, taking the quizzes, watching the movies or just having fun. I will have to tell you, it is almost like a reward for them - “Can we play BrainPOP?” Currently we only have 6 computers and it is always a mad rush to see who is going to get there first. Our internet connections in Cambodia sometimes leave a lot to be desired but most days we are able to log on and “play”.

Using BrainPOP internationally? Give us a sneak peek and let us know how you’re using it! And if any US BrainPOP users are looking for a class in Cambodia to be pen pals with, you can reach out to Carrie.

This totally made my day!

I want to thank you for the webinar last Wedneday. It was filled with helpful and useful information. I couldn’t wait to share with our librarian, Margaret Frick.

Today she used the quiz with few different grade levels. The tip of having the students show which answer they pick by moving to a different corner worked really well.

Looking forward to the next webinar.

Fred Delventhal
Instructional Technology Coordinator
Barrett Elementary School
Arlington, VA

Join us each Wednesday at 4pm for a free webinar! Today we’ll be sharing tips on how to Maximize Your District Subscription. Join us, or check out our upcoming webinars.

So fun to receive photos and notes like this from creative teachers! What a fantastic way to generate excitement among students AND teachers. Thanks for sharing, Dot!

I made the costume for Halloween and possibly for promoting Moby at Brain Pop workshops for teachers.  I am a Tech Assistant at a K-4 building.  We use BrainPop often.  The kids were very excited to see Moby in their school.  During morning announcements Moby was part of the NEWS team and made choir director motions while they sang “America”.

I spent $4.50 to buy the orange/brown shirt and a bucket for my head at Goodwill, used parts of old costumes for the sleeves and legs, and electrical tape for the stripes. The headphones were a broken pair from the lab.  I borrowed the boots from a teacher.

-Dot Gibney, K-4 Technology, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Got some BrainPOP-spiration to share? Post comments below!

Over 400 schools have already taken advantage of our offer to help ensure continuity of learning during the flu season by pre-registering for two weeks of free school-wide remote access to BrainPOP. Students who are not able to attend classes will have access to BrainPOP Jr. (K-3), BrainPOP, and BrainPOP Español for online learning during school-hours (7am – 5:30pm local time).

Has your class experienced a disruption in learning this season? Please comment below and share how you handled it.

Here’s what people have been saying about BrainPOP ESL:

I have Non-English Proficient learners and they LOVE brainpopesl. It starts them off with simple questions and statements commonly heard and used in the English language–ex. “How are you?” “Where are you?” “He is going to get there.” The kids (and me) like it because it’s entertaining, it’s simple and repetitive, and it has A LOT of different modes to learn the same information (which is great because kids can pick and choose which activities they enjoy and learn best from). I can always hear my little Vietnamese 4th grade student repeating the words in a strong voice on the “Hear It Say It.” She particularly likes this choice. I like the “Facts to Know” because it isolates a category of words (like pronouns), and then the words in a sentence, for context. The flashcards are great too for self checking. As the kids get progressively more proficient with the English language, they move on through the levels and build on their knowledge.

Mara Barandiaran, ESOL Teacher

Minor Elementary School, Gwinnett, GA

We love getting feedback. If you haven’t already done so, please check out brainpopesl.com and let us know what you and your students think of the site!

We just received this incredible BrainPOP mural that was created by students at Woodlands Middle School in Palm Beach County, FL.

Great work creating your own versions of BrainPOP features to show what you learned!

How are you and your students getting creative with BrainPOP? Please share your creations!

BrainPOP Educators has won a Tech & Learning Award of Excellence in the New Product category.

After being online for a little over a year, BrainPOP Educators has grown from 60 to 600 to over 60,000 registered Educators, who come here to access and share free tips, tools, and resources. We’re so lucky to have such committed educators that contribute to BrainPOP and bring quality learning experiences into the classroom.

Thank you for making this a true learning community!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
4:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 hour
Learn tips for how to make the most out of BrainPOP’s online animated movies and interactive features. Best-practices for how to engage students and easily incorporate BrainPOP into you curriculum will be shared, as well as suggestions for effective planning. We’ll also talk about the tools and features you’ll find on BrainPOP Educators.

RSVP - space fills up quickly!

The ECOO Conference (Ontario, November 12-13) marks our first participation in a Canadian conference. Stop by our booth and say hi!

Mark your calendars to attend two special sessions featuring BrainPOP.  Lucas Kent, Canadian teacher and author of 6 Steps to Success in Teaching with Technology will share his experiences incorporating technology in his school and highlight the integration of BrainPOP and Promethean resources in his classroom in his Friday session at 9:00 am, room 1438, 6 Steps to Success with BrainPOP & ActivExpressions. Dr. Kari Stubbs, Director of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP will present Digital Citizenship: Teach Your Students How to Use Technology Responsibly, Friday at 1:00 in room 1321. Join this session to discuss digital citizenship and leave with a toolkit of resources on blogs, internet safety, email and IM, and more that can be easily integrated into your curriculum.

Are you a Canadian educator who uses BrainPOP? We’d love to hear from you!