That’s right! Only 5 more days to SUBMIT a lesson plan for our Election Lesson Plan Contest! We will be choosing 3 winners for lessons featuring BrainPOP and 3 for BrainPOP Jr. We’ve already received some fantastic entries! You can check them out here and get some great ideas to weave our Election ‘08 Spotlight resources into your classroom.  Submitting is quick and easy, and you can win great BrainPOP PRIZES for your class!

BrainPOP Educators Logo

I’ve been exploring the world of social media and how BrainPOP fits into it. Hopefully you noticed that you can subscribe to RSS feeds of BrainPOP Educators for quick updates, and the range of social bookmarks we offer at the end of each post. You’ll find a new “blidget” for Recent Posts on the right menu that you can add to your own blog or website by clicking on “Get Widget.”  I’m also looking into some exciting possibilities on Facebook and some other fantastic social media networks that we’ve been keeping our eye on, as a way to reach a larger community of teachers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on social media. Please post comments here!

Frida Kahlo! Conquistadors! Mexico! We’ve got some fantastic resources ready for you to support Hispanic Heritage Month! BrainPOP’s Hispanic Heritage Spotlight has some free content, and of course, a free trial offer.

K -3 teachers, explore Mexico with your little ones! 3rd grade and up, check out our quiz on César Chávez to kick things off, and take it from there with our additional topics ranging from the Mexican-American War to Simón Bolívar!

Our Election Spotlight is still available too, and is 100% FREE! Submit your best lesson plans for both here, and don’t forget about our Election ‘08 Lesson Plan Contest, going on until September 30. Take a few minutes and submit your favorite lesson plan, and win BrainPOP prizes for your class!

Enter now! Submission is quick and easy - takes only a few minutes and you can win great BrainPOP prizes for your class!

Submit an original lesson plan that uses BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. election resources and you’ll be eligible to win great prizes!

Click here for more info!

Here at BrainPOP, we’ve received many emails from kids about September 11th. The anniversary raises difficult questions that educators and parents may struggle to begin answering. We’ve created a movie to help support the educators and parents who want to engage in a discussion about this sensitive issue.

We suggest previewing the movie in advance and allowing for discussion time before, during, and after the movie.  Kids may want to share how they feel out loud or journal about their feelings.  Some kids may not feel comfortable sharing their feelings at all and that’s ok too.

We’d love to hear how you use this movie in the classroom or at home, or any other feedback you have. Thanks!

Now that the school year is underway, it’s the perfect time to think about how to build BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. into your class routines! One idea I really love is using BrainPOP Jr.’s Belly Up comic as a shared reading for K - 3 students. Start by introducing the topic and reading the Belly Up together, modeling fluency and expression. Use the Print feature to make copies available for each of your students. These can be used for practicing in class and at home. I would partner my students up and give them a bit of time to practice their Belly Up each day, and then we’d have a “performance” on Friday mornings. You could do the same sort of thing with BrainPOP’s cool new FYI feature, which can also be printed and used for shared or partner reading. It turned into a really memorable class tradition for us!

I’ve also been seeing some really cool uses of our Featured Movie (check out the BrainPOP On Your Site button on the left!).  Check out how Robert, from Port Orange, FL, invites his students to preview BrainPOP’s featured movies and use our graphic organizers to take notes!

http://www.maxclassonline.net/blip/BrainPOP!.html

What are you doing to incorporate BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. into your class routine? Let’s brainstorm! Please post your ideas here.

Check it out! You can get a quick glimpse of our most popular movies by day,  month, and subject with our new Top Movies feature:

http://www.brainpop.com/top_movies/

Great tool for making planning quick and easy! Check in to see what topics other educators are using in their classrooms.

You can also vote for your favorite BrainPOP Jr. movie by participating in our poll on the right. Or, post your favorite back to school BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. topics below!