Today I’m reporting live from the T+L Conference in Seattle! We’ve really been enjoying this conference, meeting educators from all over and sharing ideas on integrating BrainPOP. We had such a fantastic turnout at yesterday’s workshop, “Integrating BrainPOP Into Your K-12 Curriculum,” that the fire marshall ordered people away! If you missed out, check out our professional development resources. Keep an eye out for upcoming guest bloggers by our incredible special guest educators who joined us at our booth. If you were able to join us in Seattle or stopped in at our booth, we’d love to hear what you thought! Please post comments below!

Thanks to Erin Kearny, who shared this great way for kids to track their answers when taking BrainPOP Quizzes:

I use this so that my students can record their quiz answers individually or in pairs/groups. Sometimes they are graded, other times they are just to give students or myself an idea of their comprehension. I have also used BrainPOP movies as stations in my class where partners go to learn more and record their quiz scores as proof of understanding.

Thanks so much for sharing, Erin! You can download BrainPOP Quiz Paper and other cool Graphic Organizers in Classroom Tools. You can also print the quizzes out directly from BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. for each movie, of course.

What are you doing in your classroom with BrainPOP? Please post below!

I am thrilled to feature one of our first place Election ‘08 Lesson Plan Contest Winners as our first guest blogger!

Beatrice shares her experiences using BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. with her two children as a homeschool educator in this powerful essay.

Beatrice’s award winning lesson can be found here.

A Different Way to Learn

by Beatrice Garcia

Eight years ago I decided to leave my traditional school classroom in Miami, Florida, and dedicate my life to help my daughter who had been recently diagnosed with autism. Three years later, I started my own school at home to teach her, since her first grade teacher told me she was sure Marie would never graduate from high school. I always remember this teacher. She was the one who made me realize that special needs children can achieve more than we can imagine if we have the interest to find new ways to teach them.

Among the many curriculums, educational materials, and resources that I have put together to teach and inspire my daughter to want to learn, there is one that is her favorite, BrainPOP Jr.

(more…)

Fall marks the beginning of BrainPOP’s busy conference season; in October, we’ll be criss-crossing the country twice.  We just finished up at ILC, October 14-16 in San Jose, where we were able to connect with a great teacher community in the San Jose area and beyond. We also saw some fabulous presentations that highlighted BrainPOP.  Please be sure to let us know if you are highlighting BrainPOP in a conference that you are presenting at!

Next, it’s on to the National School Board Association’s T+ L Conference in Seattle, where you’ll find us at Booth 211 from October 28-30. Check our Conference schedule for additional events and please contact us if you are interested in presenting at a conference!

Do you have your Halloween costume yet?
Well, what could be cooler than dressing up as your favorite BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. character?
We’ve seen some very creative BrainPOP-inspired costumes over the years (pictured above - Joshua as Moby and Christian as Tim, from Port Orange Elementary in Florida), and thought it would be fun to create a contest! So get those cardboard tubes, boxes, and construction paper out, and start crafting! Individual students, small groups, or classes are welcome to collaborate! Send in a photo of your student-made costume with a signed release form (download below) to enter. The top three contest winners will receive a box of BrainPOP goodies for you and your class!

If your students don’t participate in Halloween, they can always draw their favorite BrainPOP characters. Student drawings, along with signed release forms, may be mailed in and published on BrainPOP Jr.’s Bulletin Board.

You can print the release form here:

photo-release-form-educators

I recently received a question about how to track what movies students watch and what they learn.  I wanted to share my suggestion, and put it out there to brainstorm other ideas as well. Please share comments below with other ideas or suggestions to improve this model.

Create a notebook to keep by the computer(s) with a few simple headings that students can replicate on each page. Something like this:

Name | Date | BrainPOP Movie | Quiz Score | 3 Cool Facts I Learned

Obviously, you’ll want to modify this to make it work for you and your students. What other questions would you add or alternate the last one with? Let’s share ideas!

Get into the swing of science with our new Spotlight on Science Skills! Whether your school science fair is now or later in the school year, you can get your students thinking about the how’s of scientific inquiry. Warm up with our Scientific Method Quiz to see what your class already knows. Introduce students to (or review!) the Scientific Method movie, and help get their minds into gear about how to do a Science Project or experiment in class. Explore other movies to get some inspiration, from biological Classification to Types of Rocks to Microscopes and Telescopes. Don’t forget K-3 Science Skills resources for BrainPOP Jr. users! Lastly, enjoy seeing BrainPOP in action in different classrooms with our free science tutorial videos!

We are thrilled to announce our Election ‘08 Lesson Plan Contest winners!

For BrainPOP Jr.

1st place - Let’s Vote for Our President!

by Beatrice Garcia, Elementary Ed./Home Educator Teacher
The Garcia Family Home Study Program, Georgia

2nd place - Your Right to Vote

by Peggy Perkins, GT Teacher and Technology Integration Guide
Mina Elementary, Texas

3rd place - Battle for the Presidency

by Kim Seward, Fourth Grade Teacher
St. Mark’s Episcopal Academy

For BrainPOP:

1st place - The Election

by Stacy Pluto, Teacher
Crystal Lake Elementary, Florida

2nd place - Choosing the President of the United States

by Gladys Tate, Teacher, 8th Grade Social Studies
Lewis Chapel Middle School, North Carolina

3rd place - Election Project 2008

by Jonathan Redeker
CJ Hooker Middle School, New York

We hope you will check out these award winning lesson plans and try them out with your students! Keep an eye out for a new Lesson Plan contest coming soon!

Congratulations to our award winning educators! First place winners will each receive a BrainPOP School Combo subscription (which includes BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP Español) and a class set of the BrainPOP Science Almanac. Second-place winners will each receive a BrainPOP Lab Combo subscription and a class set of the BrainPOP Science Almanac. Third place winners will each receive a BrainPOP Classroom Combo subscription.

As the Presidential election draws nearer, we want to draw your attention to even more resources.

We’re excited to partner with The National Student/Parent Mock Election and provide them with BrainPOP Election Spotlight content. A mock election provides an excellent experiential learning opportunity for students. As students participate in an important lesson in democracy firsthand, they not only become empowered- they leap out of the classroom and into the real world!

We hope you will participate in the mock election and spread the word to your colleagues. Let us know how it goes by posting comments here!

Laurie and Allyson, Project Discovery Science teaching partners at K.W. Barrett Elementary School in Arlington, VA, used the BrainPOP Jr. video, “Plant Life Cycle” as an introduction to the exhibit they set up in their Discovery Lab.  The exhibit, TO BE A TREE, was loaned to them by the Virginia Living Museum.  Other educators may be interested in knowing about these exhibits (they have about 15 different exhibits). They are called Discovery Boxes.  Here is the link:

http://www.thevlm.org/teacherscorner/programs/discoveryboxes.php

Oh, and the fun speech bubbles? Check out: http://speechable.com to learn how to create free, online speech bubbles! Just think of the ways you can use this with BrainPOP. For starters, I’m thinking to invite students to translate Moby’s beeps into real words…  What else? Post your ideas here!

Thanks for sharing, Laurie & Allyson!