I am well known amongst my former students for being a bit of a pausing maniac during BrainPOP movies! I pause almost each time I see a great opportunity for kids to turn and talk or do a quick stop and jot. One of my favorite places to pause is on Tim and Moby’s letter, early on in the movie. I’ll often invite students to respond to the letter, and say something like: “You’ve got 2 minutes! How would you answer this letter? Go!” I give them a limited amount of time because I don’t want to veer too far off from the movie, but sometimes the kids are writing so furiously and activating such important prior knowledge which helps scaffold their learning, that I’ll give them more time. I often revisit the letter after the movie, giving students a chance to add on more information, revise, and even complete a final draft for homework. Great way to get a little letter writing practice in there, and for students to share what they know.

I just added a blank version of Tim’s letter. You can find it on our Graphic Organizers page!

Please share what kind of writing prompts you use in conjunction with BrainPOP!

I spent last weekend with an amazing group of teachers in Florida. Though they were already using BrainPOP with their students, many of them were not aware of our FYI feature — filled with fun, high interest reading and a comic to delve deeper into our topics. Gary Barone, a BrainPOP Educator from Mercer Island, WA, shared the following, which seems to capture the experience of many educators:
I learned about the FYI portion of the Brainpop movies. I think for too long I had depended on just the movie and quiz portions. I had no idea about how the FYI gives students or even a teacher a chance to expand on the subject movie for the concept. OF course now I can check with the Educators portion to share this information or how I even used it in the classroom.

Have you checked out the FYI? How will you use it with your students? Please post comments below!

We just added two new concept maps to our Graphic Organizers Page! Take a look and let me know what you think!

Have you created any of your own materials to use in conjunction with BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr? Please share with us!

We had a great time at this year’s TCEA conference in Austin, Texas (even though Moby didn’t get to ride the mechanical bull!) and we met many new teachers, IT specialists, and administrators, all of whom were very excited about BrainPOP!  The conference was even busier than it was last year, and it was great to show our fans (old and new) all about BrainPOP Educators. Here are two of the winners from our spotter campaign, Tiffany Bingham and Jenny Noviello.  Tiffany teaches at the Academy at Carrie F. Thomas in North Richland Hills, TX and Jenny teaches at Sugar Mill Elementary in Sugar Land, TX. Congratulations!

BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. offer lots of possibilities for partner work. Teachers in Palm Beach County helped me brainstorm some great ideas during a recent visit.

*Have 2 students working side by side at a computer. One student is the Pause Person, the other is the Note Taker. Students can work together to complete the Activity Pages and Quiz. They can read the FYI after they finish their assignment!

*Use BrainPOP for Reading Buddies! Classes can watch a movie together, then break off into partnerships to complete the Activity Pages, read the FYI together, or take the Quiz. Older buddies and fluent readers can help younger or struggling students.

*Print the Belly Up comic from BrainPOP Jr. or the Cassie and Rita comic from BrainPOP. Use as a shared reading with the whole class, and have partners practice reading together for fluency and expression. Students can also role play and act out each scene.

*Partners can write a jingle or song based on what they learned from BrainPOP!

*Students can work in partnerships to create their own comics inspired by BrainPOP.

Are you doing partner work with BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr? Please tell us about it by posting comments below!

I have been intrigued by the notion of using mobile learning devices in the classroom. I never had the opportunity to try it when I was in the classroom, but I enjoy following the ongoing debate. I read this article in the New York Times over the weekend and would love to hear what you think! Is anyone using mobile learning devices with students? How? What are the pros/cons? Please post below!

I was so thrilled to read this review of BrainPOP Educators on EdTech Show Daily!

BrainPOP also made it on the list of Top 100 Educational Websites of 2009! There are tons of other great resources on there as well. Worth a bookmark!

Please let me know if you read or write about us! Thanks!

I’ve been lucky enough to do some traveling and brainstorming with many talented teachers lately, and I found that many educators don’t realize how much more you can do with BrainPOP beyond the movies and quizzes. As one teacher advised, be sure to scroll down below the movie on a topic page and explore our other interactive activities. Here are a few ideas - let’s keep ‘em going! Add your ideas by posting comments below! Oh - the great bulletin board was submitted by University of Central Florida Intern, Kerry Sawicki, and classroom teacher, Nicole Sallese. Thanks for sharing!

Planning out before, during, and after movie activities:
Before Movie
i.    Quiz as pre-test - see what students already know by taking the review quiz as a class or the printed quiz independently
ii.    Activity pages - print out and photocopy for each student. Review vocabulary! Model by typing right into the page!
iii.    FYI - high interest reading, comic - use as shared reading
During Movie
i.    Pause on Tim’s letter - have students turn & talk or quick write a response (can finish for homework)
ii.    Note-taking with Activity pages — *use closed captioning! Model with interactive writing! Remember that you can type directly into all of our Activity Pages!
iii.    Pause & discuss throughout
After Movie
i.    Retake quiz (printed, independently; whole class - graded)
ii.    FYI
iii.    Experiment
iv.    Timeline
v.    Activity Pages

Today is Darwin’s 200th birthday! This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of The
Origin of Species. So much to do and so little time? Let BrainPOP help!

We hope you’ll use all of our interactive features with our movie on Darwin, like the Activity Page pictured above. Remember that you can type right into these, and they are great for before, during, and after you watch our movies! You can integrate other quality resources into your lesson as well, like this super helpful Online Educators Guide from The American Museum of Natural History, full of ideas for all grade levels.

How are you celebrating with your students?

This just in from Shelley DeLosh, the school library media specialist at McConnellsville Elementary, in Blossvale, NY. Thanks for sharing these great ideas, Shelley!

McConnellsville Elementary is commemorating the bicentennial birthday of Abraham Lincoln with an evening birthday party on Wednesday, February 11th from 6:30-7:30pm.  This is a collaborative event planned by Shelley DeLosh, the school library media specialist, and her sister Carrie Pulizzi, the reading specialist and Title I Coordinator. We will be reading the story Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers, by Karen B. Winnick, then watching the BrainPOP Jr. video on Abraham Lincoln.  Afterwards, we will be singing Happy Birthday and enjoying birthday cake and punch. The remainder of the evening, families can choose to come to our computer lab to play the accompanying BrainPOP Jr. activities (such as the quizzes and matching game) or make a Lincoln-style stovetop hat.

To publicize our event, we sent home a birthday party invitation last week. Each day, we have reminded students of the party during morning announcements. Various teachers have included the party information in their weekly newsletters home to parents, and our principal featured the party in his school-wide newsletter.  In addition, there is a large bulletin board outside the media center.

What is your school doing to celebrate? Please post comments below!