We’re so excited! Through some BrainPOP Educators networking and inspiration, we’ve got another school that took on creating their own movies, thanks to the creative and talented collaboration between Erin Waggoner, a District Technology Integration Specialist, and teacher, PJ Burns, from Jessamine County Schools in Nicholasville, Kentucky.  Erin was kind enough to be a guest blogger and share the process. Read on!

Not to be too “A-Team” about things, but I love it when a plan comes together!  As a former classroom teacher and computer lab teacher, I understood the importance of Brain Pop and tried to utilize it a much as possible with my students.  However, when I saw Robert Miller’s Brain Pop-esque videos last spring, I knew that I was ready for the next step and I just had to implement this idea in my classroom in the fall.

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What do BrainPOP and netTrekker have in common? 1). They both celebrated their 10^th birthdays this summer. 2). They’re powerful 21^st century teaching tools. 3). They have partnered together so you can find BrainPOP content seamlessly through netTrekker searches!

To celebrate 21^st century learning and our partnership with netTrekker, I was the keynote speaker at the recent netTrekker Fest event. My keynote, 21^st Century Learning - What’s in Your Back-to-School Bag of Tricks?, was all about re-thinking education. We explored how to become 21^st century learners, how to teach 21sts century kids, and even discussed examples of 21^st century teaching ideas. I encouraged participants to become 21^st century learners by challenging them to connect online with other educators and resources at BrainPOP Educators, netTrekker Village, and Twitter. I praised Calcasieu Parish for providing the opportunity to witness 21^st century learning at this spring’s NSBA Site Visit, and encouraged participants to create their own mini-site visits with leaders in their districts. I shared global learning experiences and video footage from my experiences in classrooms in China. I also showcased the BrainPOP Internet Safety Flipchart and the Global Connections: Natural Disasters wiki and lesson that I’d shared at NECC. I energized the crowd by highlighting how to take advantage of BrainPOP’s resources, searchable within netTrekker, to reach students at a variety of levels and on a variety of topics. There was much enthusiasm about the BrainPOP-netTrekker partnership!

BrainPOP’s partnership with netTrekker will enable netTrekker users to access 28 Free BrainPOP topics - 21 BrainPOP, 6 BrainPOP Jr, 1 BrainPOP Español - these can be accessed without a BrainPOP subscription. By early September, you’ll also have access to all BrainPOP quizzes, BrainPOP Jr. games, and BrainPOP Educator lesson plans and video tutorials. For those of you who are already both netTrekker and BrainPOP Subscribers, you’ll have access to 1200+ BrainPOP resources all with a seamless sign-on experience.

What are some ways you envision using BrainPOP and netTrekker together? Please share your ideas below.

Constellations

Talk about an end of the year project! Research, writing, collaboration- making movies utilizes so many important 21st Century skills! Robert Miller’s 4th & 5th grade class in Port Orange, Florida made their own BrainPOP-inspired movies, creating a fantastic learning opportunity for every student involved. We were wowwed once again by the movie magic these students created, using BrainPOP as inspiration. We know you will love these as much as we do!

You can find info and resources on how Robert created these movies with his students in the comments of the NECC post.

Consider BrainPOP’s Spotlight: Winter & Snow your seasonal headquarters. You’ll find great content on all-things winter, from movies about Winter Holidays and Mount Everest, to those on Snowflakes and Hibernation. You can also send personalized, free e-cards to your favorite Moby loving friends and family!

Now through January 10th, save 25 percent when you purchase Family or Classroom subscriptions to BrainPOP (grades 3 and up) or BrainPOP Jr. (grades K-3), or Combo subscriptions for your family or classroom (Combo subscriptions include access to both BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr.). Homeschoolers, you’re also eligible for this discount. Be sure to enter holiday08 as the coupon code.

Finally, check out our easily adaptable lesson plan on Hibernation to kick off your winter studies! Happy December!

We LOVE getting work from students who share what they learned from BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr!  BrainPOP Jr’s Bulletin Board is a great place to kick off a K-3 lesson with some inspiration. Please encourage your students to submit any BrainPOP Jr. inspired art, writing, or videos so we can expand their audience and publish them on BrainPOP for the world to see! Of course we’re also eager to share teacher-created materials, so keep those lesson plans, graphic organizers, and video tutorials coming!