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.

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.

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!

Do you tweet? BrainPOP does! We use twitter as another way to support our educators. BrainPOP tweets about featured movies, monthly spotlights, upcoming conferences, and current BrainPOP events. It is just one more way that we support a professional learning community among our users.

To meet some of our BrainPOP twitter followers, BrainPOP hosted its first ever TweetUp last week. The event was held in conjunction with the NSBA T+L conference in Denver. What’s a TweetUp? It is a chance for BrainPOP followers to develop a sense of community, by meeting one another, the BrainPOP team, and connecting. Our first TweetUp was extra special because we were able to honor two of our BrainPOP Advisors, Teryl Magee and Robert Miller for receiving the 2009 NSBA “20 to Watch” award.

Attendees learned about the event by following @brainpop on twitter. Our first TweetUp was a success. Attendees mingled with BrainPOP team members and each other. Even Moby was on hand for pictures! TweetUp attendees were treated to a special t-shirt, and encouraged to tweet throughout the event.

To be among the first to hear about local BrainPOP TweetUps and events, be sure to follow BrainPOP on twitter@brainpop .

This Wednesday, we’ve invited special guest Robert Miller, BrainPOP Advisor and winner of NSBA’s 20 to Watch Award for Emerging Technology Leaders, to join us for our first webinar in November. Robert will highlight some of the the amazing work he’s doing with his 4th and 5th graders in Port Orange, FL, using BrainPOP.  Hope you’ll join us and spread the word to your colleagues!

Featured Teacher: Robert Miller
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
4:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 hour
Today, we’ll be joined by special guest Robert Miller, 4th and 5th grade teacher in Port Orange, FL, who’ll highlight some of the best ideas, examples, and strategies he’s found to weave BrainPOP into his existing curriculum through creative, collaborative projects that empower and motivate students.

RSVP - space fills up quickly!

This month, BrainPOP’s Spotlight: American Indians covers topics from Pochahontas, Tecumseh, and Thanksgiving to the Iroquois Confederacy, French and Indian War, and Pueblo (BrainPOP Jr.). BrainPOP Educators features a Trail of Tears lesson plan as well.

Cell phones. Robots. Submarines. Body scans. They’re all cool, they’re all technology-driven, and they’re all part of our Spotlight: Cool Tech. You’ll also find topics like braces, fireworks, fuel cells, the international space station, nanotechnology, and more. For K-3 students, there’s Magnets and Simple Machines. Give the class our quiz on Lasers, or download some cool tech wallpaper.

Looking for fun activities that will have your kids howling? Try our Halloween topics on BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. Then, invite your students to design a costume of their favorite BrainPOP character using our Halloween Characters Activity. Send ‘em to us (with parental permission, of course!) and we’ll feature them on our Bulletin Board and blog!

Have a happy, safe, and fun Halloween!

Help reduce anxiety by imparting a better understanding of the H1N1 virus. Embed the Swine Flu movie on your own blog or website using the code provided here. These are some examples of teachers and schools who are already using this free resource:

3rd Grade Class Blog

Library Website

School Website

District Website

Additionally, BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. offer a number of age-appropriate resources that can gently explain the H1N1 flu, its origins, its spread, and appropriate precautions. All are free throughout this flu season.

• On BrainPOP: We’ve updated BrainPOP’s Swine Flu movie to include the most recent information available. The movie is supported by a related FYI, quiz, activities, and Q&A
• Embed the Movie: Help reduce anxiety by imparting a better understanding of the H1N1 virus. Embed the Swine Flu movie on your own blog or web site using the code provided here.
• On BrainPOP Jr.: The BrainPOP Jr. Washing Hands movie serves as an excellent primer for younger students, teaching them about the basics of personal hygiene.
• BrainPOP Educators: Take advantage of our H1N1-related lesson plans, “Putting Germs to the Test” and “What to Do About Swine  Flu.“
• Beyond BrainPOP: The official U.S. government site for all things flu-related is www.flu.gov.

Are you attending the NSBA T+L conference in Denver? If so, come check us out at Booth 313! Pose with Moby, connect with BrainPOP staff, participate in the BrainPOP challenge, catch a demo, and more! We’re even featuring a few of our BrainPOP Educators, including two of the newest crop of 20 to Watch. They’ll be on hand to share technology integration strategies and answer questions. Pick up a copy of our new science based research, too. See you in Denver! Checkout our full BrainPOP T+L conference schedule.

Here’s a list of our full conference schedule this school year. We hope to see you on the road!

What conferences are you attending this school year?

Just saw this fantastic new flipchart, created and posted on Promethean Planet by Kirsten Linsenbardt.

Description:

You must have a Brain Pop Jr. subscription to view the video. After watching the video on migration, students complete various activities, an ActiVote test, and can learn more through other linked activities.

Great job weaving your interactive whiteboard into BrainPOP, Kirsten!

If you’re interested in getting more out of your interactive whiteboards, you can visit our partner site, Promethean Planet, for over 60 flipchart lessons that include BrainPOP.

Are you creating materials to go along with BrainPOP for your students? We want to see! Please share what you’re doing with fellow BrainPOP Educators!