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?

Please join us in congratulating our BrainPOP advisors Teryl Magee and Robert Miller, on receiving NSBA’s 2009 “20 to Watch Award” for Emerging Technology Leaders.

Teryl, an instructional coach with Knox County School District in Tennessee, is passionate about integrating technology into the curriculum, thus preparing her students to be productive 21st-century citizens. Another passion of Ms. Magee’s is helping teachers, from kindergarten to high school, learn how to use technology in effective ways in their classrooms.

Robert, a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Port Orange Elementary School in Port Orange, FL is also an Apple Distinguished Educator. He’s passionate about integrating technology, including movie-making and web publishing, into his teaching.

You can meet these superstar BrainPOP advisors in our booth at the upcoming NSBA T+L conference, where they’ll answer questions and share technology integration strategies and tips.

Join us in congratulating Teryl Magee and Robert Miller!

Now that the school year is underway, we’re in full swing of conference season, and we’re really excited about the T + L conference in Denver this October 28 - 29.

Stay tuned on BrainPOP Educators for more details about special BrainPOP events happening (we’re having lots of fun planning!). For now, check out this great write up about note-taking with BrainPOP.

BrainPOP Nuggets of Knowledge

Great name!

Coming to T + L in Denver? Let us know, and be sure to stop by our booth and introduce yourself as a BrainPOP Educator!

On Tuesday, July 29 I had the opportunity to spend the day with the wonderful teachers of Spring Branch ISD in Houston, Texas. As avid users of Promethean ActivBoards, they generated many creative ideas on how to connect all the resources available on BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. with ActivStudio. Here is what they shared:

• Using the camera tool, teachers can take a picture of the graphic on Tim’s shirt. Then they can use it as a picture prompt for students to write a journal entry.
• Students can use the highlighter tool, as well as the pen, to underline verbs, circle nouns, and highlight the main idea in a passage on the FYI section of a unit in BrainPOP.
• Students can use their Activote learner response systems to answer the quiz questions. Then they can see their results compared to those of their classmates.
• Using the words from the Word Wall feature of a topic in BrainPOP Jr. and the camera tool on ActivStudio, teachers can create flipcharts where students drag the vocabulary word and match it to the correct definition.
• With a Promethean Board, BrainPOP can be used in learning centers where students can work in pairs or individually as an alternative to whole class instruction.

Check out our interactive whiteboard resources and special Promethean partnership resources, including over 60 interactive flipchart lessons and our Resource Pack, chock full of BrainPOP character clipart, sounds, and graphic organizers.

We hear that BrainPOP is often used with all types of interactive whiteboards and learner response systems. Tell us how you use these in your classroom, we’d love to share that experience with other educators.

Tornados! Earthquakes! Floods! Who’s not fascinated by natural disasters? Our very own Dr. Kari Stubbs co-presented a fabulous workshop on teaching about Natural Disasters that made me want to run right back to the classroom. Not to worry if you couldn’t be there — all of the details and resources you’ll need to plan for it are here! If you’re interested in utilizing social learning networks, fostering global awareness and communication, and taking collaboration to the next level, then take a moment to check it out. To further entice you, one of BrainPOP’s August Spotlights will be on Natural Disasters, so check back in August to preview our movies and interactive activities to help support your teaching.

Off we go! A whole bunch of the BrainPOP Team is heading to Washington, DC tomorrow for NECC. We’ve been preparing for weeks! We’re extra excited since we’ll be kicking off our year-long 10th birthday celebration at the show! Visit us at Booth 3704 for educator-led demos of best classroom practices; new BrainPOP goodies for your school; and of course, the company of Moby.  If you’re a BrainPOP Educators blog reader, please be sure to introduce yourself!

Keep this schedule on hand as you plan your conference itinerary, visit us online for the latest NECC news, and follow us on Ning, Facebook, and Twitter.

If NECC isn’t in your travel plans, be sure to take a look at our conference schedule and find out when we’ll be coming to your neighborhood.

BrainPOP is proud to announce the debut of an exciting new product - BrainPOP ESL - currently in development. This new member of the BrainPOP family will combine the fun of BrainPOP with an innovative and comprehensive English teaching tool.

The BrainPOP ESL team is seeking input as we move forward. To this end, we’re having a focus group at NECC, on Tuesday, June 30^th.  There are two sessions, at 10 and 11 am, which can accommodate a limited number of participants.

If you’re interested in participating, please come to the BrainPOP booth, #3704, to sign up.  Space is very limited; please come early to register.

In case you can’t make it to NECC in Washington, DC, perhaps you’ll find yourself in NYC, looking for something to do next weekend. I just heard about VONY Speak (Voices of New York) from a connection we made through our Facebook page. This is the first annual Youth Media Arts Conference and Benefit, being held at the 92nd Street Y.  The description of the event sounds fantastic!

Social networking has great perks like learning about local events like this! Wish I could be there. I’d love to hear about it if you attend! Please post comments. Thanks for letting us know, Joėl!

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Due to popular demand, we’re offering our free, introductory webinars again in June. Space is limited, so be sure to respond as soon as possible.

Get to know the ins and outs of our k-3 resource in this hour-long webinar. Learn how to use BrainPOP Jr. for more effective planning, and hear best practices for integrating our content into your classroom.  We’ll also talk about the tools and features you’ll find on BrainPOP Educators.

RSVP for this webinar

This hour-long webinar showcases the creative ways thousands of teachers have integrated our resources into their school day. The webinar will offer tips on making the most of our movies and features; best practices for engaging students; a look at BrainPOP Educators; and much more.

RSVP for this webinar

If you’ve got an idea for a webinar topic, let us know. You can view past webinars at your convenience on our Webinars page. We’d love to hear what you think! Please post comments below.

Second grader D’Angelo loves Moby so much that he created “Gallon Moby” during his math lesson at Bayshore Elementary in Port St. Lucie, FL with Mrs. O’Leary!!

Want us to give a shout out to your students? Let us know what they’re doing with BrainPOP. We love to share!