On August 17, 2009 I had the privilege to meet the extraordinary staff of Harlandale ISD in San Antonio, Texas.

Many of the teachers that I spoke with loved that students could email their quiz results to the teacher. Some secondary teachers even set up an individual folder for each student to keep track of their BrainPOP quizzes. What a great way to ease report card time! All the students need to do is choose the Graded Quiz option and then type in the teacher’s email address at the end. Did you also know that you can now take the quizzes full-screen? Just click on the icon with the arrows in the top right corner of the movie screen. To return to normal view, just hit the Esc key. For those of you who have interactive whiteboards, the quizzes also work great with learner response systems.

Please spread the word to your colleagues and tell us about your creative ideas for using BrainPOP quizzes with students by sharing your comments below!

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.

We hope you’ll join in and celebrate National Summer Learning Day with us! Summer Learning Day raises awareness that learning should continue throughout the summer.  Pick a topic, any topic, and dive right in! Take a look at our Getting Started Guides that will walk you through the different ways of searching for content and the fun, interactive resources BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. have to offer. BrainPOP’s got suggestions for Family and Teacher Activities that bring learning outdoors as well!  So kick off a new topic or review an old one with the BrainPOP gang! Teachable moments can happen anywhere, any time.

Happy exploring!

Not sure how to keep those wheels turning with your students over the summer? We’re here for you! We’ve got brand new spotlights for summer fun! Check out Red, White, & Blue and Animals, each chock full of related movies, interactive resources, and fun extras from BrainPOP Educators. Have a great 4th of July!

How would you like to see your students using BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. over the summer? Please share your tips. I’m compiling ideas and the top 5 ideas will be featured in our next newsletter!