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.

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 .

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.

Last spring, more than 700 schools in 25 states temporarily closed due to outbreaks of the H1N1 virus (swine flu). We’re all hoping for the best this flu season. But as schools prepare for the possibilities of illness-related absences and disruptions to studies, we’d like to help. We’re offering all schools two weeks of complimentary remote access to BrainPOP’s resources during school hours (7 am-5:30 pm local time). Pre-register now for your two weeks of access, then activate the account when and if you need it.

Current Subscribers: Remote access during local school hours is enabled. You’re all set.

Non-subscribers: Pre-register here.

All: Stay posted here on BrainPOP Educators to read and share tips about coping this flu season. You can subscribe to an RSS feed of our blog posts so you don’t miss a thing. Be well!

What are you doing to prepare your students? Share tips below!

We at BrainPOP have been doing our homework to make sure we’re as informed and up-to-date as possible on the latest science and recommendations from doctors and agencies like the Centers for Disease Control. And of course, we’re eager to share our findings with you and the children you teach, so that you can learn and together prepare to face this upcoming flu season. To that end, we’d like to direct you to the following resources:

-BrainPOP’s Swine Flu movie has just been updated to include the most recent information available about the novel H1N1 flu. Its related features (FYI, activities, and Q&As) are also available for further exploration.

-BrainPOP Jr’s Washing Hands movie serves as an excellent primer for younger students on the do’s and don’ts of safe personal hygiene.

-BrainPOP Educators is offering two free swine-flu-related lesson plans, one for BrainPOP users, and one for BrainPOP Jr. users.

- The CDC offers H1N1 Flu resources specifically for K-12 schools: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/schools/

We hope these resources will prove to be valuable tools in raising awareness and clearing up misconceptions about the novel H1N1 flu. And as always, we’d love to hear your feedback, so please let us know how we’re doing.

Had she not died in a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 15, today would have been the 80^th birthday of Anne Frank, the young German girl whose diary gave us a powerful glimpse into the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. Her autobiography has become required reading in many classrooms around the country, and her death is a powerful reminder about the dangers of hatred and discrimination. With the added news this week of a tragic attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., some teachers are taking time to talk with their students about the Holocaust and concepts like racism and anti-Semitism.

We encourage you to watch and discuss the BrainPOP movies on Anne Frank and the Holocaust with your students. Please share your class’s comments or feedback below.