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.

Happy Labor Day! Don’t forget to RSVP for this Wednesday’s webinar:

Spotlight; Digital Citizenship

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
10:00 a.m. EDT
Duration: 45 minutes

The ways that students use technology are growing more and more interconnected through online communication tools and social networks. Learn how to take advantage of BrainPOP’s Digital Citizenship resources and help ensure that students’ online interactions are as safe as possible. We’ll help you kick off the school year with a Spotlight on the topic, featuring such topics as blogs, cyberbullying, digital etiquette, email and IM, social networking, and more.

RSVP - space fills up quickly!

You can also visit our Webinars page to sign up for other free professional development opportunities in September.

Any other webinars you’d like to see us offer? What time of day works best for you? Post comments below to help us improve our offerings.

Welcome back to school! We’ve got two brand new Spotlights to help you kick off the new school year.

Our September Spotlight: Digital Citizenship is FREE all month. Make sure your students and children head back to classes armed with technology smarts. Spotlight: Digital Citizenship covers topics from blogs, cyberbullying, and social networking to email and IM, information privacy, and online sources. Take a digital etiquette quiz and download our coveted online safety poster. K-3 topics on BrainPOP Jr. include bullying and internet safety.

Classification, mineral identification, the periodic table of elements, microscopes, measuring matter (BrainPOP), science projects, inches and feet, and solids, liquids, and gases (BrainPOP Jr.) are just a few of the topics comprising our Spotlight: Science Skills. The featured quiz deals with the scientific method, and BrainPOP Educators offers science-themed video tutorials.

How are you incorporating BrainPOP into your class this September? Share ideas by posting comments below!

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!

As part of Women’s History Month, a new holiday called Ada Lovelace Day is being celebrated on March 24th. Lovelace, a contemporary of the inventor Charles Babbage, is often credited as being the world’s first computer programmer! If you have a classroom blog, why not have your students write and publish a post about an inspiring woman in the field of technology? The good people at Findingada.com are collecting such blog posts as a way to encourage girls and women to pursue science and technology careers. In the meantime, you can read our FYI on Ada Lovelace and check out our Women’s History Spotlight to learn about some other inspirational ladies!

Spotlight: Famous Scientists
Introduce Some of the Greatest Minds

In February, BrainPOP casts the “Spotlight”  on Famous Scientists. Explore our new movie and quiz on Thomas Edison and feature such topics as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, and the Nobel Prize.

Also in February, in honor of Black History Month, BrainPOP’s Spotlight: Black History explores topics from the Underground Railroad, Brown v. Board of Education, and Harlem Renaissance to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Maya Angelou, and more. A Civil Rights quiz plus a Harlem Renaissance lesson plan on BrainPOP Educators make us your go-to resource for Black History content.