Guest blogger Courtney Vorachek Shares Her Use of BrainPOP Jr.

Guest blogger Courtney Vorachek shares her use of BrainPOP Jr. while teaching her students about division and meeting the demands of the Common Core.

With the pressure of spring tests right around the corner, engaging students is key to success all while incorporating Common Core and Data Driven Instruction in our daily routine. BrainPOP Jr. has allowed my class to laugh and have fun while mastering important concepts without even knowing it! My students created a BrainPOP Jr. window with the help of their favorite characters, Annie and Moby (shout out to these two, we love them). The objectives for the window addressed four different concepts and the students took off with creativity. To meet one objective, students created their own “BrainPOP Jr.” about division and shared them with fellow students in class. I was amazed with the large number of comedians in my class, as well as their ability to create their own lesson on division. Students also made idiom pencils and R.O.K. star cards explaining terms in their target strands from NWEA. Lastly, students make “Conversation Hearts” in which they filled out a teacher made Tim and Moby R.O.K. card using target terms, a student explanation, and a student created essential question. We LOVE BrainPOP and consider Annie, Tim and Moby a part of our class “family” of learning and growing.

Courtney Vorachek is a third grade teacher at Walt Disney Magnet School in Chicago, IL. She has a Bachelors in Advertising from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Arts in Teaching from National-Louis University. Outside of school, Courtney teaches fitness at Barre Bee Fit and spends her free time going to country music concerts, watching football and basketball, being by any body of water, baking, trying new restaurants, shooting hoops, golfing and being with family/friends.