Posts on “ summer ”

Announcing the GLS Playful Learning Summit! Are you an educator passionate or curious about game-based learning and digital media?  You are invited to register for the 2013 Games+Learning+Society Playful Learning Summit (formerly GLS Educators Symposium, or GLSES).  The inaugural Playful Learning Summit at the GLS 9.0 Conference will take place on Tuesday, June 11th at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Memorial Union from 8 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Come Play: Keynote and Workshops The Playful Learning Summit will feature: A keynote address by Dani Herro, Assistant Professor for Digital Media and Learning at Clemson University.  Dani is a teacher educator with deep Wisconsin roots – she is the former Instructional Technology Administrator of Oconomowoc Schools and is a GLS alumna having earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010.  The theme of her keynote address is “connected learning.” Over a dozen hands-on workshops relevant to educators across grade levels and content areas.  This year’s workshops will explore STEM education, digital storytelling, video game design, affinity spaces and literacy education, and the design of “gameful” classrooms, curricula, and experiences.  For educators interested in playful “low-tech” games, come learn about improvisation, engaging lessons through physical movement, and gaming for social justice…. Read the Rest»

As the summer begins winding down, we, at BrainPOP, want to help you best prepare for the start of the school year. From personal goal setting, to helping students achieve, to coordinating with parents and administrators, the teaching juggling act begins very soon! For some of you, it’s already started again, to you, we salute you.  Here’s to an excellent beginning! As part of August’s Connected Educators Month, you can read and share some ideas for the first 6 weeks by participating the initiative’s online forum.   In addition,  this Wednesday’s edition of the BrainPOP webinar series features former classroom teacher, and current educational consultant Kate Chechak.  Kate will share her strategies and methods for building strong culture of learning in your classroom. Join us for what promises to be a stimulating hour that can help you get start of the school year right!

August 1st marked the beginning of Connected Educators Month and the 3-day kickoff event did not disappoint. The opening sessions featured panelists and speakers including senior Department of Education officials and education thought leaders who presented and led conversation on all things education. Many timely topics were covered such as the current state of education, technological trends, research focusing on the overall needs of students today, and what it means to be a “connected educator” in 2012.  One goal of the celebration is to identify how online communities and networks provide professional development and help both support and expand the scope for teachers deep in the throws of this engaging profession. Don’t miss out of the rest of the unique professional development opportunities throughout Connected Educators Month. Check the schedule often to find out how you can get involved!  Be sure to join the discussion forums to share and learn from other teaching professionals.

School’s out for summer, but that doesn’t mean students can’t squeeze in some summer learning with our spotlights. July’s spotlight, Red, White, and Blue, includes movies and activities to help us celebrate our country’s independence.  Students can explore United States history through our Declaration of Independence, Causes of the American Revolution, and Thirteen Colonies movies.  And, don’t forget our very first president, George Washington!  Students can test their U.S. knowledge with the accompanying interactive quizzes and activities.  This month’s other spotlight, Animals, gives students the opportunity to learn about both domestic and wild animals.  From dogs and cats to penguins and dolphins, students can become experts on the animals they find most interesting. We also have a number of spotlights that aren’t month specific and are perfect for students to enjoy all summer long.  Why not learn about the authors who wrote the books they’re reading?  Students can extend their summer reading assignments with our Books & Authors spotlight.  We’ve included movies about classic and talented authors like Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, J.R.R. Tolkien, and more.  Additionally, check out the Famous Scientists spotlight where students can become scientists themselves.  The Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Darwin movies offer hands-on… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, June 20 3:00PM ET: Summer Fun with BrainPOP Prepare your students for the summer send-off with BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr.! Join us as we discuss activities and strategies for keeping their minds fresh even while they’re on vacation. Students can review math, grammar, study skills, science, social studies, and more to prepare for the upcoming school year. We’ll be sure to share some creative ideas for making learning fun over the summer!

Summer is the perfect time for students to take charge of their own learning. Here are some ideas from our lesson plan bank for extending summer learning for students using BrainPOP: Challenge kids to become BrainPOP experts! They can identify their personal interests and connect to their world as they learn about things that are important to them. Encourage students to download the free BrainPOP Featured Movie app. They can watch a different movie every day! Have students blog about the books they read throughout the summer. Invite students to read different books by a favorite author and investigate the life and works of that author. Challenge your class to explore the games in Game Up. Can they “beat” any of the games? Ask students to report back in the fall about the strategies they used to win. Suggest that students document their learning using digital photography and share the images using web 2.0 tools. Encourage students to write their own BrainPOP script or even produce their own movie on a topic they’re interested in. Want even more ideas? Sign up for a special “Summer Fun with BrainPOP” webinar on June 20th. Also, we’d love to see your students’ summer learning projects using… Read the Rest»

Guest Blogger and BrainPOP Educator Kate Reilly shares: Bullying, dating violence and digital abuse: with half of all teens affected, its not surprising that young people say these problems are the most important issues of their generation. But in the real world, cliques, popularity and social pressures can make abuse hard to recognize and even harder to stop. Real Robots is a game-based digital learning platform that helps kids understand complicated social systems and make them better. This curriculum and companion lesson plans combine gameplay, motion comics and digital creation to help middle school students learn about and build healthy relationships. Created by E-Line Media—the company who brought you Gamestar Mechanic— and in partnership with Start Strong Rhode Island, The Real Robots will be available everywhere in Fall 2012. This summer, E-Line Media is looking for a group of educators and advocates to help us test the Real Robots in preparation for its official fall release. Participating teachers will receive 100 free licenses to the game! Sign up for more information on the RealRobots website. About Kate: Kate Reilly, MPH believes that social networks and games can transform people into eager consumers and contributors of public health information. She directs… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, May 16 3:00PM ET: Memorial Day is more than the summer kickoff – it’s an important topic to address in the classroom. BrainPOP and Knovation (formerly netTrekker) team up to help you identify the most engaging lessons and useful resources focusing on the holiday. We’ll demonstrate the pairing of BrainPOP’s high-quality content with Knovation’s extensive Social Studies collection and useful search and resource building features. Take home best practices for creating engaging and meaningful learning experiences for your students to remember this day and what it is all about.

  It is official, summer has arrived! Hopefully, you are already out chasing butterflies or at least winding down the school year with report cards. Perhaps you’re a twelve month BrainPOP Educator and summer means work as usual plus a few extra layers of sun screen.  Wherever today finds you, all of us at BrainPOP wish you a happy, safe, and fun-filled summer! Not to be a killjoy, but it’s never too early to start reflecting on what worked this school year and begin planning a strategy for the year to come! We have a few tips for getting ahead of the game using BrainPOP: Browse our Lists of Topics –> BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP ESL all provide a list of what we’ve got to offer. Bookmark it, or print & keep in your planning notebook for easy access at grade level meetings. Use our Spotlights! Each month, BrainPOP features 2 Spotlights, or collections of resources for timely topics. Check out our archives and plan accordingly for common monthly themes. Academic Standards Tool –> super simple to see how BrainPOP ties into the curriculum you’re already teaching! Plan out what BrainPOP topics you will utilize to fill in the blanks over the course of… Read the Rest»

“POP” in with BrainPOP Jr. throughout the Summer Wednesday, June 8, 2011 4:30 PM EST Duration: 1 Hour Take advantage of the summer months to build and refresh young minds with BrainPOP Jr.! We will show you how to review the basics in short time periods, so your students start well prepared to tackle the challenges of the new school year. We’ve got tons on Math, Grammar, Social Skills, Science, and more to help engage your students. Register!