HAL would like to thank the North Platte Public School Foundation for funding our "HAL-lo to BrainPOP" project." We are extremely proud to be have been one of the eight REACH grant recipients. Because of the foundation's generosity, teachers and students now have access to the educational website BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr.
Hosted by an expressive orange robot named Moby and his teen companion Tim, BrainPOP movies cover everything from the Underground Railroad to the atomic model to Shakespeare. Interactive quizzes for assessment and enrichment materials like experiments and creative activities supplement the movies. Topics – aligned with state and national education standards and searchable by state standards – are grouped within the subjects of Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Health, Technology and Arts and Music.HAL students will be able to access this site for enrichment activities. Teachers will be able to use BrainPOP to enhance and differentiate lessons.
I went to a school yesterday and modeled some BrainPOP lessons. In one fifth grade classroom, students were encouraged to think about what they already knew about Winter Holidays. Next, they wrote some words and phrases in a wiki. After watching the BrainPOP movie, they went back to their wiki and added things they learned. Although we had computer gliches, they students did a fantastic job.
For the second group of fifth graders, I asked them create acrostic poems instead of wikis. Students watched a BrainPOP segment with a partner, then met with two other people to process what they had seen. The final products were excellent.
BrainPOP is such a wonderful educational resource! I know once people try it, they will be hooked! Thanks again North Platte Public School Foundation for providing teachers and students with such a cool tool!
