2026-27 BACK TO SCHOOL UPDATES!

BrainPOP's Back to School 2026 lineup introduces an exciting suite of features designed to deepen classroom engagement, support independent practice, and streamline lesson planning. This school year’s major updates include the launch of Unplugged Activities for device-free collaboration, an expanded AI Literacy Collection developed with Digital Promise, and real-time interactive quizzing via Live Mode. Additionally, the platform is rolling out Hints and Rationales within quizzes to guide stuck students, alongside a brand-new Bookmarks feature arriving in August 2026 to help teachers curate and instantly access their favorite resources.

Check out the full 2026-27 back-to-school updates from BrainPop! We've highlighted some of our favorite updates below: 

Live Mode

• Live Mode is an interactive quiz experience that lets teachers lead the whole class through BrainPOP questions together, in real time.
• The questions are built from the movie content, so Live Mode isn't a separate assessment layer teachers have to build. It's already there, already connected to what students just watched, ready to run.

New Movies, Every Month

• BrainPOP adds new topics every month—expanding the library of topics teachers can use to build background knowledge, introduce new concepts, and create shared understanding across every subject.
• For example, check out the June 2026 and July 2026 Movie Roundup

Hints and Rationales

• Hints and Rationales are built-in supports that appear inside BrainPOP quizzes—helping students work through a question when they're stuck and understand why an answer is correct.
• As you can see in the example below, hints give students a nudge in the right direction without giving the answer away. 

Unplugged Activities

• Unplugged Activities are low-prep, offline learning experiences that turn a BrainPOP movie into discussion, collaboration, and interactive thinking—no devices required. Use them to introduce the topic before the movie, or deepen understanding after the movie.
• Check out the example below! Before the movie, ask students to predict the meaning of the word "pharaoh" by drawing a home for a powerful leader. This piques their curiosity—then during the movie, they'll pay extra special attention when pharaohs are introduced!

Reminder Teachers - Don't miss out BrainPop classroom swag!

• Brighten and organize your classroom with these free, time-saving printables for weekly planning, building routines, and just for fun!
• Download stickers, posters, game templates and much more!

Information for this blog post is provided by our partners at BrainPop and was a summary of the full Back to School 2026 with BrainPOP from Summer 2026.

Get a walkthrough from Deb Rayow, Vice President of Learning and Content Strategy at BrainPOP, in this recording.

Educators - Welcome back to another exciting school year!

As we continue moving forward with the 2025–2030 iteration of the IU13 Instructional Media Services (IMS) program, we want to remind our IU13 school districts of the powerful products and services available at your fingertips. Built to be a highly cost-effective and convenient solution, the IMS provides K-12 educators with seamless access to top-tier digital media designed to complement daily classroom instruction. Our current iteration of the IU13 IMS provides educators and students access to Discovery Education Experience, BrainPop Combo, Sora, the Lending Library, and much more!

Discovery Education Experience

• Discovery Education Experience is bringing updates for the 2026–27 school year for students and educators from K-12, starting with a completely redesigned Teacher Homepage tailored specifically around how educators plan and teach. Get familiar with the new homepage with this interactive click-through!
• Experience combines ready-to-teach lessons, activities, and engaging content with research-backed instructional strategies and user-friendly tools. The newly designed DE Career Hub features career and workforce development resources, including Career Connect, which links K-12 classrooms with a growing of diverse industry professionals to build career readiness. Curriculum Aligned Resources includes targeted lessons, activities, and instructional strategies aligned to popular K–8 curricula. Additionally, a wealth of free, hand-picked civic and history resources are available to help classrooms honor 250 Years of United States History.
• The Discovery Education Network Summer Institute (DENSI) took place virtually in July 2026. Check out this one-page summary of titles, descriptions and links to the recordings of this year’s sessions. Each recorded session is approximately 30-45 minutes in length and can be a great professional learning experience for you and your district educators. To support professional growth year-round, teachers now have access to free credential courses focused on AI, cybersecurity, and digital literacy through the new IBM SkillsBuild program.

BrainPOP Combo

• BrainPOP Combo (which includes BrainPop for Grades 3-8, BrainPOP Jr. for Grades K-3 and BP Français, & BP Español) is introducing several exciting new updates for the 2026–27 school year to streamline lesson planning and enhance student learning. Teachers will now benefit from PA Standards alignment, customizable Teacher Data Reports, and unified topic searches that display simultaneous results across both BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr.
• The BP platform has new all-in-one, topic landing pages that organize concepts, standards, and related activities together.
• BrainPOP has added low-prep, offline "Unplugged Activities", alongside major upgrades to quizzes that include helpful student hints, answer rationales for better conceptual understanding, and a real-time collaborative "Live Mode" for whole-class instruction.
• Other updates include a new AI Literacy Collection, AI-provided text help to define words on the fly. And finally, a new "Bookmarks" feature is coming soon to let teachers easily save topics and activities directly to their dashboard.
• Check out the IU13 IMS BrainPOP (2026-2027) slide deck for more information on these updates and other BrainPOP features.

Sora

• For the 2026–27 school year, an extensive K-12 digital library continues to be offered through the IU13 Shared Collection, thoughtfully curated by a committee of local K-12 school district librarians. The collection currently boasts over 5,000 grade level appropriate ebook titles, complete with multiple copies of highly popular books, alongside 850+ audiobooks and 700+ magazines.
• A major highlight for classrooms this year continues to be the magazines with no circulation caps and allow for unlimited simultaneous use. This ensures that every student can enjoy issues of their favorite magazines at the same time, such as: Time for Kids, National Geographic Kids, Popular Mechanics, PC Gamer, and Discover, without any wait lists.
• Log into your district’s Sora library today to explore what’s available!

Lending Library

• You can view all the available items in the IU13 IMS Lending Library in the Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 IMS Catalog
• Upgraded Favorites:
• All Sphero Bolts have been upgraded to the new Sphero Bolt+, featuring high-resolution LCD screens and enhanced programming capabilities.
• We’re excited to now offer a new digital portable planetarium! The Digitalis Mu requires an in-person, hands-on certification training which is available for participants to sign up on Frontline.
• Transfer’s Career Exploration headsets have undergone an update over the summer and now have a variety of new career simulations. Join us on October 28th to learn more from the Transfr team!
• New Additions Ready to Borrow: Expand hands-on learning with brand-new tools, including the Forward Education Climate Action Kit, LEGO CS & AI Kits, LEGO Science Kits, and TinkrWorks STEM Kits.
• Upcoming Engineering Tools: Keep an eye out for tools coming soon to support Engineering byDesign (EbD), such as Sphero Blueprint Kits, Hex Bugs, Vex Robotics, Arduino, SparkFun Microbit, 3D cameras with tripods, and High School ATA resources (hand/submersible pumps and digital calipers).
• Important Borrowing Requirements: Before placing a reservation through the IMS Lending Library reservation site, borrowers must explore and complete the required prerequisite course and resources. You can visit our IMS YouTube channel for step-by-step video tutorials on completing the course, placing reservations, and submitting mandatory inventory check-in forms.

Don’t forget to come back to read our IMS Blog Updates throughout the school year and subscribe via email to get updates sent directly to your inbox. Contact us for assistance and with questions anytime!

DE Updates for Classroom Teachers and School Leaders! 

Discovery Education is your daily hub of resources for your classroom with digital media and ready-to-use learning activities. Take some time to check out the new content and educator supports from Discovery Education Experience. This content is summarized from the full DE Summer School Leader Newsletter.

Be sure to log into your district's single sign-on link for Discovery Education before clicking on the links in this post.

Content Spotlights

• Grades K-2
  
  • 💙 Amazing Me by Dove - Build confidence, empathy, and self-awareness this summer with age-appropriate SEL lessons that spark meaningful conversations about identity and well-being.
    • 🔗 Explore the Resources

• Grades 3-5
  
  • 🦸 DC Super Stories - Celebrate DC Super Heroes with engaging educational activities for classrooms and families. These resources invite learners to explore heroic values like courage, problem‑solving, creativity, and hope through hands‑on challenges, thoughtful reflection, and real‑world connections inspired by iconic heroes. 
    
    • 🔗 Check out the Resources

• Grades 6-12
  
  • 💻 Dell | Tech Career Circuit- Keep students engaged with interactive career exploration in technology and innovation. Flexible resources that help students discover real-world pathways and build future-ready skills — anytime, anywhere.
    • 🔗 Explore the Learning Modules
  • 🚲 Honda Safety Driven - Spark meaningful conversations about road safety, awareness, and responsibility with standards-aligned resources students can carry for life.
    • 🔗 Explore the Program
  • ⚽ Soccer for Success - With the World Games coming to the U.S., press play on this virtual field trip exploring teamwork, confidence, and healthy habits. No travel required!
    • 🔗 Watch the Virtual Field Trip

For Educators

• 🌟 You're Invited: DEN Summer Institute - Join educators from across the country on July 14–15 for DENSI — two days of practical strategies, timely topics, and community connection all focused on student success. Bring a few colleagues along and return with ideas ready to drive impact at scale.
  • 🔗 Register Now

• 🥽 Verizon Immersive Learning | PD This Summer - Build your confidence with EdTech and immersion, earn microcredentials, and learn how to create immersive moments in your setting – create them safely and purposefully, and then use them to amplify learning. Discovery Education and Verizon are bringing EdTech and the principles of immersion to the professional development catalog.

  • 🔗 Check out the Catalog

• 🔭 Career Connect STEM Spotlights - Summer is the perfect time to explore what's possible. On-demand Career Connect Spotlights put students face to face with real scientists and professionals studying polar bears, space exploration, energy, robotics, and more — curiosity-driven learning available anytime, anywhere.
  •  🔗 Browse the Spotlights

ICYMI: Instructional Strategies Center - New for Back-to-School 2026 

• Everyday Teaching Essentials - Watch the Introduction Video

Information compiled in this update was provided by our partners at Discovery Education

DE Updates for Classroom Teachers and School Leaders! 

Discovery Education is your daily hub of resources for your classroom with digital media and ready-to-use learning activities. Take some time to check out the new content and educator supports from Discovery Education Experience. This content is summarized from the full DE May School Leader Newsletter.

Be sure to log into your district's single sign-on link for Discovery Education before clicking on the links in this post.

🚲 Celebrate National Bicycle & Motorcycle Awareness Month 

• Ride Smart with Honda Safety Driven - ready-to-use lessons and videos that help students in grades 3–12 build safer riding and driving habits.
  • 🚗 Explore The Tools
    
    

New Content Spotlight

• Grades K-2
  
  • 🎬 Social Studies, Animated - A curated collection of animated videos that make complex social studies topics accessible and engaging for students across grade levels.
    • 🔗 Browse This Collection
  • 📅 May's Ready-to-Use Activities Are Here - Your monthly classroom calendar is live! Browse this month's curated collection of daily instructional activities and lessons — all teacher-led, standards-aligned, and ready to use from day one.
    • 🔗 View This Month's Activities

• Grades 3-5
  
  • 🦸 Superman Day Activities - Two ready-to-use Superman-themed activities that invite students to explore hope, courage, and heroism in their own lives.
    • 🔗 Hope as a Superpower – Classroom Activity
      
    • 🔗 Design a Hope Shield – Afterschool Activity
  • 🌍 Geography Kids Video Collections
    
    • 🔗 Bodies of Water -  Key features of bodies of water and how they connect to surrounding land.
      
    • 🔗 Continents - Formation, geography, and culture of Earth's 7 continents.

• Grades 6-12
  
  • 🌱 Beyond Earth Day: Conservation Station - Year-round, classroom-ready resources that help students explore energy and water conservation. Through interactive activities and Virtual Field Trips, students connect sustainability to real-world technologies and discover how innovation is building a more energy-efficient future.
    • 🔗 Explore the Guide
  • 🔬 Redesigned Science Articles - 111 refreshed, NGSS-aligned articles built to strengthen literacy and critical thinking in science classrooms. Each features visual supports, vocabulary scaffolds, guided notetakers, and built-in comprehension checks to make complex concepts accessible for every learner.
    • 🔗 Explore the Articles

Instructional Strategies Center - New for Back-to-School 2026 

• Everyday Teaching Essentials - Watch the Introduction Video

Information compiled in this update was provided by our partners at Discovery Education

Sora Sweet Reads 2026

Summer reading season is quickly approaching, and the decisions made now can have a lasting impact on student engagement, confidence, and learning.

We know that consistent access to reading during the summer months is one of the most effective ways to support literacy growth , prevent learning loss, and keep students connected to stories they care about. When students can easily find books they’re excited to read—without waitlists or access barriers—they’re far more likely to read often and read joyfully.  

This summer, Sora Sweet Reads is one way schools can support reading success by offering always available ebooks and select audiobooks students can access May 18 through August 24 - no holds, no barriers. With unlimited, simultaneous access, Sweet Reads helps ensure that every student can open a book whenever curiosity strikes.  

New for this Year: Curated Content Groupings

• This year’s Sweet Reads collection is organized into seven themed content groupings—designed to reflect a wide range of interests, learning goals, and reading preferences across grades K–12. Each grouping can also be expanded with additional titles available for purchase, allowing you to further tailor your collection to your students’ needs.  

• The seven themed content groupings for this year are:
  • America 250
  • Unearth a Story
  • Comics & Graphic Novels
  • Curiosity Lab
  • Everyday Adventures
  • High Energy Summer
  • Sleuths, Scares & Puzzles

For School Librarians:

• As you plan for summer reading, your account manager is available to help with questions about Sora Sweet Reads, expanding your digital collection, or aligning resources to your summer reading goals. If you’d prefer not to participate in the Sweet Reads program, please contact your account manager by May 12th so Sora can update your settings accordingly.