November 2026 UPDATES!

The IU13 IMS BrainPOP Bulletin provides educators with stories and teaching strategies that spark curiosity, build confidence, and create engaging learning experiences using BrainPop resources. We've highlighted some of our favorite timely updates here. Be sure to log into your district's BrainPop account to access these resources.

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.
  
  
• 🎥 Check out Movies to Watch this month and review last month's Movie Roundups:

• • 🦃 Movies to watch this November 2026 include ones on Voting, Daylight Savings Time, Veterans Day for BrainPop in grades 3–8 , and others that include BrainPop Jr. such as Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. 
  • 🎃 Look back at the October 2026 Movie Roundup that highlights featured releases such as a new Time Management movie for grades 3–8 to help students stay on top of growing workloads, alongside curated selections for National Bullying Prevention Month, Indigenous Peoples' Day/Columbus Day, and Digital Citizenship Week. 
    

What's New in BrainPOP Jr. This Fall

• 🎥 Check out the BrainPOP Jr.'s fall updates introduce three major classroom enhancements: full Spanish audio and subtitle options for every movie to support multilingual learners, a new Live Mode for real-time, and whole-class quiz participation without student logins.

Seeing the Full Picture: BrainPOP and the Science of Reading

• 📖 The BrainPOP blog post on the Science of Reading explores how the platform supports both language comprehension and word recognition through the lens of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. While teachers frequently rely on BrainPOP for foundational background knowledge, the article highlights how its movies, vocabulary tools, and Connected Texts also strengthen vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge to help students become strategic readers.

Download your 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 to IU13 IMS by our partners at BrainPop

November 2026 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 Back to School - November 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.

Discovery Education Futures Fair

The Discovery Education Futures Fair is a one-day, interactive event designed to bring real-world career exploration directly into K-12 classrooms. On Wednesday, November 18th, students will join live, virtual 25-minute sessions between 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM ET that connect them with professionals across STEM, the arts, skilled trades, entrepreneurship, public service, and more. Join one session or many.

Check out the schedule for dedicated Elementary, Middle, and High School tracks that cover a wide range of engaging career topics—including aerospace engineering, fashion design, artificial intelligence, public health, computer science, wildlife conservation, and biotechnology—allowing educators to easily bring interactive, real-world career exploration into their schools and classrooms without extra preparation.

Discovery Education is provided to all IU13 School Districts courtesy of the IU13 IMS. Share out the event's flyer with educators and, if interested, be sure to register on the event website.

Content Spotlights

• Celebrate National STEM Day on November 8
  
  • Spark curiosity with ready-to-use STEM content in Experience. Explore activities, videos, and real-world career connections, or use Career Connect to bring a real-life professional right into your classroom. Something for every grade, and every classroom.
    
    • 🔬Explore STEM Content
    • 🔬Bring in a Pro with Career Connect - Spark real-world conversations with your students by inviting a vetted Career Connect volunteer via remote meeting.
      
      

Virtual Field Trips

Polar Connections: Interdependence in the Arctic Ecosystem

• LIVE: Thursday, 11/5 @ 12pm ET
• Celebrate Polar Bear Week with Discovery Education and Polar Bears International in a dynamic event designed to spark curiosity and deepen understanding of animal adaptations. Broadcasting live from Churchill, Manitoba, this 25-minute event brings the Arctic straight to your classroom.

NOTHING BUT NET FORCE: A Virtual Field Trip with the NBA & Phoenix Suns

• Unlock access on Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 at 7AM ET
• Designed for Grades 3–8, this Virtual Field Trip takes students onto the court and behind the scenes at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Students will discover how forces and motion influence every jump, shot, and dunk while making real-world connections to NBA All-Star events.

Relevant and Timely Content from DE for Educators 

• From Someday to the School Day 

  • Students are thinking about their futures earlier. Are schools reaching them in time?

  • New research from 1,000+ educators, administrators, and students on connecting classroom learning to students’ futures Couldn’t join us live—or want to revisit the conversation? Watch the webinar on demand to explore new research on when students start thinking about their futures, where educators see gaps in career readiness, and how schools can make career connections part of everyday learning. 

• What Is a Summative Assessment? Definition, Examples, and Best Practices

  • A clear definition, common examples, and the pros and cons of measuring learning at the end of a unit. Read the Full Post on the Discovery Education Blog.

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

October 2026 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 Back to School - October 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
  
  • Instructional Strategies Center - ICYMI, check out the freshly designed Instructional Strategies Center that is now organized in three categories: Activate Thinking - Spark curiosity, tap into prior knowledge, and prime student engagement; Build Knowledge - Support students with making connections and acquiring new knowledge related to a topic; and Apply Learning - Provide opportunities for students to practice, develop skills, and use what they have learned.
    
    • 🔬See SOS Strategies in action

• Grades 3-5
  
  • Timely & Relevant: Channels for the Season - Bring meaning to the moment. These Channels are full of ready-to-use resources that connect October's key dates to the classroom—perfect for sparking discussion around Indigenous Peoples' Day, Red Ribbon Week, and Halloween.
    • 🔬Explore Indigenous Peoples' Day and Columbus Day
    • 🔬Explore Red Ribbon Week
    • 🔬Explore Halloween Resources

• Grades 6-12
  
  • Soccer for Success (6–8) - Kick off healthy habits this fall! On this Virtual Field Trip, students discover how movement, teamwork, and confidence help them succeed on and off the field.
    • 🔬Explore Beyond the Goal: A Virtual Field Trip to Soccer City USA

• • Teen Driver Safety Month (9–12) - October is National Teen Driver Safety Month. Help students build safer habits on every journey.
    • • 🔬Explore Honda's Safety Driven Resources

Relevant and Timely Articles from DE for Educators 

• Everyone agrees on career readiness. So why is it so hard to do?

  • While 99% of educators agree on the importance of preparing students for the future, translating that shared vision into consistent, cross-grade practice remains a major hurdle. In a new piece on the Discovery Education Blog, Amy Nakamoto from DE examines why middle school is a critical window for career exploration, how to bridge the gap between daily instruction and real-world skills, and what schools need to build a comprehensive design system for students every year. Read the full article to explore the insights and data.

• Why teachers are skeptical of AI (and how DE is trying to fix it)

  • AI promises to save time, but for most educators, it creates an invisible second wave of work: verifying whether the output actually meets curriculum standards, reading levels, and safety guidelines. In DE's post by Travis Barrs, he explores the trust gap in educational AI and announce an exciting solution: a new chat interface using Gemini models within the Discovery Education Google Classroom add-on. Read the full article to see how DE is combining generative AI with 20-plus years of vetted, curriculum-expert-designed resources—right where teachers already work. Read the Full Post on the Discovery Education Blog.

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

Looking for a quick way to help teachers find what they need in Discovery Education? This short interactive tour shows teachers how to find a resource in just a few clicks—perfect for sharing in a staff update or weekly newsletter.

DE Back-to-School 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 Back to School - September 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.

Discovery Eduction Experience - "Let's Get Reacquainted" for Back-to-School

• Looking for a quick way to help teachers find what they need in Discovery Education? This short interactive tour shows teachers how to find a resource in just a few clicks

Content Spotlights

• Grades K-2
  
  • SOS Student Activities - Fresh SOS Student Activities have landed across Math, ELA, and Social Studies and are now organized on Experience's new Subtopic Pages by instructional stage.
    • 🔬See them in action

• Grades 3-5
  
  • Timely & Relevant: Channels for the Season - Bring meaning to the moment. These Channels are full of ready-to-use resources to help connect current dates to the classroom. They're perfect for sparking discussion around Labor Day and honoring the September 11 Day of Remembrance.
    • 🔬Explore Labor Day
    • 🔬Explore September 11th on this 25th Anniversary

• Grades 6-12
  
  • • Plan Ahead for College Savings Month - Give grades 6–12 ready-to-use financial literacy lessons that build smart money habits and long-term planning skills.
      • 🔬Explore Middle School Lessons
      • 🔬Explore High School Lessons
    • Back to School, Back to Data - Discover Data makes data relevant for grades 6–12 with free hands-on activities, interactives, and real data-career profiles.
      • 🔬Explore Discover Data
    • Intro to Economics (9–12) - Introduce essential economic principles through student-friendly lessons that support financial literacy and critical thinking.
      • 🔬Explore Intro to Economics

For Educators

• Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Education Insights - Last year's report found nearly 8 in 10 students struggle with boredom in class at least once a week. This fall we're back with new research on career-connected learning—early findings show 91% of administrators say their Portrait of a Graduate framework meaningfully guides career-readiness, but is that vision reaching the classroom?

  • Join DE on September 17th at 1pm for an exclusive first look at the 2026–2027 report
  • Register for the "Someday to the School Day" webinar

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

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.