Educational Technology at IU13

The BrainPOP Bulletin is designed to provide inspiration for your classroom. Monthly bulletins have fresh instructional ideas, classroom swag, and community announcements for classroom teachers. 

This Month's Question - Looking for creative ways to engage your students?

The Power of Background Knowledge

• Background knowledge is more than just a buzzword–it boosts active learning and supports higher-order thinking skills. When students have a solid foundation in a topic, they can grasp complex concepts and feel more engaged. Explore the importance of background knowledge and how to build it through your daily instruction. Explore the Collection!

Leveled Reading and Vocab Builder

• Our new learning activities Leveled Reading and Vocab Builder help build background knowledge across a wide range of subjects, making curricular material more impactful for all learners. Log in to try some activities for yourself!

3 Reasons AI Should Be Part of Your Digital Citizenship Lessons

• Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a term that has made many rounds in the news cycle this year. As with any emerging technology, it has come with various (and even divided) opinions, especially when it comes to its use in education. However, there’s one thing we can all agree on–AI isn’t going anywhere. 
• Read the recent BrainPop Teaching Strategies blog post to learn more.

Here are some "Timely & Relevant" resources from Discovery Education for October 2024 - your daily hub of resources for your classroom with digital media and ready-to-use learning activities. Be sure to log into your district's single sign on link for Discovery Education before clicking on the links in this post.

Explore the Ready-to-Use-Activities

• Explore DE's ready-to-use activities for K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade bands. These time-saving activities can be used as-is or modified to meet the needs of their classroom! From Background Builders to Daily Sentence Fix-Its to Choice Boards and more – teachers can find quick grab and go resources to use anytime in the Instructional Activities Channel, such as:

  • Activity Calendars for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5 - Use them as they are or make your own copy to edit and share.
  • Daily Sentence Fix-It Calendars for each month for Grades 3-5 - Check out this month's October edition.
  • Background Builder for Grades 6-8 - Atoms - Students learn how to define atoms and describe why they are important. (as seen in the image below)

Highlighted Monthly & Timely Content

• Searching for timely October resources? Check out the October Highlights Newsletter for instant access to a treasure trove of Discovery Education resources for all grade levels - perfect for October celebrations. Examples include:
  • Bullying Prevention Month - In this channel, explore content that helps students understand what bullying is, provides strategies to stop the behavior, and teaches how to be socially responsible.
  • Indigenous Peoples Day (10/14): Explore resources about Christopher Columbus’s journey, the impact of colonization on native people, and the significance of Native American experiences both historically and today.
  • National Fossil Day (10/16): Uncover the truth about fossils, what they are made of, and how they can help us learn about what life was like a long time ago.
  • Red Ribbon Week (10/23-31): Raise your awareness of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and violence, and learn what you can do to help celebrate Red Ribbon Week.
    
    

Virtual Field Trips

• Celebrate Space Week with Career Connect - Tuesday, October 8 | 1PM ET
  • Are you fascinated by the mysteries of space? We are too! Join us for a LIVE virtual connection with Dr. Alison Nordt, Director of Space Science and Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin! Dr. Nordt played a pivotal role in developing NIRCam, the primary imaging instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

• New Virtual Field Trips and DE Docs
  • What Is the Difference Between Virtual Field Trips and DE Docs? Virtual Field Trips offer dynamic, interactive experiences that take your students behind the scenes of unique destinations, connecting them to real-world problems through engaging, multimedia content, while DE Docs are new, long-form, documentary-style videos that provide an in-depth exploration of specific topics, offering new perspectives and a focused narrative to deepen your students' understanding.
  • Check out the latest Virtual Field Trips and documentaries premiering throughout October and November!
    • Money Master: A DE Doc | Oct 22 | Grades 6-8
    • Lego Night Navigators: Build for Bats Virtual Field Trip | Oct 29 | Grades 3-8
    • White Bird: The Courage of Kindness Virtual Field Trip | Nov 12 | Grades 6-12
    • Re-Powering the Future: A Mission Possible Virtual Field Trip | Nov 21 | Grades 9-12

School Leaders - set your teachers up for success with DE Experience

• This bite-sized, engaging micro-training is tailored for teachers (by teachers) and encourages them to dive into the product, customize their homepage, and quickly find the content resources they need. Everything you need is here, including email templates, a talking script, and a resource list. 

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

The BrainPOP Bulletin is designed to provide inspiration for your classroom. Monthly bulletins have fresh instructional ideas, classroom swag, and community announcements for classroom teachers. 

What's New with BrainPop?

New Product Updates are here! 

• Embedded assessments, standards reporting, and auto-graded activities—oh my! There’s a lot to dive into this back-to-school. BrainPOP’s Bobbi Bear shares some of the exciting product enhancements that await you and your students. View the video below or in the current BrainPop Bulletin to learn more about these updates!

New Features Include:

Get Everyone on the Same Page with Leveled Reading

• Students read high-interest texts—at three different reading levels—that build extra background knowledge on concepts connected to the movie. Meanwhile, embedded assessments help students practice and apply reading strategies.

Teach Tier 2 Vocabulary That “Sticks” with Vocab Builder

• Interactive flashcards with a grade-leveled word bank of tier 2 words. Students engage with interactive, multi-modal activities (drag-and-drop, Venn Diagram, etc.) that provide practice and application of literacy skills—including deciphering context clues and analyzing word parts.

Inform Future Differentiated Instruction with Teacher-Level Assignment Reports

• These new and improved reports have been created with the help of teachers to cover exactly the information that teachers want—in the format they need—to make data-informed decisions for future instruction. 

Learn more about these updates on the current BrainPop Bulletin or by visiting the New to BrainPOP: Back to School 2024 blog post. 

Information for this blog post is provided by our partners at BrainPop

Here are some 2024 Back to School "Timely & Relevant" resources from Discovery Education - your daily hub of resources for your classroom with digital media and ready-to-use learning activities. Be sure to log into your district's single sign on link for Discovery Education before clicking on the links in this post.

New DE Feature - Assignment Link

• Teachers can now create and share assignments effortlessly using a simple link. No classroom or roster management is required. Create and distribute Discovery Education assignments directly to students via email, Schoology, Google Classrooms, Learning Management Systems, and more. By removing assignment set up requirements, you now have more flexibility and freedom - making it as easy as Copy and Paste. Learn how!

Explore the Ready-to-Use-Activities

• Explore DE's ready-to-use activities for K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade bands. These time-saving activities can be used as-is or modified to meet the needs of their classroom! From Background Builders to Daily Sentence Fix-Its to Choice Boards and more – teachers can find quick grab and go resources to use anytime in the Instructional Activities Channel, such as:

  • Activity Calendars for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5 - Use them as they are or make your own copy to edit and share.
  • Choice Board for Grades 6-8 - Science Example Cells: Teacher Choice Board
  • Daily Sentence Fix-It Calendars for each month for Grades 3-5 - this month's August edition (see image below)

Highlighted Monthly & Timely Content

• Back to School Channel – Welcome students back to the classroom with immersive new assets from Discovery Education! Explore resources that help students adjust to school and learn about exciting new topics. Then, dive into exclusive new resources from such channels, DE Originals and Need to Know!
• The Olympic Games Channel – With the 2024 Paris Olympics wrapping up, what better way to keep the excitement going with our newly refreshed Olympics Channel? Explore the latest from DE about the history of the Olympics, inspiring athletes’ stories, and new highlights from this summer’s games! 

What's New at DE

• The Fixies - Grades PreK-5 - Season 3 of The Fixies continues will 10 new episodes! There’s just no end to the troubles Tom Thomas and his Fixie friends get themselves into with all the gadgets and appliances around them as they work together to explore different topics like backpacks, chocolate, and vitamins!

• N*GEN - Grades K-8 - Explore STEM topics with N*GEN. Based in Africa, this program series teaches younger students about a variety of STEM topics. Learn about the wetlands, robots, food, bees, and more!
• Pathway to Financial Success in Schools - Grades K-12 - Pathway to Financial Success in Schools is a no-cost, unit-based, multimedia financial literacy program for middle and high school students. Explore comprehensive curriculum enhanced by videos, self-paced modules, and cross-curricular activities. Family extensions are available to keep the conversation going at home! 
• 3D Virtual Field Trips - Grades K-12 - are new interactive experiences that take students on impossible journeys. Travel to ancient Egypt, the bottom of the sea, the Moon, and more incredible places right from your web browser! Students will solve problems, try out real careers, discover artifacts, and complete objectives in these exciting cross-curricular games.

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

Get Sora Ready for the New School Year!

Below are some tips to ensure your district's Sora collection is ready to welcome students back:

OverDrive Max

• Thousands of Scholastic titles now available in OD Max! – Avoid waits/holds on titles like “Smile,” “Dog Man,” and “The Hunger Games” for $.20 a checkout!
• Shop the Back-to-School Sale - Starting on August 12th, take advantage of this sale to expand your collection, renew expiring titles, and maximize your budget. 

For Your New and Returning Staff Members

• Refresh your knowledge and train new staff - Share the easy-to-follow Sora and Marketplace self-paced curriculums with your team.  
• Spread the Word - Use the “Get off the Ground” marketing kit to promote your library's offerings. Think of this as your beginner’s guide to promoting your collection! 

Prep Your Collection

• Update Marketplace admin accounts  
• Review your holds report, weed expired titles, and update your curated collections. Our partners at Sora can help you to remove old holds!
• Purchase Class Set titles for required reading.  
• Sign up for Sora Bookshelf Service to save time and energy throughout the school year.  

For assistance? 

• If any help is needed or you have a specific list of titles you want to make available to your students, email our new IU13 Sora Account Manager, Ben Kowalczyk at bkowalczyk@overdrive.com