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 - How can I level up my instruction next school year?

Updates coming this fall! 

• Embedded assessments, standards reporting, and auto-graded activities—oh my! There’s a lot to look forward to this back-to-school. BrainPOP’s Bobbi Bear shares a sneak peek of the exciting product enhancements coming your way. View the video in the current BrainPop Bulletin to learn more!

Dig Deeper

• Watch our recent POP-Up event for a full walk-through of how these new enhancements can be used to create differentiated lessons.

BrainPop Loves Teachers! 

• Celebrating your passions and impact! Read and Watch how teachers bring their talents and skills into the classroom to inspire their students. 

Miss anything from past bulletins?

• Scroll to the bottom of each bulletin to view past instructional practices and ideas using BrainPop.

Wrap up the 2024 School Year with Sora!

IU13 School Librarians - Watch this short 3-minute video to prepare you for summer break reading with Sora!

Content Updates 

• Don't miss out on Sora's current and upcoming sales:
  •  Yay! For YA Sale: ends May 31
  • Audiobook Sale: from June 1 – 30
• Work with teachers to compile lists of books that will be used for Summer Reading. Create links to these specific titles or entire lists so students know what to read while away from school.

 
Promote Sora Sweet Reads

• Tell your students and staff about our annual, free summer reading program, available now until August 26th.
• Does your school have a newsletter? Include a blurb about Sora Sweet Reads and click the link above for more print ready, promotional materials.

Sora / Training Updates 

• Learn about the latest update, Read to Me. Students can now highlight a portion of the text and have it read aloud. Watch the full how-to video here.
• Check out the Sora Accessibility page to learn other ways to support your students' specialized reading needs with Sora
• Sign up for our Sora Bursts for a Professional Development opportunity this summer that meets you on your time.

For assistance? 

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

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 - What's an immersive way for students to demonstrate their knowledge?

BrainPOP’s Make-a-Movie

• Lights, camera, action! Let your students take the director's seat as they share their understanding of a new topic with others using BrainPOP’s Make-a-Movie feature. View the video in the current BrainPop Bulletin to learn how!

Bonus Tip

• Provide a rubric for your students as they research and gather specific information. The rubric will be a helpful guide when they’re scripting and outlining their storyboard. Don’t forget to give project parameters like time limit and key vocabulary words!

Celebrate 25 years of BrainPop! 

• It's BrainPOP's 25th anniversary and we’re giving you a chance to win big! Find out how to enter the Moby Awards and be crowned "Class of the Year."

Miss anything from past bulletins?

• Scroll to the bottom of each bulletin to view past instructional practices and ideas using BrainPop.

Sora Sweet Reads kicks off on May 13!

This year’s selection from Sora is a mix of more than 100 ebooks (and select audiobooks) spanning grades K-12 – available for FREE AND SIMULTANEOUS USE until August 26. All titles will be prominently displayed on your school’s Sora Explore page – with the option to weed out the collection as needed. There are 146 Elementary titles, along with 16 titles for both middle and high school.

How to get started?

• View the Sora Sweet Reads 2024 Collection
• Download the new Sora Sweet Reads Kit filled with social graphics and print materials
• If you're a TeachingBooks user, be sure to check out the curated lists for Elementary, Middle, and High School for more resources for your Sweet Reads titles

Reach out to your Sora Account Team with any questions. If you want to opt out of the program, please let your Account Manger know by May 6.

Here are some "Timely & Relevant" resources from Discovery Education for the month of April 2024. Use Discovery Education as your daily hub of resources for your classroom with digital media and ready-to-use learning activities. Be sure to log into your instance of Discovery Education before clicking on the links in this post.

Timely and Relevant Resources

• Check out the April 2024 DE Newsletter for a list of resources that supports student learning throughout the month.  Click on the link above or the image to open and download this month's newsletter.

Explore the Ready-to-Use-Activities

• Explore DE's ready-to-use activities 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.

• There you’ll find this month's Activity Calendars for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5. Use them as they are or make your own copy to edit and share.

Highlighted Monthly & Timely Celebrations

• National Poetry Month – Pump up your literature lessons and learn about groundbreaking poets with this collection of resources, sorted by grade band.
• World Health Day (4/7) – Ensure your students are equipped with the knowledge and resources to be healthy for their future.
• Total Solar Eclipse (4/8) – On Monday, April 8th, a total solar eclipse will cross North America from​ the Southwest to the Northeast. During the solar eclipse, the moon will pass between Earth and the Sun, blocking the sun's light for a short time period. The natural phenomena will be visible in Pennsylvania! Get your students ready!

• International Day of Human Space Flight (4/12) – Expand your perspective from Earth, to the solar system, and to the edges of space.
• Earth Day (4/22) – Celebrate Earth Day with this collection of engaging activities that students, educators, and families can do to invest in our future and make a meaningful difference for our planet.
• Shakespeare Day (4/23) – Explore Shakespeare's finest works and discover why his plays continue to be rediscovered, adapted, and performed by diverse cultures throughout the world.

Check out DE's New Content

• The Fixies - A New Channel to Teach Science to Young Students! Follow the comical misadventures of Tom Thomas and his secret friendship with Simka and Nolik, the children of the Fixie family that lives in his apartment. 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!

• N*GEN - 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!
• PhET Interactive Simulations - Brand new 64 Spanish interactives are now available! Explore the electrifying world of molecular interactions, genetic mutations, planetary gravity, and more with these interactive simulations. Based on extensive education research, PhET simulations bring math and science concepts to life in an intuitive, game-like environment, inviting students to learn through exploration and discovery.

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