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. 

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

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