“Clevedon School is a large 11-18 Outstanding School in North Somerset, just south west of Bristol. We operate a vertical tutor system where students from years 7 to 11 are mixed up in each tutor group.

So in any tutor group you normally have a few students from every year group. In our tutor times students regularly complete vertical activities, one of which is the use of BrainPOP.

We use BrainPOP because it is so easy to use, it really engages students of all ages (we complete the activities in vertical pairs) and the content is really clear and easy to understand.

“I really like it because it is fun and I always learn something” one student said to me from Year 9.

The BrainPOP free daily Featured Movie is a often a calendar aligned event. This is particularly good because it always means that whatever activity you are doing, there’s likely to be a relevant topic to the day.

More recently, Clevedon School have been trialling the use of iPads in education and I’m one of the trial leaders and have been using the BrainPOP iPad app in my tutor times.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4qXcO8XuE

The best thing here is that the content is right at the students’ fingertips – it’s right in front of them. Here, the content is brought alive and students can easily share and look at progress on each other’s activities as they move through. It certainly gets the students motivated and focused at the beginning of the school day.

We also provide opportunities for 6th form students to go back to their lower school tutor group to mentor students and free up the member of staff to do some small group work and mentoring with selected students. BrainPOP is a favourite resource for the 6th form students to use with the younger students.

Even with no planning or preparation it affords them the framework to run a session that everyone can engage with. It provides them with a high quality resource that they can rely on to deliver a message, support an area of the curriculum or spark a discussion.

The fact that BrainPOP uses seasonal themes and makes the most of anniversaries and other important dates means that they are always able to deliver something relevant and interesting to a group of students with diverse interests and educational needs.

I have seen it used to great effect to build confidence in 6th formers, giving them valuable experience and confidence in front of a class or in terms of public speaking. We all know how good it feels to be able to rely on a resource because we always know the quality is second to none.”

Mark Anderson, Head of ICT

We’ve gathered together a collection of what we consider our most useful and relevant topics for you to use in class if you’re planning an internet safety lesson tomorrow (or whenever actually!).

Online Safety

Online Safety (FREE) – Use this topic to learn how to keep your identity a secret; how to identify people who might not be as nice as they seem; and who can help you stay safe.  BrainPOP is an online resource so we appreciate how important it is for kids to stay safe online.

Information Privacy

Information Privacy - The Internet is a fun place but it can also be dangerous. Spammers, hackers, and identity thieves lurk in the corners of the World Wide Web waiting to grab unsuspecting users’ personal information. In this movie, Tim and Moby show you how you can keep yourself safe online by keeping your personal information private! You’ll learn how to recognise and avoid the most common scams used by these digital miscreants and find out why it’s important to read a site’s privacy policy before entering with anyone you don’t know in real life. Finally, you’ll discover why it’s never a good idea to post information that you wouldn’t want your parents or teachers to see! Don’t be scared of the Internet; educate yourself, and be prepared!

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying – Dealing with cyberbullying doesn’t have to ruin your day. In this movie, you’ll learn about some of the different techniques online bullies use to get inside their victims’ heads. You’ll also find out why bullies might act this way, and how some of them may not even realise that they’re doing anything wrong. Finally, Tim will explain what to do if you are bullied online, showing you different strategies for keeping your online experience pleasant and safe. This topic also comes with an activity you can complete after watching the movie. This topic’s like a self-defence class for the world wide web!

Social Networking

Social Networking - Millions of people worldwide have joined online social networks and in this topic, Tim and Moby explain what all the fuss is about! You’ll find out exactly how social networks bring people together, and why so many users have signed up. You’ll also discover what some of the largest, most popular social networking sites are all about, and how you and your friends can use them to update one another about your plans and activities! Finally, Tim tells you why it’s important to protect your privacy when you use social networking sites, and also gives you a few valuable tips to help you stay safe – and have fun!

Digital Etiquette

Digital Etiquette - Tim and Moby teach you about the do’s and dont’s of digital etiquette, a.k.a. netiquette, and why you should be as polite online as you are offline. In this topic, learn how the code of conduct we follow in our everyday lives applies to how you communicate digitally, from emails to instant messages to social networking websites. Discover how the Internet poses unique challenges to etiquette, and see how practices like “flaming” and “trolling” can transform a friendly message board into a verbal battleground. How can you fight online rudeness and help bring courtesy and respect back to the web? Start by watching this movie!

So when Jennifer Finlayson’s Primary 6 class sent us their completed word searches we made sure to send them a selection of the very best BrainPOP badges (modelled below) as a reward for doing such a good job.

Of course there are other things just as important to us as making learning fun!

For one, we value customer feedback. And another, we love hearing your tales of good classroom practice. We simply can’t maintain our high standards if we don’t listen and learn from you.

To this aim, and because Currie Primary School are such long term BrainPOP customers, we asked Jennifer if she could give us a run down of a typical BrainPOP lesson and she happily obliged.

My favourite movie is: all of them!

Because: there is such a wide range of movies I always find one to suit my needs!

My class like: Tim and Moby

Because: they think they are funny and they like that the movies always follow the same format

Brief description of a typical BrainPOP lesson

Introduction/background:

A lesson about synonyms and antonyms. These are new concepts to the children and, although they might understand the concepts, they are unfamiliar with the terms.

Getting Started/Preparation:

• Ask the children to discuss in pairs what they think a synonym (then antonym) is.
• Give clues i.e. syno means same, nym means name.

What we did:

• Once the pupils had generated definitions for each and we had discussed these, they worked in pairs to come up with as many examples as they could, and recorded these on mini whiteboards.
• We then discussed these as a class to produce a class bank of synonyms and antonyms.
• Then we watched the BrainPOP clip to reinforce what we had learnt, and this also went beyond our learning to touch on homonyms – which was useful as, although we hadn’t discussed it, this was planned for a later lesson.

Outcomes:

Pupils had a good understanding of synonyms and antonyms and were able to provide examples.

What’s the best thing about being a BrainPOP school?

• A wide selection of resources easily available and easy to search for on the site.
• The clips really appeal to upper primary children and often provide a great ‘hook’ into learning at the beginning of a lesson.
• We also enjoy your seasonal/topical clips, for example Halloween, and use these as stand alone stimulus for discussion.

Thank you BrainPOP!

If you’ve got any teaching and learning tales you’d like to share with other schools, please send them to info@brainpop.co.uk or post a comment below.

Luckily, Tim & Moby seem to be able to traverse the unknown boundaries of time and space with relative ease so we’ll be learning about aliens, black holes, galaxies, and more with our space-themed collection of topics, classroom activities, and resources.

You’ll also find an Outer Solar System FYI, Space Flight Activity and Moon Phases Quiz on the Space homepage, along with the following topics:

• Aliens
• Apollo Project
• Asteroids
• Big Bang
• Black Holes
• Exoplanets
• Galaxies
• Life Cycle of Stars
• Mars
• Moon Phases – NEW!
• Solar System
• Telescopes
• Space Flight – NEW!

We promise to leave no corner of the universe unexplored! Now, where did we park that spaceship?

1. VIBs and a girl named Phoebe

For the past few years, we’ve invited VIBs (Very Important BrainPOPpers - expert BrainPOP Educators) to help us out on our stand. We figure it’s better for teachers to hear from teachers about BrainPOP than just a demo from us*. So a round of applause and huge thank you to Dawn Hallybone (@dawnhallybone), Charlie Deane (@charliedeane) and Ian Addison (@ianaddison) who all rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in for BrainPOP.

Special mention must go to an honorary VIB, who operated the stylus on the IWB for us when we showed BrainPOP movies on the Saturday afternoon, like only a 10 year old history fan can. She worked the board as competently as any dyed in the wool classroom teacher.

Phoebe watches the Cleopatra movie

Phoebe, we salute your laid back style and whiteboard skills. And you’ve got great taste in movies: Black Death, Queen Elizabeth I and Cleopatra to name but a few.

*Please note: we don’t actually pitch, that’s not how we roll.

2. TeachMeet Takeovers

Having been the host to the first ever TeachMeet Takeover in 2010, we were keen to offer up our stand once again. On Thursday we watched Mark Anderson (@ictevangelist) present on Web 2.0 tools you can use straight away, followed by Friday appearances from Julia Skinner (@TheHeadsOffice) who kindly shared what she’s been up to with her 100 word challenge, and Phil Bagge (@Baggiepr) who talked about using Posterous on the iPod touch. We’ll be doing a post shortly showcasing all of their presentations - there’s too much to fit in here - so stay tuned and watch this space!

It wasn’t a Takeover but we also welcomed Mr Handley’s class who presented a masterclass in BrainPOP. They were incredible and a real highlight of the show for us. This presentation deserves a full blog post to itself so look out for that. In the meantime see the post they wrote up on their BETT visit.

Mr Handley's class meets Moby at BETT 2012

3. The heart-stopping moment when your wi-fi fails

We were so excited about our “media counter“. We were finally going to be able to show off just how flexible BrainPOP is: For use at school, home, and on the go. BrainPOP can be accessed via the Sony PS3, various flash-enabled tablet devices, and also our free app for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone. We were also keen to hear Dawn Hallybone’s top 5 educational apps.

However, none of this is possible if your wi-fi connection fails. And fail it did!

It’s fair to say we were pretty devastated about both of the above but have learnt a good lesson for forthcoming years. Do not rely on wi-fi at BETT.

4. Are you using iPads, iPod touch or iPhones in school?

A question we asked everyone we spoke to. And it seemed for every teacher with access to iPods or iPads in school, there were another three who were visiting BETT to help them make a decision: Is there enough content available to justify the spend on such devices?

While we can’t speak for other suppliers, we are well aware of the growing multitude of helpful apps and tools available for mobile devices which can be used in schools. As we’ve mentioned many times now, we’ve got a free app you can download from iTunes and start using it today. You’ll find top tips for classroom use available on our Mobile page.

5. The goodies, the goodies!

As ever, BrainPOP goodies seemed to go down a storm. But, when we’re surrounded by suppliers who seem to be offering less and less giveaways on their stands each year, we’ve got to wonder whether it’s truly worthwhile having them.

What do you think? As a teacher, does it make any difference whether you get something to take away and share with your class? Or, does it all end up in the bin at the end of the day anyway? We implore you to let us know.

6. Evaluate BrainPOP? No bother

If you spoke to any of the BrainPOP team at BETT you’ll know that this year we opted to set up a generic free trial for the event. This meant that anyone could walk away and log in to BrainPOP as soon as they liked; no messing with emails and activation links and all that jazz.

Not only did we make the free trial process as simple as can be, we created evaluation booklets, each with a photocopiable topic sheet so your class could complete an evaluation of BrainPOP for you. Download the PDF here if you didn’t manage to grab a copy last week:

Click image to download

7. Moby does the robot

Erm, there are no words?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj-Yri8hp8g

(iPod touch, iPhone and iPad are all trademarks of Apple Inc.)

In 2009 we went from “nothing to something” and nominated our first customer as the highlight of the year.

In 2010 we saw how the incredible support of a network can drive momentum and help us build a social business. That year we awarded YOU the coveted No.1 spot.

So how did 2011 play out?

6) Learning at your fingertips

2011 started with a significant arrival to the BrainPOP UK family: our featured movie App for Apple devices.  We were all App-ed up. A fresh movie and quiz every day, delivered to you where you are at the moment you needed it.

Since its launch tens of 1000s of iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded our App. Schools with Apple devices have embraced it on a grand scale such as Anson Primary:

“The film is animated, fun but clearly gives a message, a process or a piece of information. This can be followed up by a quiz which helps to promote listening, concentration or note-taking among the class. The questions are multiple choice and tackle inference as well as deduction. It’s a smart looking app and one that the (Anson) team are looking to build into their weeks as a fundamental part of the day to promote speaking and listening skills.”

…to little mobile learning moments when kids have woken their parents with facts they’ve just discovered. And everything in between.

Image courtesy of @grahamBM

5) Tap Magazine top spot

In a similar vein we were bowled over when Tap magazine gave us a place in their Top 100 greatest Apps of all time. A core value of BrainPOP is that learning should not stop at the school gates but blossom wherever learners need it. The App is just the first step along this path. Wait and see what’s coming in 2012. Our lips are sealed. At least for a few weeks.

4) Kids evaluating BrainPOP with their teachers

For BrainPOP to truly work in a school both teachers and pupils need to endorse it. We animated an Audioboo review by two pupils at Menston Primary who reviewed us as part of their school’s evaluation of BrainPOP. This directly inspired us to create a practical evaluation worksheet for teachers to give to their classes. They turned out to be a HUGE hit at the Scottish Learning Festival.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWve7HKkO4E

3) The number of kids interacting with BrainPOP/Tim & Moby

Every BrainPOP movie starts with something personal - a question from a learner. It’s not an urban myth - these are genuine letters and emails. Rather than existing to satisfy a dry set of curriculum objectives we place the exploration of the world at the heart of the BrainPOP experience.

As we’ve been embraced by more and more schools and homes the volume of kids “asking Tim & Moby” has seen a massive increase this year. The “Ask Tim & Moby” blog post has now seen over 150+ comments from kids around the world; our postbox is graced several times a week with hand made letters, drawings, treasure hunts and word search submissions (if you’re a subscribing school you’ll know what these are). Our email box contains, every morning without fail, several questions from kids.

It’s proof that learners often form a direct connection to Tim & Moby. They are there to help them place life, the Universe and everything into context. And have fun with it, of course.

It’s a wonderful thing to see. Please keep them coming - we read and enjoy everyone’s contributions.

2) Digitalk

In July we reached out to discover great class blogging stories that we could showcase. Called “Digitalk” it was one of our favourite social initiatives of the year. We welcomed incredible kid bloggers in a 4 part series starring teachers and children from Greenpark school, Ferry Lane school, Bearwood school & Heathfield school.

These posts have gone on to support and inspire other schools that want to introduce blogging to their schools. The culmination was a class from Heathfield primary who’s pupils recorded 4 audio interviews that we then animated for them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRFYnNP0c8

1) The personal touch

Last year YOU were ALL our No.1 highlight. Our extended network of customers, supporters, professional friends and fans. It was about the power of a whole network.

This year’s No.1 highlight is at the other end of the spectrum, something that ties together much of 1-5 above: the personal connection.

We worked on dozens of micro projects with individual schools, parents and kids throughout 2011 on an eclectic range of bespoke activities, guest posts, student & classroom stories and lots more. We delved into the detail of working with our customers and friends this year.

Thank you to everyone that contributed - it’s been emotional. We can’t list every micro-moment of the year but here’s a few of our personal favourites from 2011:

• Seeing a teacher do the hokey cokey for a King Moby badge
• A home educating family telling us why BrainPOP helps with Dyspraxia & encourages independent learning
• Moby the Travel Bug geocaching its way from Scotland, to Ireland, through Germany and into Florida
• Designing a special blog badge based on a pupil’s design for Staining Primary school
• When Redhill Academy shared their student voice stories on “What makes a  good lesson?“
• Celebrating our VIBs birthday’s by asking them to nominate their favourite movie for the featured movie calendar.

Well, BrainPOPpers, that’s it for another (awesome) year at BrainPOP HQ. The delights heading your way in 2012 will make your head spin, and, of course, your Brain-POP.

Wishing you all a very merry Xmas & new year,

Tim, Moby and the BrainPOP UK Team x

As well as it being a beautiful piece of art (ahem!) we’ve packed it with helpful features to delight throughout the year, including:

• Use our Tip of the Month as inspiration for fun new ways to integrate BrainPOP into your day
• Keep an eye out for movie icons on specific dates throughout the year – those movies will be featured on that date
• Use the featured movies as a guide for planning lessons each month – we do our best to ensure they’re timely and topical
• Have your students add their birthdays and pick their favourite BrainPOP movie to watch that day
• Teacher’s Choice movies were selected as favourites by BrainPOP teachers from across the UK – why not add your favourite movies to the calendar?

We’ll be handing calendars out at BETT in January again and  sending them out to all new BrainPOP school subscribers next year (while stocks last!)

If you’re not a school subscriber but are still keen to get a copy of our beautiful calendar, just email info@brainpop.co.uk with your request and we’ll see what we can do.

WHAT NEW SPOTLIGHTS DO WE HAVE COMING NEXT YEAR?

In March, delve into Britain’s past with the time travelling duo, Tim & Moby, and enjoy this collection of history resources: kings, queens, invasions, and war, with a little bit of black death thrown in for good measure.

Fancy a tune in April? Well, best take note of the animated movies in this music spotlight. Learn about composers and artists who have, in one way or another, shaped what you hear in the charts today.

If you’ve got a project or assignment coming up, this information literacy spotlight will be a good place to start! We gather together information on how to research, reference, prepare and get reading.

While you’re waiting for these thrillers to arrive, check out the resources available on our existing Spotlights. We’ll be updating them throughout the year with new movies and activities so it’s always worthwhile revisiting each month.

Topics included:

• Climate Types
• Clouds
• Earth’s Atmosphere
• Humidity
• Rainbows
• Seasons
• Snowflakes
• Sun
• Temperature
• Thunderstorms
• Water Cycle
• Weather
• Wind

You’ll also find a Water Cycle Quiz, Snowflakes Activity (’tis the season after all!) and Thunderstorms FYI.

Plus, we’ve got a Hurricanes Activity and Thunderstorms Graphic Organiser for you to try.

Click to download

Click to download

If that’s not enough to be getting your meteorological teeth into, here’s a link to further weather-related activities you can try with your pupils.

Before lessons started for the day, we dropped in on a Year 9 class using BrainPOP  in tutor time. I had imagined the class would be watching the daily featured movie but on arrival I discovered that BrainPOP fits into the learning at Shireland Academy in a different and useful way.

Shireland use a unique curriculum model called ‘Literacies for Life’. This is a project-based learning approach that focuses on a common theme throughout all subjects for a given period of time and uses dynamic learning to bring the subject to life. The theme this month is ‘Over the Top’ – learning about WWI.

Ms Dhillon ushered everyone into the room and we watched the WWI movie followed by the quiz. To add a fun twist to the quiz, after each question students held up a coloured card to show their answer – A, B, C, or D – and Ms Tonks and Ms Dhillon  stood at the front and could see which colour was the decision of the class.

The class answered nearly all the questions correctly – impressive how switched on everyone was considering it was only 9 am! No sooner had we finished the quiz than the bell went and everyone rushed off to their first lesson. I couldn’t help wondering what a Science lesson on the theme of WWI would be like (making mustard gas?).

Having everything planned on the learning platform was helpful in squeezing learning into every little bit of the day. The eLearning team have embedded links to the BrainPOP movies (and other resources) being used in each lesson so they’re easy to find for teachers and students. They’ve even animated their own BrainPOP access buttons!

The elearning team kindly showed me a few more innovations they use to get the best out of their learning platform and resources:

• In tutor time, teachers use flip cameras to record the work done – the evidence is then stored on the learning platform.
• ‘E-Pic’ – a library collection of resources students would find helpful tying in with the theme of the month. This could be free materials or clips or BrainPOP movies all accessible through an animated walkthrough, saving students and teachers hours of internet searching!
• Attitude Rocks – short clips designed to prompt discussion about various situations that might arise in school. I thought the accents sounded familiar…sure enough, it turns out the voices had been done by students and teachers from the school.
• Apps for Good – students have to come up with ideas for apps that don’t already exist but also do something good for the community. Quite a tall order considering the huge number of apps already out there! Undaunted, students are already coming up with ideas and designing the apps themselves, the best of which will actually be put into production by a digital company.

I hope I’ll get the chance to call in and see Shireland again soon, it’s always good to get stocked up on good ideas to pass on to other BrainPOP schools. Meanwhile, I hope we can persuade Shireland students to blog for us in the future…they certainly have a lot to write about!

Whether it’s to a small group of friends or a giant hall full of strangers being a confident public speaker is a highly prized skill.

So we asked on Twitter for teachers’ public speaking tips for students. We got some very helpful replies. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

We also found out that in 2010 @DeputyMitchell and his class were lucky enough to have webchats with journalists Alan Stevens & Tom Parmenter, both accomplished public speakers.

There were some amazingly useful and practical tips shared with his class. With Mr Mitchell’s permission we’ve reproduced our favourites below. You can read the full transcript on the Heathfield blog.

• Talking slowly helps you to seem like you know what you’re doing, therefore you can make points a lot easier.
• Wear your best clothes because the audience will look at what you are wearing (but make sure you are comfortable in it). People look at your shoes first – so wear your best ones!
• Your hand is probably the most important part of your body when using body language – use an open hand.
• Ask your friends what they think of your questions first.
• Don’t talk fast or it makes you sound like a nutter!