Earlier this year we did a very limited release of “Digital Leader” Moby badges, which we made as a one off request by a customer.
They were ridiculously popular and were decorating the lapels of Digital Leaders up and down the UK within days. But it was first come, first served so inevitably…they ran out.
In the meantime the grass roots Digital Leader program has gone from strength to strength (we think it’s a fantastic initiative).
So now we’ve made some more. But not just one design. This time expanded to six designs, a small range that covers some of the big digital skills. If they are regarded with the same affection and demand as the original we may expand the set later this year, based on your suggestions.
This first run of badges are available for free to BrainPOP subscribers only*, and limited to up to 24 badges per school (in whatever ratio you like). Badges will not be sent out until January 2013.
Fill out the form below to make your request.
SORRY! All badges sold out! If you would like to be added to a waiting list for the next batch please email info@brainpop.co.uk .
This is the story of Moby’s first visit to a UK school.
It all started with a parcel that arrived at BrainPOP UK, for the attention of our resident robot. It contained a number of posters, fan mail, and intriguingly, a link to a video.
It seemed a year 5 class at Titchfield Primary had been set a homework challenge: pick a BrainPOP topic you’re interested in and write about it.
When we saw the video of what the kids put together – “Our BrainPOP Homework“ - we were blown away! It was incredibly creative work, made with joyful enthusiasm. Not something you’d usually associate with your typical homework assignment
Along with their homework we received quite a few letters and drawings, all addressed to Moby, all pleading with him to come and visit.
This got us thinking, why not? Moby had never visited a school before and who better to visit than the hard working kids at Titchfield?
So we squeezed into the Moby mobile and headed to the school. After a quick tour of the school we hid out in the staff room while everyone rolled into assembly.
They had no idea who was just about to walk in. Moby’s excitement circuits were in overdrive!
Miss Deane, our inside woman, peeked out of the assembly hall to give us a signal, and we marched right down the middle of Mr Bainbridge’s assembly.
We were pretty lucky as Mr Bainbridge didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed really pleased we’d chosen to visit Titchfield and even let Moby join in with the Assembly at times:
Next on the agenda was a few classroom visits. Moby met Year R first and enjoyed answering their questions.
When we visited Mr Howard’s Year 2 “Diamond Mine” classroom the kids were keen to know how Moby deals with the pressure of being famous. He loves it of course – he’s such an attention seeker.
Moby got a real kick out of meeting Year 1 – they had a castle and princesses in their book corner and BrainPOP and Purple Mash in the laptop corner. After lots of hugs we met Joe out in the corridor who got Moby’s autograph – the first of many that day!
After break we met Year 4 and Moby made sure to hand out a BrainPOP badge to each pupil – a certain teacher was particularly chuffed to get the Moby football badge.
We took class photos aboard the H. M.S. Titchfield moored in the playground and Miss Deane’s digital leaders did a fantastic job herding the classes in and out.
One thing we were particularly impressed with at Titchfield was that BrainPOP is being used throughout all year groups. From Reception to Year 6, every teacher and child was familiar with the site. Moby was particularly touched to receive a piece of writing from Tyrone, a reluctant writer in Year 1.
Our last port of call for the day was meeting the homework whizz kids in Year 5 (a.k.a. H.M.S. Astute) who had Moby signing autographs.
We presented Miss Deane with a certificate for Titchfield for being such an excellent BrainPOPping school.
We spoke to Miss Deane about their BrainPOP homework and here’s what she had to say:
Before we knew it, it was time to go back to BrainPOP UK HQ, but not before the Year 5 girls showed us a cheer they’d choreographed especially for Moby. Thanks girls!
Thanks to all the staff and students at Titchfield Primary for making us feel so welcome. We don’t think we could have picked a better school for Moby’s first visit…He wouldn’t stop beeping about it all the way home.
We’re creating something new and practical for teachers and parents to use so we thought we’d best get your input.
We’ve produced sets of stickers in the past, and they’re always so popular with the lucky recipients, we thought we’d produce a batch especially for you to use when marking children’s work or rewarding good behaviour.
By selecting your top 6 rewarding images from the set below you’ll be doing us a huge favour. Even better, if you have your own reward sticker suggestions, please submit them below.
But there’s one very special badge, of which we only ever made 100, and have only ever given away about 20.
The King Moby.
On very special occasions we present this badge to worthy recipients. To own one is to own the rarest BrainPOP badge in the world. So naturally, they’re particularly sought after.
We recently awarded one as a prize to some pupils. What we didn’t know is that they had won as a pair! So who would get the badge? You’d have thought a tussle would have ensued but no, they came up with a devious plan to give away the badge. Offer it to a teacher but only if they earned it…
Anna and Catherine, the evil masterminds behind the plot, take up the story from here:
“On the last two weeks of the end of term, we earned a King Moby badge for completing the treasure hunt first.
Our teacher really wanted the King Moby badge so we decided to put her to the test! Every day we would set challenges.
Some of them have been a bit wacky such as asking a teacher if they have any toilet paper! They would be written on a piece of lined paper and we would try to make it look like a ransom note.
We put these notes into the register so she saw them each morning and afternoon. We would try to set different challenges each day, all of which our teacher would have to complete to earn the badge.
The full list of challenges were:
Tickle the child holding the register
Dance with a child while lining up at playtime
Go to another class and ask for a drink of milk
Walk into another class and ask for toilet paper
Do the conga across the field
As you can see from the pictures, she completed all of the challenges and earned her badge!”
All we can say is your teacher is our new hero! Putting herself through all those challenges to earn a King Moby. What a wicked way to end the term!
We’ll be demoing BrainPOP UK on XMA Stand F15. Come and meet our BrainPOP UK Ambassador for Scotland, Kim Conway, and see BrainPOP UK demoed on a shiny new MacBook. Kim can show you how to use our Curriculum Matching Tool, Deep Beep, to find topics to match Curriculum for Excellence.
Also, if you register your interest with an XMA represntative and you could be in with a chance to win an iPod!
At midday on both Wednesday and Thursday, take advantage of the offer of a sit down by popping along to Promethean Stand C10.
You’ll get to learn how to use BrainPOP UK with Promethean ActivInspire and Learner Response Systems with fun voting activities and lesson ideas. And, because we know how tiring exhibitions can be, we thought you might appreciate a sugar boost to keep you going; an apple or a cupcake, it’s up to you!
Watch oot, Moby’s gonnae be aboot!
Throughout the festival, Moby will be popping along the XMA and Promethean stands. He’s got some exclusive SLF badges to give you so make sure you say hello.
Remember he’s a real poser too so have your cameras ready for a snapshot with him.
We were happy to sponsor #TMSLF2010 this year with the added bonus of a big orange robot at the front door. If you’re in to TeachMeet SLF10 at 5:30 please give him a wee wave when you walk in, he loves the attention!
Feel free to come and say hello to any BrainPOPpers you spot at the festival this year – we’d love nothing more! If you want to meet up and can’t find us, tweet @BrainPOP_UK. We’ll soon find one another.
**UPDATE – September 2011. We no longer offer sponsorship for TeachMeets, sorry. You can read why on our post “Moving on from TeachMeet sponsorship“. We will honour all sponsorship commitments made before 26th September 2011.**
We get asked a lot to sponsor TeachMeet events, which we are very happy to do, where it’s appropriate and we’re able to constructively contribute.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidgilmour/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
There’s nothing official or organised regarding sponsorship or external support. TeachMeets are generally non-commercial and we respect that.
But, still, we also recognise that it’s difficult to get people to an event and raise awareness.
So if you are holding a TeachMeet, no matter how big or small, no matter where or when, and need a bit of help we want to offer a simple BrainPOP UK sponsorship package, if you want it. The following is ALL included in the sponsorship:
Your very own version of our TeachMeet movie
We will create you one of our special TeachMeet movies starring Tim & Moby to help advertise your event and describe TeachMeet to those who want to know what it’s all about.
We’ve adapted the movie for the Scottish Learning Festival, Blackpool (twice as their first was so successful!), Perth, Yorkshire and Humber, Hampshire, Norwich, Clackmannanshire, Northamptonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk and…well, you get the idea. To make the movie we need to know:
The name(s) of the organiser(s)
The location and date/time of the TeachMeet
Any hashtag you have created e.g. #teachmeet
A link to your TeachMeet wiki page
An address to send the goodies to
Expected numbers (just have a sensible guess)
We can usually get it ready in a few days and you can then embed it into your TeachMeet wiki page or in whatever digital space you are using to promote your event. Normally the movie is played at the beginning of the TeachMeet to set the scene and help anyone new to TeachMeet understand the concept. Remember to turn up the volume!
Freebies*
We can also supply you some goodies to give out to attendees. How you use them is up to you – maybe as a reward for attending or an incentive to go in the first place. If you don’t want these freebies please let us know.
Badges: We now have a special TeachMeet badge that we will always supply as part of the sponsorship. This is only available to people who have attended a TeachMeet and should be worn with pride!
Poster: We can send you a batch of posters to give out as gifts. They make any classroom wall look good.
Mugs & Tshirts: As a special gift the organiser(s) will get a much coveted BrainPOP UK mug or VIB tshirt.
A prize for a competition
We know that you want as many teachers as possible to come along and experience this unique form of CPD. So we’re happy to offer your attendees the opportunity to win for their school 6 month’s free years access to BrainPOP UK.
We will supply you free trial sign up cards that attendees must fill in to get entry into the competition. The organiser then picks one of those cards out of a hat and that school wins a free subscription. Hoorah! Everyone else at least gets a no obligation free trial to check out BrainPOP UK.
So that’s our sponsorship package for TeachMeets. All you have to do is contact us. We can also put you in touch with other TeachMeet organisers who have run successful TeachMeets whose brains you can pick for advice and tips, though the community in general is very helpful.
All we ask in return is that you add BrainPOP UK as a sponsor (logo and homepage link ) to your Teachmeet page/blog/communications etc where appropriate.
Other places you might want to approach for support include Scholastic, Rising Stars , 2Simple and Vital CPD, who, amongst others, have all historically shown strong support for TeachMeet events.
*All freebies are subject to avaliablity and we reserve the right to amend the pack without notice. But we will try our best to provide a good selection!
Like an Imperial Star Destroyer hoving into view to dominate the horizon the BETT Show 2010 is coming up next week.
BETT is the biggest ICT show in the world. Pretty much every ICT or elearning supplier will be there, including us, demoing our resources and much more on stand S46 (on the balcony above the main hall). We want to meet customers both old and (hopefully) new. Don’t be afraid to come and say hello – we’re not sales people, we just love BrainPOP UK and we think you will too.
Our BETT stand last year
An alternate view of our BETT stand last year
There’s a great collection of “Tips for BETT” going round on Twitter at the moment, providing pearls of wisdom to those who have not been before but we can add:
Wear comfortable shoes. You will, cumulatively walk miles in a day at BETT. Plus there’s lots of presentations that may be standing room only.
Don’t bring a bag. You will be offered bags on most stands. Get one of our bags instead – they will last and look very tasty. They will be the must have items at BETT we think
Take a camera and photograph the stand name + number of memorable stands. This will make a big difference. Alternately, if you have video capability on your phone, ask the rep to do a 30 sec demo for you. Far more memorable than a flyer.
Have a “who can bring the most useless “tchotchke” (freebie gift) back from BETT” competition if you are travelling with a colleague or two.
Drink lots of water to avoid the inevitable headache and try to grab lunch early or late to avoid the seriously packed cafeterias between 12pm and 2pm.
Sign up to attend one of the FREE TeachMeet events – we’re proud sponsors; they are brilliant, fun and inspiring. But don’t just take our word for it – see for yourself.
We’re also writing a series of blog posts highlighting some of the things that we’ll be doing at BETT. Coming soon:
Meet a VIB! – Teachers who use BrainPOP UK who have volunteered to show you on our stand how THEY get the best out of BrainPOP resources.
Teachmeet Takeover – Teachers who will “takeover” a part of the stand to tell you about free tools they find useful in the classroom.
BrainPOP UK lands on Promethean Planet – we’ll be demoing BrainPOP UK on the Promethean Planet stand.
If you come to our stand we’ll be doing demos; giving away Moby-tastic BrainPOP UK shoulder bags (proper bags designed to last and be re-used); pens (the archetypal and ever popular BETT staple); Moby head shaped mousemats; Moby “reward” badges and lots of other things. Make sure that we’re on your route!
