This week, give your kids the low down on why we make stuffed guys, light bonfires, and send fireworks screaming into the stratosphere on 5th November. It’s all to do with this GUY y’see.

So before you start toasting any marshmallows, get stuck into our Bonfire Night movie.

And, if you’re heading to a fireworks display this weekend, impress all your friends with your pyrotechnics knowledge. In just 3 minutes, you’ll have chemical elements and fireworks facts whooshing out of your ears: Fireworks movie.

We also still have a free Fireworks Code poster available to download.

For more tips on how to use BrainPOP to promote class discussion about topical events, take a look at this post we did a while back: Promote Class Discussion.

Topics included in Reboot, Recycle, Reuse include:

• Air Pollution
• Biofuels – NEW!
• Energy Sources
• Global Warming
• Greenhouse Effect
• Humans and the Environment – NEW!
• Hybrid Cars – NEW!
• Natural Resources
• Nuclear Energy
• Population Growth
• Recycling
• Water Pollution
• Wind Energy

We’ve also got a fantastic Recycling Lesson Idea from David Rogers (@daviderogers), Curriculum Leader for Geography at the Priory School in Portsmouth.

And, to encourage you to get your green hat on, we’ve produced a Green Moby poster:

Click image to start download

Download and pin it up at school or at home so you always remember Tim & Moby’s earth awareness tips.

BrainPOP UK have long been fans of the unconference / BarCamp model of event, such as TeachMeets and Fishbowling.

This year we were kindly asked to join Merlin John , Apple, Rising Stars & Dave Smith of the Havering ICT team to create a new type of event for teachers.

Collabor8 4 Change is the result – an unconference focused on School Leaders.

So what is it?

• Share best-practice ideas that you can take away and implement in your school
• Collabor8 with like-minded, award-winning ICT innovators that are willing to share
• Join discussion sessions that will challenge thinking and inspire change

What would I get from it?

All attendees will benefit from the experience and conversation with leading ICT practitioners as they openly share best practice use of hardware and software, with an emphasis on the impact on pupil outcomes and making effective use of existing ICT resources.

With an impressive, thought-provoking, mixture of exciting table-based sessions and focused mini-note presentations from ICT experts such as:

• Hannah Jones (Former Special Projects Director at NCSL)
• Steve Bunce (CPD Leader at VITAL)
• Bob Harrison (Consultant with BECTA and the NCSL)
• Adina Popa (Educator, VSTE Innovator of the Year, Staff Developer, #globaled10 Regional Chair, Speaker, Writer)

And it’s completely FREE!

So, what are you waiting for? Follow any of these links to find out more:

• Sign up at the official Collabo8 4 Change web page
• Linked In users can sign up here for the Collabor8 4 Change event page
• Become a Fan on Facebook

Date: Thursday 13th January 2011

Time: 6:00pm- 9:00pm

Venue: The Apex Room, BETT, Olympia, London

“The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities“

I was honoured when Adina Popa, an award winning teacher, nominated me to give one of the keynotes at this incredible online event.

But I was nervous of accepting, given the value of some of the other names on the schedule – including one of my favourite voices in edtech,  Ewan McIntosh .

But fortune favours the brave so I said yes for two reasons:

1. I felt I had something I wanted to share and contribute to the global discussion
2. I wanted to get a reaction/feedback to those idea/thoughts

My talk was titled “Global Resources for Global Citizens – Teachers as Guides” and its essence was about the power of TeachMeets to break through many of the cultural and professional barriers that prevent 21st Century Teaching and Learning. This is how it was summarised, hopefully to get people interested enough to join in!

“In this short presentation, Eylan will demonstrate how BrainPOP’s experience of learning, in a range of global settings, languages and settings, has shown that there are key behaviours and lessons that can be shared to improve best practice for all 21st Century Educators. In the networks that BrainPOP takes part in, whether it be BrainPOPEducators, TeachMeets, BrainPOP Maestros, or in our PLNs, they talk to and understand the work that some of the most effective teachers are engaged in –using BrainPOP as the contextual hub. Eylan hopes to provide time and stimulus for debate – especially around the overuse of the word ‘Creativity’!”

Two other BrainPOPpers, from the US team, also contributed talks: Allisyn Levy (Director BrainPOP Educators) on The Value of Online Communities for Educators and Kari Stubbs (Vice President 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP) on Lessons Learned from the Chilean Miner Rescue .

I would urge you to listen to some of the other amazing speakers – the full listing of which can be found here. Thanks to all those who joined in at the time, and those that have watched since and for their kind comments.

Topics for the Super Structures Spotlight include:

• Architecture
• Bridges
• Building Basics
• Calculus
• Dams
• Force
• Gravity
• Measuring Angles
• Pulleys
• Seven Wonders
• Skyscrapers
• Slope and Intercept
• The Great Wall of China

For our first Spotlight we’ve come up with a few fun activities you can try with your students.

1. Virtual lego

Get your class to create their own virtual lego super structures!

Download the Lego Simulator here. Tim & Moby aren’t too pleased with our sorry attempt…they think you can do better!

We'll get wet if it rains

2. Design a super building

We’d love it if you and your class created a Moby-related super structure but you could start off easy, draw Tim & Moby a house.

Tim & Moby House Blueprint

We used free software from SmartDraw but you could just as easily use Paint, Microsoft Word^©, Paint.NET or good old paper, pencil, ruler and rubber.

3. Get building!

Why not build a lego super structure together as a whole class activity? Look at what Zoe POPpette achieved!

Super effort Zoe!

4. Spotting super structures

Fancy some fun outside of the classroom? Here’s our suggestion…

Why not head out with your class to take photos of local super structures? Here’s a very famous super structure local to us BrainPOPpers, Hertford Bridge:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djof/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Whether you draw, build or photograph a super structure, please send us the results.

Try and find at least 3 reasons your structure is so super. Who will use your super structure? Can people live in it? Any environmentally friendly features? Any robot friendly features?

Here’s what we said about our photo of Hertford Bridge:

1. Our super structure was completed in 1914
2. It is often referred to as the Bridge of Sighs because of its supposed similarity to the Bridge of Sighs in Venice but it actually looks more like the Rialto Bridge in Venice
3. It is called Hertford Bridge and is part of Hertford College

Not very exciting but perhaps your pupils come up with a super structure that:

1. turns orange when the sun shines?
2. recycles grey water?
3. knocks at least one of the world’s tallest buildings from the top ten?

Email photos and files to info@brainpop.co.uk with “We’ve got a super structure” in the subject line.

We’ll upload everything you send us to our Facebook and Flickr profiles.

This one-stop-shop brings together ALL our free movies in every subject. And they will stay free for the forseeable future. So you can link directly to them if you want to highlight a movie to your students or collegues in your VLE, on your blog, etc. We’ve even made the weblink easy to remember.

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/free_stuff_from_brainpop_uk

We think, collectively, they represent some of the best things about BrainPOP UK. You may or may not agree with our choices but we love each one of these movies.

Death, terminal illness, war, terrorism, crime… none of us like to face these difficult features of the human experience.

As teachers, parents and carers we all have a responsibility to help kids prepare and cope with the aspects of life that bring feelings like fear, terror, pain and uncertainty.

A close family member died of cancer this week, and while I mourn her passing, I find that I have a wealth of coping mechanisms – developed from many life experiences, accumulated knowledge and, of course, an adult peer support group who can identify and sympathise.

All of which will help me to come to terms with what happened.

Children do not always have these consolations.

BrainPOP UK is committed to supporting children through these experiences with our movies on the very hardest topics in life.

Our PSHE and Citizenship section is there to help you find our thoughtful, informative and sensitive movies such as addiction, bullying, cancer, drug abuse and even death.

Whether you need these as movies to simply sit with a child, for an assembly, or for whole class speaking and listening, is up to you.

I guess one of the hardest movies we have ever made has a special relevance today.

Eight years ago, at 12.53pm GMT, a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. Even typing this sends shivers up my spine, so imagine how hard it is for a child to manage their emotions about this event.

Help them understand the facts by watching our September 11th movie movie, which is free on our site for this week. You may also want to view this BBC News 9/11  timeline of the event.

Normally I’d ask you to see it and enjoy it.

But in this instance I simply ask you to see it.

That’s the most important bit.

Our September 11th movie (will open in BrainPOP UK)

Author: Eylan

“Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare” said Marcus Tullius Cicero.

“To err is human, to forgive divine“, said Alexander Pope.

“Nobody’s perfect” says BrainPOP UK. But we try harder.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddoctorrose/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

We’d like to cut all you lovely folks who have bought BrainPOP UK a deal. If you spot an error on our website, in a movie or quiz or anywhere on the product site and you let us know we will extend your subscription by 1 week, as a thank you. Really.

You can submit as many errors as you like. We hope you don’t spot any, but we also know realistically on a site the size and depth of BrainPOP UK anything’s possible. This is an educational resource and needs to cleave to the highest standards.

As we are a webservice and not constrained to printing presses or CDROMs we can change things quickly. With your help and eagle eyes we can try to minimise issues and make BrainPOP UK the best it possibly can be.

Small print:

• We have the last word on whether something is an error.
• We’re not applying this retrospectively.
• We retain the right to accept or deny any submission.
• We can withdraw this offer at any time.
• The same error cannot be reported and/or claimed for twice. First come, first served!
• This offer is only open to customers who have paid for an annual  subscription to BrainPOP UK.

So, if a mistake we’ve made has been bothering you but you didn’t think it was worth bringing to our attention, well, now it is. So get in touch!