Brain+Pop+Jr.

=Brain POP Jr=

While not a Web 2.0 tool at this time, Brain POP Jr is an online resource for students K-3.

Strengths

 * Students enjoy learning with Moby.
 * The site offers many different features including: games, quizzes, standards for learning, homework help, wordwall, and more.
 * Quizzes are offered in a easy and hard version for each video.
 * Quizzes can also be completed online or the teacher has the option to print them out and use them as independent seat work.
 * There is a free trial you can try out.
 * Covers numerous subjects and topics.
 * Good supplement to interactive learning.
 * Graphics are excellent for all grade levels.
 * Information is accurate and up-to-date.
 * Information is leveled within topics.
 * Stimulating
 * You can turn on Closed Captioning feature to aid visual learners and facilitate note-taking by students.
 * New videos are added frequently
 * Each week, one video is featured as "Movie of the Week" and you do not have to have a subscription to view it.
 * Many videos are always free, including ones on Bullying and Internet Safety.
 * Many students can access and use the website independently, which is helpful during centers or independent learning
 * Pause and rewind button features allow students/teachers to review and cover material again if needed.
 * Each video provides a notepad on the side that displays important questions asked throughout the video where the teacher can pause the movie and answer the questions through a lesson.
 * The site structures the content in an easy manner to follow: asks a question and then provides the answer(s)
 * Many of the videos deal with character education and social emotional issues.
 * The follow up activities are extremely high quality.
 * The characters are very engaging and the students LOVE it!
 * Appropriate for early childhood classrooms.
 * students can build on vocabulary and comprehension through the quiz feature (C.Howell)
 * Information is very accurate.
 * Provides reinforcement for a variety of lessons.

Weaknesses

 * You have to subscribe, and it is not free.
 * The movies are fun, but not interactive.
 * Not a large variety of topics, may be somewhat limited and videos may not correlate exactly with the topic you are covering.
 * Mainly cartoons, which may look childish for some students.
 * Not aligned with state standards
 * The videos are so quick that most students cannot grasp the content so the video has to be played multiple times
 * Some of the content does not go into depth, rather, it covers very broad aspects of the topic.
 * If a teacher purchases a subscription for her/his classroom, they are only limited to a certain amount of computers usaing Brainpop Jr. at a time. Once the amount of usage is surpassed, a student will not be able to log on until someone has logged off from the program.

Opportunities

 * Students can learn through a source that speaks in simple terms. If students are having trouble understanding through lecture, odds are that Moby can get through to them when you can't. Appeals to more senses/ learning styles than lecturing alone.
 * Offers lesson plans and ideas for teachers.
 * Great for students that are below grade level, instead of using Brain Pop.
 * Brain Pop Jr. is a great age appropriate website for Kindergarten through 3rd grade students (especially in the math section).
 * The site makes it easy to access and students can use the site independently.
 * Beneficial for students with disabilities because the quizzes have the option of each question and answer choice being read aloud.
 * Can serve as a great introduction to a lesson
 * Brain Pop Jr. offers games, lessons, writing extensions, and extra resources that can be utilized by the teacher after the video has finished playing.
 * Great for center work
 * Perfect for students who need a refresher
 * Explains topics in an interesting way.
 * Very appealing to the visual learner

Threats

 * Students can get off task easily due to the widgets on the page with the academic video content (for example: Game, Belly Up, Pop a Joke, etc.).

Ideas for Classroom

 * Watch the Recycling video in class and then start to recycle materials in your classroom.
 * Show Brain POP videos as part of a pre-lab activity.
 * Use the quiz at the end of the video as an informal assessment.
 * During the videos, the teacher can press pause and ask students predicting and/or comprehension questions.
 * Complete graphic organizers and/or foldables that correspond with the videos content
 * Create class or individual KWL charts for use before, during, and after viewing the video and lesson
 * Use the Word Wall or vocabulary from the lesson - put in journals, etc.

Examples of Use in the Classroom
BrainPop Jr. -Cecily B.-

As soon as I saw this topic, I was very excited to share my insights into this website. It is a wonderful resource for the primary age students, while Brain Pop can be used for upper grade levels. As an art teacher, I will utilize the Color Videos for a brief and visual representation of the color wheel. There are also videos showcasing artists and basic art concepts. The Music teacher is also a user of this site, as it provides her with many essential concepts as well. The short quizzes and resources provide the younger students with simple assessments of the information. BrainPop Jr. can be used to enhance the learning process.

BrainPop Jr. - E. Luci D.

I too am a huge fan of BrainPop Jr.. My students and I have watched videos in all of the subject areas, and have found them to be interesting and easy to understand. My students love the movies and activities -- even the quizzes! When we have a class lunch as a reward the students often ask me to play BP Jr. movies. My students like to watch the science movies twice -- once to watch and a second time to take notes in their science journals. I've used the movies to introduce a subject and after a lesson, and every other variation. Last year, my 2nd graders researched a significant person of their choice. The BP Jr. movies about famous people were a valuable resource, especially since it was hard to find websites and written materials at the students' reading levels. The closed captioning helped all of my students, but especially my struggling students.

Brain Pop Jr. Taylor T.

I am a huge fan of Brain Pop Jr. I used it to supplement lessons throughout my internship in a second grade classroom and I found it to be extremely helpful, especially in Science. One area I love that Brain Pop Jr. offers is the social skills areas, they have videos for all kinds of social skills from bullying, playing well with others, nutrition, etc. One weakness I would like to disagree with a little (though not completely) is saying the videos are not interactive. They do ask questions during the video and have a pause button that you can use to ask the class questions and give students an opportunity to participate. They also have quizzes at the end of videos that you can put on the Smart Board and students can come up and answer questions.

Brain Pop Jr.- Amy H. I have used brain pop jr. many times. As an intern, I would often use it if we finished a lesson early or had a few minutes at the end of the day. By doing this, it kept the students from just sitting around at the end of the day and they loved learning with Moby (the robot in the videos). The students also loved the other things, besides the videos, that the site had to offer. The word wall was a great tool, we would explore it as a class before and after the video to see it out of context and in context to help the students gain knowledge of not just the words but how to use them. While there are all kinds of subjects and video topics, I found one disadvantage with brain pop jr. My mentor teacher would often let the site act as a supplement for a science lesson or a social studies lesson. While brain pop jr. is a great way to strengthen a students knowledge of a previously learned subject or to access prior knowledge, I don't think that it is fair to the students to use it by itself as a lesson. However, I think the pros far out weigh the cons for brain pop jr. and I will gladly use it in my classroom

Brain Pop Jr. - Natalia C. During my internship, I used BrainPop Jr. as often as I could. My students were always extremely excited to watch the videos, answer the review questions and participate in the topic related games. We had a SmartBoard in our classroom so it motivated students to want to participate so they could touch the board. I truly enjoyed using this resource and found that when I used it to introduce a topic, my students were a lot more engaged during the lesson. Sometimes I used this website to review topics already taught or during downtime. Here’s a few ways you could use BrainPop Jr. in your classroom: [] . Brain Pop Jr. -Sara P. I use Brain Pop Jr at least once a week in my classroom. My kids are always very excited when they hear me pull up the website. The extensive variety of videos almost always guarantee there will be one on a topic you are teaching. I feel like the characters Annie and Moby do an excellent job reviewing a topic. I often times find myself thinking, that is exactly how I would teach it. I generally use Brain Pop Jr. videos as an introduction to a topic or to review it. The students are always engaged in the video, because we do the quiz afterwards on the interactive whiteboard. The fact that the video is on the interactive whiteboard makes it more fun for the students. I truly believe this is a tool that every teacher should have access to because the pros outweigh the cons.

Brain Pop Jr.-Craig H.

Sometimes students are bored hearing the same voice all the time. Brain Pop is an exciting way to keep the interest of your students. Brain Pop can be shown before a lesson is begun or after. Students love the engaging visuals and narratives by Moby. I recommend using the videos and quizes as a center for science, math, reading, or social studies. Students will love running to the computers to see what Moby is up to next.

Brain Pop Jr. -Suzanne Cruz I had been completely unfamiliar with Brain Pop Jr until earlier this week, so I consider myself a complete newbie! Once on the site, I explored several topics, but was really on the search for resources for social studies (the forgotten subject these days). Mainly, I was looking for lesson/unit ideas pertaining to either civics or economics for a first grade lesson. While researching, I came across a very developmentally appropriate video related to the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens, and introduces the bill of rights. I used this video to introduce the concept, and then my students and I brainstormed our rights as citizens. They each drew a picture of a right they deemed important and wrote a couple of sentences on the topic. We united all our pieces in order to create a quilt of rights!