Community reviews for BrainPOP Jr.

BrainPOP is an educational animated video site that is a great way to introduce a topic or add on as supplemental information to your lesson. These short, engaging videos explain concepts with clarity, as well as a bit of humor. Broken down into subject areas, there are videos on everything - writing bibliographies, carbon dating, causes of the American Revolution. Each video is then accompanied by a quiz, activities, and further reading that you can use. Accessible on computers as well as iPad app, BrainPOP engages students while teaching them fundamental concepts. While BrainPOP is geared toward late elementary and middle school students, there is also BrainPOP Jr for K-3, BrainPOP Espanol, and BrainPOP ESL for second language learners. In addition to being an excellent tool for students, BrainPOP provides teacher resources in their Educators section of the site. This gives you access to lesson plans from fellow teachers, professional development training (webinars, conferences, web tutorials, etc), and helps you to connect these videos to the common core.

BrainPop and BrainPop, Jr are subscription-based websites that provide animations, activities and assessments in topics ranging from Digital Citizenship to Electricity. Each topic includes a variety of engaging and factually accurate cartoon animations that explain the basics of the topic. The animations are perfect for that moment when you find yourself trying to explain a concept and really just need a quick illustration. Tim and Moby use humor and a fun friendship that is engaging and very easy for children (and adults) of all ages to grasp. While the subscription fee is fairly substantial ($205 for a classroom and almost $1500 for a school) there are a lot of videos and activities available for free. The site also provides activities for students to complete after they have watched an animation and there are assessments that can be completed online or that can be printed out by the teacher. I have used this site both as a supplement to a lesson and with students as they explore a topic on their own, and while the videos are very informative, I have found that it is still necessary to 'debrief' with students after they watch the videos to smooth out any misconceptions. Overall, BrainPop is a teacher's best friend for explaining difficult concepts and it can be used individually by students to explore their own interests.

Brain Pop Jr. has a wonderful library of topics for young children to explore and learn about. One of the most valuable parts of the site is the diversity of activities available. For example, after watching a video to learn the parts of a computer, students have the chance to write, draw, read, and talk about computer parts as well as read comics, jokes, and vocab words/definitions about the lesson. Another great aspect of the site is the audio. Students can mouse-over any part of the site or directions to an activity and have them read aloud. Most activities are also printable so they can be done without needing every child to be on a device or glued to a screen. One improvement that could be made to the site is to add more primary sources as opposed to animated videos and activities. For example, when learning about the computer, it would be great for students to see different video and photographs of real equipment up close. Another constraint of the site is the paid subscription that is required to access most of the content.