PEF Grant Brings Brainpop Jr. to Page School K-3
Opportunity:
BrainPOP Jr. is an online education portal that provides interactive lessons for K-3 students in individualized, group and class instruction formats, for both standard and special education. Teachers can review and integrate lessons into their current curricula across categories such as science, reading/writing, math, health, social studies and arts/technology, all of which support Common Core Standards and Massachusetts Curriculum frameworks. After evaluating BrainPOP Jr., the K-3 teachers at Page School realized the service would be a valuable addition to their lesson plans. However, there were no funds available to pay for a subscription.
Solution:
The Page School K-3 teachers successfully applied for a PEF grant to fund a BrainPOP Jr. subscription. They immediately integrated the service’s lessons into their curricula and the initiative has been a resounding success. “My class LOVES it! There are wonderful games, videos and activities that are relevant to our curriculum and enhance the learning experience,” said Kindergarten Teacher Irene Mahoney.
“I use BrainPOP Jr. lessons a few times each week. There are social studies and science topics we need to cover that we don’t have textbooks for – BrainPOP Jr. fills that void. It also provides videos to support education efforts around anti-bullying, use of technology, school safety and more.”
Results
BrainPOP Jr. has enabled the K-3 teachers to integrate modern, interactive learning tools into their lesson plans. Each BrainPOP Jr. lesson incorporates a vocabulary review, short animated film with a closed caption option (to incorporate reading), interactive computer activities, connections to related children’s literature, and multi-level online quizzes for each completed lesson. “I use it as an extra resource toward my social studies and current events curriculum,” said First Grade Teacher Martine Isabel. “It also has some great mini lessons for language arts and phonics.”