netTrekker Blog

Hook, Line, and Reel ‘em In

Last year my niece came home from school all excited about a project she had to do on her favorite president. I asked her who she selected, and she answered Abraham Lincoln. I’m always curious as to how little minds work, so I asked her why President Lincoln was her favorite. Her response, “He was born on my birthday!”

Since we had our work cut out for us, I decided to take advantage of her school’s subscription to BrainPOP Jr. When I was a technology coach, I used BrainPOP movies as a way to hook interest in the lesson. BrainPOP Jr. has another great feature. It teaches the students how to take notes. Annie stops periodically throughout the movie to ask a question and take notes. I had Zoe practice this skill with Annie and Moby so that way when she furthered her own investigations she knew how to ask questions and find the answers. She even enjoyed playing with the activities found under the movie and used the activity template for her puppet’s hat.

After watching a great thorough introduction to President Lincoln, Zoe then accessed her netTrekker account. She conducted her search and refined her search by reading levels 1 and 2. She wanted to just find more movies, but her mean old aunt made her do some actual reading. I did allow her to use the Read Aloud tool as needed.

Once Zoe had all of her notes together, she decided to create a little puppet play about Abraham Lincoln. She started her play with BrainPOP’s “Pop a Joke” feature, getting a her classmates to chuckle and even introduced note taking to her fellow classmates, telling them that Moby and Annie taught her that great skill! The puppet turned out pretty neat and now resides on her bookshelf, the play got an A so she was thrilled, and Zoe gained a better understanding of why President Lincoln is her favorite US President with two fantastic tools.

And what’s even better, she now has access to both of these great resources by logging into her netTrekker account. Her BrainPOP movies are always at her fingertips with one search. Yours too! Try it today!

If you have any great lesson ideas on how to use netTrekker and BrainPOP together, please share them either in a comment below or over at netTrekker Village on our discussion. boards!

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4 Comments to Hook, Line, and Reel ‘em In

1. 

   Danielle,
   Your post is wonderful. I could see the Wonder in Zoe’s eyes. When I was in the 5th grade I had a very creative teacher who brought history to life. We danced the Virginia reel, feasted like Indians and produced a collection of homemade costumes that the theater would have loved. I can only imagine what Miss Esther Holton at Lake Forest Elementary would have done is we’d had Brain Pop too. Thanks for taking me down memory lane. Hats off to Miss Holton and all of the other innovative educators who are keeping kids excited by incorporating great resources such as Brain Pop.
   Amy
Amy Ellisor on September 3rd, 2009
2. 

   Danielle,
   Your niece is one smart cookie! Thanks for sharing a personal example of how BrainPOP partnered with netTrekker can lead to deep learning.
Dr. Kari Stubbs on September 3rd, 2009
3. 

   As someone who dressed up as Abraham Lincoln not one, but two Halloweens in a row, I love Zoe’s subject matter! Does she know that she not only shares a birthday with Lincoln, but Darwin as well? I sense another project coming on! http://www.brainpop.com/science/famousscientists/charlesdarwin/
Karina Linch on September 3rd, 2009
4. 

   cool!
brooklyn on September 7th, 2009

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