BrainPOP! Citizens

I can not say enough about BrainPOP! and BrainPOP! Jr.  They are incredible kiddo friendly sites with informative videos on a variety of topics.  Each video is accompanied with a quiz and Activity pages that may include a graphic organizer, vocabulary page, and an activity. Sometimes kiddos like to learn more and there are sections for that ~ FYI and Q&A.   Not to mention the fantastic BrainPOP! Educators section they have with an array of resources, including webinars.

For this post I will be focusing on some specific content available on the websites for: Cyber Safety.  There are a variety of ways to stay safe online and the folks at BrainPOP! have resources available for both age groups.  They also have a webinar available in the BrainPOP! Educators section to get you familiar with the resources available.

You will probably notice that there are more resources available for the BrainPOP! site (grades 4 and up).  This makes sense considering that young adolescents are more likely to be online and engaged in social media.  I found about ten BrainPOP! videos available with topics on:

• online safety


• cyberbullying


• digital citizenship


• blogs


• copyright


• digital etiquette


• email and IM


• information privacy


• online safety


• social networking

Each video covers one of the nine elements of Digital Citizenship.  You will also notice that there is also an Online Safety Poster that you can customize for just your kiddos.  In addition to these topics there is an Online Safety Game available.  There are an array of resources available in the FYI section that you could jigsaw your class; having kiddos responsible for reading and reporting on one of the top tabs.

You can use a lot of the BrainPOP! resources listed above with primary aged kiddos (K-3), but you may like the audio - visual feature of of BrainPOP! Jr.  The closed captioning is a favorite feature for my kiddos because they like seeing how to correctly spell the words.  Not to mention that Annie's voice reads roll overs.  BrainPOP! Jr. has an Internet Safety, Blogs, and E-Mail videos available.  This is perfect for this age group because many of them are beginning to explore social media sites like Club Penguin and Facebook and have a tendency to talk to strangers online (even though they wouldn't do that off line).  There are even more resources available in BrainPOP! Jr.; they have a comic, topic specific game, and other multi-modal activities available.  Just check the bottom of the page for them, the kiddos LOVE them!!!

Other videos that I'd like to point are the BrainPOP! Jr. Bullying, Anger, and Friends videos.  While not cyber safety specific; relevant.  Students need to practice positive social skills off line, or face - to - face.  It is during this practice that they will acquire skills necessary for their online lives.  It is helpful for them to understand friendship; how to be a good one and knowing what they want from one.  They should know how to recognize and control their anger; know what triggers them.  This type of self awareness will help prepare them for positive online relationships and conduct.