English Lessons
BrainPOP Lessons organized by Topic.
A Wrinkle in Time
Explore every wrinkle of Madeleine L'Engle's classic science fiction tale.
Adjectives
Watch this thrilling, informative, amazing, and entertaining movie about adjectives! (And then rewrite that sentence.)
Adverbs
They beautifully describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, nouns, and even whole sentences!
Alexander Hamilton
Meet the ten-dollar Founding Father whose way with words and mastery of money helped shape America into the financial powerhouse it is today!
Alice Ball
Meet Alice Ball, the brilliant young scientist who developed the first effective treatment for leprosy.
Antonyms, Synonyms, and Homonyms
What’ll you have on your bagel—lox or locks? Tim and Moby will teach you about grammar, pronunciation, and how words relate!
Biography
Discover what makes a biography, and learn the source of memoirs--the writer’s life!
Business Letter
Tim and Moby send salutations and talk about how to write and structure a business correspondence.
Capitalization
Big letters, small letters: Knowing when to use them makes for proper grammar!
Characterization
How do we connect to the characters in stories? Writers use characterization to bring them to life: describing what they look and act like, their identity and personality, and other traits.
Charles Dickens
Don’t say “Bah, Humbug”! Dickens survived childhood poverty to become one of the greatest novelists ever.
Citing Sources
Articles and movies and books, oh my! Learn how to format MLA citations for every type of source in your bibliography.
Clauses
Independent or dependent, nouns or adjectives, Tim and Moby know how clauses make sentences work.
Colons
Tim and Moby on how these two little dots are so useful: You'll see them as salutations, as independent clauses, and as indicators of a related sentence to come. You'll even see them on your digital clock!
Commas
The Punctuation Pros are here to school you on all the rules of correct comma usage, so you can communicate clearly and effectively!
Conducting an Interview
Questions and answers are just the start—learn what else it takes to conduct a great interview!
Conjunctions
Either conjunctions are important for coordinating phrases, or they’re not! (Hint: They are.)
Contractions
What’s a contraction and how’s one made? Tim and Moby help you use an apostrophe to combine words.
Copernicus
Meet Nicolaus Copernicus, the man who dared to theorize that the universe didn't revolve around him—or anyone else on Earth, either!
Critical Reasoning
People make claims all the time—learn how to figure out which ones hold up!
Diagramming Sentences
Learn how to diagram all the parts of a sentence, from adjective to verb! But what on earth is a predicate?
Dictionary and Thesaurus
Tim and Moby teach you to look up and learn more about words and their meanings!
Edgar Allan Poe
Calm your tell-tale heart: This movie about macabre author Edgar Allan Poe isn’t nearly as frightening as his tales!
Emily Dickinson
Discover one of the most unique and influential voices in American verse
Etymology
Tim and Moby talk you through the study of words—their origins, meanings, and how wars change language!
Eugenie Clark
Explore the sea with Eugenie Clark, a trailblazing marine biologist and science communicator with a passion for sharks.
Fact and Opinion
Figure out the difference between what’s true, what’s not true, and when bias presents opinion as truth. Tim asks: Can you prove it? Well, can you?
Five-Paragraph Essay
Whether your essay is expository, descriptive, or persuasive, a five-paragraph format can help you organize your ideas and make a strong, well-supported argument. Write on!
Frankenstein
Meet the gothic monster of all monsters—and the woman who gave Frankenstein life!
George Washington
The founder of our country, the first commander-in-chief, and a darn good general--George Washington wasn’t perfect, but he’s a truly revolutionary figure.
Homer
Grab your toga and get ready for some epic tales of the ancient cultures of Greece and Troy.
Hyphens and Dashes
To avoid the all-too-common errors involving hyphens and dashes—and there are many—watch this movie start–finish!
I vs. Me
Getting personal with first-person pronouns is the object of this movie! Or is it the subject?
Idioms and Clichés
Every village needs an idiom. But using cliches makes for lazy writing!
J. R. R. Tolkien
Take a trip to Middle-earth with Tim and Moby, and learn about fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien!
Jack London
Tim and Moby follow the tracks of Jack London; sailor, adventurer, politician and famous author.
Kurt Vonnegut
Tim and Moby talk foma, wampeters, and granfalloons in our movie on author Kurt Vonnegut!
Lewis and Clark
Follow Lewis and Clark as they explore the U.S. interior and meet more than 50 Native nations!
Lord of the Flies
Tim and Moby introduce you to William Golding's great novel about lost children and the island society they create!
Main Idea
Wait, what was that all about? Get to the gist of it, and learn how to find the main idea!
Making Inferences
Help student readers engage deeply with texts by combining clues they come across on the page with existing knowledge to form ideas—that’s inferring!
Malcolm X
X marks the name of one of the most important leaders of the Civil Rights movement. Learn about the life and legacy of Malcolm X.
Mansa Musa
Learn about Mansa Musa, the man who put the African empire of Mali on the map!
Marco Polo
His adventures in China are the stuff of legend, but his impact is an indisputable fact. Explore the legacy of Marco Polo!
Mark Twain
Tim and Moby introduce you to the great American writer and satirist, Mark Twain.
Maya Angelou
Explore the inspiring life and literature of this Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, poet, and dancer!
Misplaced Modifiers
Avoiding misplaced modifiers is essential to good grammar and concise writing. So, where exactly do I put this adverb? If only I knew!
Nouns
They’re plural, they’re proper, and good luck speaking without them! Tim and Moby talk nouns.
Outlines
Tim and Moby show you how to research and organize your thoughts on a topic before you write!
Parallel Structure
Use the simple rhetorical technique of parallelism to make your writing stronger and more persuasive!
Paraphrasing
Learn how to use quotes or when to summarize to paraphrase, not plagiarize!
Parts of Speech
An explanation of the basic parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Plot
There's more to a story than a thrilling climax! Learn the structure of most stories, from exposition to resolution and all the action in between.
Pocahontas
Forget the fairy tale. Learn the true history of Pocahontas, the Native woman who connected two cultures in the early days of U.S. history.
Poetry
Tim and Moby get all poetic on you! The rhyme, rhythm and verse of one of the oldest literary forms.
Point of View
First person, second person, third person, oh my! Tim and Moby give you perspective on point of view in writing.
Possessives
Hey--that’s mine! Discover the grammar of ownership by using apostrophes, possessive nouns, and pronouns.
Prepositional Phrases
Learn what a preposition is and how to identify prepositional phrases.
Prewriting: Choosing a Topic
Learn some prewriting strategies that will help you to generate ideas and find a topic that gets you going!
Prewriting: Organizing Your Thoughts
Save time by organizing your thoughts and mapping out your writing!
Public Speaking
Don’t be scared, be prepared! Tim and Moby’s tips for delivering a successful report or speech.
R.J. Palacio
Meet the bestselling author of >Wonder, the reading-list perennial about a fifth-grade boy with facial differences.
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring kickstarted the modern environmental movement and inspired millions. One book really can change the world!
Reading a Newspaper
It’s one of the best ways to stay informed: Find your way around a newspaper, from byline to headline, sports to culture.
Roald Dahl
Meet the writer who brought you James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other timeless adventures!
Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
Expand your vocabulary by learning all about prefixes, suffixes, and root words!
Run-On Sentences
Whoa, Partner! Where’re you going with that sentence? How to contain run on sentences.
Semicolons
Nope, semicolons don’t help you digest your dinner. Tim and Moby introduce you to a strange and useful punctuation mark!
Sentence Fragments
Do your sentences have all their parts? Tim and Moby predicate this movie on the fact that there are clauses other than Santa!
Setting
Learn how setting “sets” the rules and possibilities of a story, and how it works together with other story elements.
Show, Not Tell
See how writers can make narration come to life using vivid descriptions!
Similes and Metaphors
There’s no comparison to this movie on how these simple poetic devices can improve your writing.
Sonia Sotomayor
As a girl growing up in the Bronx, Sonia Sotomayor dreamed of being a judge. With drive, smarts, and a passion for hard work, she became the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court.
Strengthening Sentences
Don’t be passive: Put some muscle in your modifiers and volume in your vocabulary! Learn how to keep your readers interested.
Subject and Predicate
Ah, Subject and Predicate: Working together to bring you sentences since the earliest days of the English language!
Subject-Verb Agreement
See how a subject's number affects the verb that agrees with it. It’s so nice when verbs agree!
Tenses
Learn how to describe the past, present, and future. It’s all about conjugation, baby!
Test-Taking Skills
Multiple-choice, standardized, quiz or exam? Other than study hard, how can you do best on a test?
Text Structures
Attention, critical readers: Identifying the structure of an informational text can make it easier to understand, and help you retain the info!
Theme
Learn how authors use story elements like plot and characterization to develop a theme
They're, Their, and There
What’s wrong with there word choice? A whole lot! Learn the difference between the contraction, the adverb, and the possessive pronoun.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Learn about gossip, racism, and small-town justice in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
Types of Sentences
An explanation of declarative, imperative, interrogatory, and exclamatory sentences. Watch this! OK?
Types of Writing
Is your writing meant to tell a story, to share facts, or to persuade? Whichever it is, you’ll be using one of the three main types of writing: narrative, informational, or opinion.
Verbs and their Objects
Take action! Learn how to identify and use verbs, direct objects, and indirect objects.
William Shakespeare
He could do comedies, tragedies, histories and poetry. Learn about the greatest playwright in the history of the English language!
Writing In Sequence
Writing’s easy once you learn about sequence! Tim and Moby give you directions on using timelines to create order from beginning to end.
Writing Process
The main idea of this movie is learning how to organize, proofread, and publish your writing!
