Ideas for Using BrainPOP Jr. to Teach Writing
BrainPOP Jr. can help you teach and reinforce key skills in writing, including genres, story elements, grammar, spelling, and more! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Use the Authors Notebook to teach about the styles of famous writers. BrainPOP Jr. features movies about Eloise Greenfield, Ezra Jack Keats, Dr. Suess, Cynthia Rylant, and Jon Scieszka. Show one of the these movies to introduce the class to the author and then use the author’s books as mentor texts as students develop their own writing skills.
Explore various genres using the Writing Notebook. There are lots of types of writing covered in BrainPOP Jr, from the Biography to Poems to Book Reports. As you teach about each genre, introduce the related BrainPOP Jr. movie and use the related activities throughout your unit. Have students re-watch the movie at the end of the unit and take the quiz.
Use the Story Elements Notebook to teach about the setting, characters, and plot. Help students make comparisons between these story elements in books they read and in their own writing.
Use the Sentence Notebook to reinforce proper grammar. Students can learn about using Similes, Types of Sentences, Commas with Adjectives and Lists, and more. Use these movies to introduce a grammar rule to students and then have them practice it in their own writing. Revisit the movie and its features/activities throughout the year to reinforce what students have learned.
Make technology connections using the Communication Notebook. Teach students how to write on a class blog with the Blogs topic page and the components of an email message with the Email topic page.