Tips for Using the BrainPOP Jr. Belly Up Comic

Every BrainPOP Jr. topic page has a Belly Up comic which corresponds with the movie. Here are some fun and creative ways you can use this tool with children:

Activate Prior Knowledge: Project the comic for students prior to showing the movie. Have students read and discuss the comic with a partner via think, pair, share, act it out, or talk about it as a class.

Cross-Curriculum Connections: During your literacy instruction, utilize the Belly Up comic from the science, math, health, or social studies movies that your class has recently watched. Have students use the comic as a real-world text example for practicing reading skills such as identifying letters, blends, digraphs, homophones, prefixes, suffixes, etc.

Speech Bubbles: Print out the Belly Up comic and white out the speech bubbles. Invite students to write in their own interpretations of what’s being said. Encourage students to use key vocabulary terms from the movie: you can project the Word Wall to assist with this.

Record It: Belly Up is the only feature on BP Jr. that’s not read aloud on rollover. Invite students to record themselves reading the comic. You can use mobile apps or even a simple cassette recorder. It’s a great way to practice fluency and expression!

Make Your Own Comic: Visit the BrainPOP Educators Graphic Organizer page. Print either the two panel or four panel Belly Up graphic organizer for students and allow them to create their own comics.