Creating the Constitution Prezi

Creating the Constitution on Prezi

Our Skype "Visit" To Yokohama, Japan

This morning my 6th grade class had the opportunity to videoconference via Skype with Kim Cofino, a teacher in Japan.  According to Kim's Twitter bio, she is an "international school educator, currently technology and learning coach at Yokohama International School in Japan."  You can follow Kim's Twitter feed: @mscofino and read her blog: http://kimcofino.com/blog/.   

First, we located Kim's school on our SMART Board using Google Earth's "street view."  There is a 14 hour time difference between New Jersey and Yokohama, Japan.  Yokohama is a large city adjacent to Tokyo.  The Skype chat was also on our SMART Board.  My students had a list of prepared questions to ask Kim.  At the conclusion of the lesson, students wrote down what they learned (the lesson was basically framed as a KWL).

Thanks again for staying up late to Skype with us, Kim!

(On a technology side note, my stapler broke this morning, but our Skype chat across the globe to Japan went seamlessly!  Go figure!)

I Won a Classroom Grant!

Today I learned that my classroom grant request for the Conflict Resolution and United States History curriculum materials was approved! 

The volume includes "a CD with primary source documents, overheads, student handout, maps and illustration, as well as a DVD."  Each case study "provides a detailed historical background, short biographies of key historical figures, an examination of the issues and perspectives, and an analysis of the consequences, along with questions for discussion and a list of additional resources."

I first learned about this when I attended the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies annual fall conference.  While there I participated in a role-playing activity with the president of NJCSS to simulate immigration debates.

Here is a link describing the value of the program: http://civiced.rutgers.edu/CONFLICT/value.shtml

Below is a video that show students using "Conflict Resolution and U.S. History":

Video Link: http://youtu.be/yL5mWSqI3Qg