I Won A Classroom Grant Today!

I won a grant today to purchase a class set of 30 "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" books, plus a teacher's edition! The text comprises 6 units with 29 lessons that use critical thinking exercises, cooperative learning practices and a culminating authentic performance assessment to teach the history and principles of constitutional democracy.

Here's a description from the Center for Civic Education's website:

The We the People curriculum not only enhances students' understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy, it also helps them to identify the contemporary relevance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Critical thinking exercises, problem-solving activities, and cooperative learning techniques help develop participatory skills necessary for students to become active, responsible citizens.

First Holiday Season With Spencer

Another snow day! I spent the day home with Spencer. While he napped, I created a photo book about Spencer's first holiday season. Hope everyone had a safe day!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Spencer's New Years Message

Happy New Decade!

Happy New Decade! (click the picture to view it in full screen)

One Minute on Facebook

Discovery Blog Network & The "Skype In The Classroom" Directory

As a "STAR member of the Discovery Educator Network," Discovery Communications created a blog link for me, http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/mattfarber/.  They added me to the DEN Blog Network, http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/directory-of-stars/, too!  My first, and only, entry (so far) is a link back to this blog.  Skype also listed me in their Skype In The Classroom Directory: http://education.skype.com/users/496.

Track Santa With Google Earth

Thanks to Norad Santa, you can track Santa's route with Google Earth. This year Norad Santa added a Google Maps plug-in for smart phones. Visit m.noradsanta.org on your phone’s browser. You can follow the trip on Twitter at @noradsanta, and keep up with news about his journey on this Facebook page. Santa’s home on YouTube is at http://www.youtube.com/noradtrackssanta. This is a great way to blend geography with a holiday tradition.

The trip begins Christmas Eve: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/track3d.html.

Here are highlights from last year's journey:

Project Based Learning: Explained.

The Farber's 2010 Holiday Card

Confetti Countdown Filmstrip New Year's

Turn your holiday photos into holiday cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Discovery Educator Network

Our school district has a subscription to Discovery Education. Discovery Education provides original online content, such as educational videos (Discovery Streaming), lesson plans in various content areas, online quizzes, virtual tours, professional development webinars, a teacher center, and a puzzlemaker.

During today's weekly 7th grade team meeting, I gave a presentation about the Discovery Educator Network (DEN).  I gave a tour of the DEN website and showed my colleagues how to apply to become STAR Discovery Educators.

• Click here to learn more about hosting a Discovery Educator Network Event at your school.
• Click here to learn what an event should look like.

"Problems In Modern Africa" Podcast

My 6th grade students recently completed a library research project. They studied problems facing Africa today.


Here are their podcasts: http://socialstudiesrocks.podbean.com

Feed The World: 26 Years Later

My 6th graders are nearing completion of their "Problems in Modern Africa" podcast project. This calls to mind Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas (1984) (and USA for Africa's We Are The World, as well as the Live Aid concerts). The original single album art is below. It was designed by Peter Blake, famous for creating the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper cover art.

Learn Google Earth: 3D Trees

Explore 3D trees in parks, neighborhoods, and forests in cities all over the world. Download the latest version at http://earth.google.com.

Follow Me On Twitter

As much as I like to blog about education, I really prefer micro-blogging. Click the button below to follow my updates on Twitter:

National Day of Listening

Today, November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving (AKA Black Friday), is the National Day of Listening. StoryCorps' mission is "to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives." Check it out at National Day of Listening, on Twitter @StoryCorps, and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/StoryCorps.

"Food Force: The First Humanitarian Video Game" & FreeRice.com

Since its release in 2005, the World Food Programme's (WFP) video game to teach children about the logistical challenges of delivering food aid in a major humanitarian crisis has been downloaded over 6 million times, and has an estimated network of 10 million players worldwide!

You can download the game here:
http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/individuals/food-force

Also, this Thanksgiving, get your family in on the Free_rice marathon!

Expansion of the United States Map 1763 - Present

A peek of things to come next week in my 7th Grade Social Studies Class...

Animoto in the Classroom

Yesterday my 7th Grade Social Studies students finished a PBL (Problem-Based Learning) unit about the 13 Colonies. They were tasked with recruiting European settlers to live in their assigned colony. The culminating activity included a detailed written brochure, using Microsoft Publisher, and a digital story "TV commercial," using my free "All-Access" educator Animoto account. Animoto automatically analyzes the music (they provide copyright-free songs), photos and video clips that student's choose, and orchestrates a custom video.

I've been using the site for just over a year. Last night I read on Mashable that Animoto has grown to over 2 million members! Here's the article: http://mashable.com/2010/11/03/animoto-2/.

Below are some examples of student work:

Spencer's First Halloween

I recently upgraded to iLife '11 on our MacBook Pro. The new iMovie now comes with movie trailer templates!

Social Studies: Voices and Visions for the 21st Century

Today I attended the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies annual conference, “Social Studies: Voices and Visions for the 21st Century” at the Rutgers Busch Campus, in Piscataway.

The morning began with an actor portrayed, historical interpretation of Paul Robeson. Following the performance, I attended 3 workshops:

1. "Assessing Student Progress in Social Studies: Show What You Know" 
2. "We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Representative Democracy in America"
3. "Approaches and Strategies for Content Literacy in Social Studies"

The day concluded with a presentation of the new NJ Core Content Curriculum Standards from the DOE and an awards ceremony. Exhibition vendors included the History Channel (I got a free Martin Luther King DVD!), National Geographic, Columbia University Teachers College, NBC News Archives, & Pearson Publishing.

I came away from the conference with a lot of material and information overload!