Welcome to the Letters to Santa Project! This was the very first project conducted in 1985 on our pioneering FrEdMail Network (using Apple IIe and 300 baud modems). It continues to be an annual Global Schoolhouse favorite.
Around the world, Santa Claus plays an important role in a multitude of cultures. In the United States, he has become a true American folk icon.
When you register for this project, we match you up with a partner classroom with which your students exchange their "Santa Letters:" Younger students write letters "to" Santa; Older students impersonate Santa and send their carefully crafted replies.
Santa has eaten a few mince pies too many and needs to lose some weight to fit down the chimneys of the world. Take Santa for a run to save Christmas, avoiding the food by jumping, rolling and diving out of the way.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Winter+%26+Christmas
Help Santa deliver presents to houses and to good boys and girls. Fly his sleigh through the air dropping presents to the right place before the time runs out.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Winter+%26+Christmas
(Hat tip to Larry Ferlazzo for this gem) - put your pictures and house into the video and have a customized video created where Santa visits your house. Talk about a great way to excite the kids! So cool.
Mathtrain.TV is a free educational "kids teaching kids" project from Mr. Marcos & his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, CA.
Here is a version of our BLC 09 presentation.
STUDENT-CREATED Videos TEACHER-CREATED Videos
Dan Meyer teaches high school math outside of Santa Cruz, CA, and explores the intersection of math instruction, multimedia, and inquiry-based learning. Every Math teacher should see this!
n his memoir Dreams from My Father, Obama describes an incident in which he, as a young boy, "came across the picture in Life magazine of the black man who had tried to peel off his skin" (51). Seeing the devastating effect negative messages about being African American had on this man, Obama "began to notice that [Bill] Cosby never got the girl on I Spy, that the black man on Mission Impossible spent all his time underground. [He] noticed that there was nobody like [him] in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog ... and that Santa was a white man" (52).
"Teens who choose to spend time alone may know what's best for them, according to new research that suggests solitude isn't a red flag for isolation or depression.
The key factor is choice, say researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Wilmington College: When solitude is imposed on adolescents and young adults, whether as punishment or as a result of social anxiety, it can be problematic. But chosen solitude contributes to personal growth and self-acceptance, they found."
Mathtrain.tv brought to you by Mr. Marcos and his 6th grade class in Santa Monica, CA. Let your students find answers about what they are doing here. This is amazing!
This is an excellent example of WHY students should be creating and sharing with other students.