The students left with so much excitement today that I had to blog about it!!! Today was proof that technology is, and can be, utilized in amazing ways in the classroom. Today in 3B we traveled around the world to the Great Wall of China (ended up at a few Chinese restaurants along the way), the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, Ground Zero, the Golden Gate Bridge, and many other places around the world using satellite pictures and actual visuals of the various places. One student said, "This is the greatest field trip I have ever taken!". What a great thing to hear!
You are probably wondering how we did this. Well, there is a great download called "Google Earth" that is quite amazing! I have only just begun to realize all of it's potential (I play with it on my iPod Touch all the time). We are currently learning about maps in Social Studies and I wanted to find a more interactive, interesting way to learn about how maps are made and what we can learn from them. With Google Maps, you can type in addresses or various places and the satellite image will zoom right into that place with a still shot. These can be places all around the world. You can set it so you see 3-D monuments, the actual monument, or just flat images. It is almost like having a video camera, only they are still shots. I think the favorite for the kids was changing locations and watching the satellite move across the world and continents as if we were flying, only a little further out in space than we would probably have been. We even put in a few student addresses and it took us right to their homes through satellite feed. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. . . .and it is. . . . .for now. . . :) I can't wait to utilize it in more valuable ways as there are so many options of what to do with it.
So, if you are interested in downloading this on your computer at home, simple go to Google and search "Google Earth". Download it to your computer and there you have it. That's it. Pretty simple!
I think about what each child learned today in our 35 minutes of Social Studies, and this was so much more valuable than reading in a book or doing a worksheet about maps. As the students said, "This was awesome!" I agree!
Have Fun!
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