GOOGLE EARTH is Da Bomb!

Wow, I had no idea that Google Earth had so many options. I was so excited when I saw that there are virtual tours of the ocean contours and the diverging and converging plates for science/geology. When talking of historical people or places, like De Vinci for example, we can take virtual tours of where these historical events took place. When studying the westward migration of pioneers in America we can look at the terrain that covered wagons would have had to traverse and follow the trail of migration.

Even more exciting is the option of turning our perspective to the sky and looking at the stars, or even virtual tours of other planets! Students can use their deductive skills and go on an historical informational scavenger hunt. I can create a tour with factual information under a pop-up photo and sent students around the world with prompts like "fly to the location of the Gettysburg address".

When thinking about math, students can pick a location of their choice and measure the boundaries. We can bring Google Earth into literacy by visiting the neighborhood where the author grew up, the location of the setting in a story, like the town Esperanza left in the story Esperanza Rising. This gives students some background knowledge and a visual connection to their reading. There are so many things that can be done with Google Earth and I can't wait to use this teaching tool in my science classes!