Week 12

I have been working in a 5 year old kindergarten room and recently they began working on a Social Studies project.  The project was introducing them to maps and locations that can be made on a map.  It was very simple.  The teacher read the book daily.  After she read the book the students would then create a map.  The first map was of their bedroom.  The next day it was their house.  Every day it got a little bigger.  The kindergarteners focused on room, house, town, state, country, and planet.  I thought this would be a great way for second grades to use technology and introduce a few more locations that are important to know.  So being inspired by the kindergarten lesson.  I created for my fourth lesson plan a Me on the Map.  I integrated technology by having the students use Google Earth to find all the locations need to create their own Me on the Map book.  I know I could have had them create a tour using Google Earth but I honestly was having trouble myself navigating it.  I have in the pass created a Lit. Trip using Google Earth but I really struggled with that also.  As I created this lesson, I was thinking of so many other ways that students could use Google Earth in a Social Studies curriculum.  I know that I need to "play" with it more so I can overcome some of my own technical difficulties with it.  I think that is my problem with much of the new technology that I have encountered is finding time to actually work with and figure out all the ins and outs of it.  Maybe on my Summer off between this semester and student teaching.