Today is the one year anniversary of my blog. I had no idea when I began this journey where it would take me. When I first began, I felt like I was writing into the black abyss. Slowly but surely teachers found my blog, readers began to leave comments, and global collaboration was born. I love it! In one year, I have had 1.3+ million blog page views, have written 300+ blog posts, and have gotten to know countless cyber friends. I can hardly wait to see where my second year takes me. Thank you for joining me on my journey into blogland.
The word journey can be a springboard for many lessons. We can travel or go on a journey using books or field trips. Of course schools will always "travel" through books, but with budget cutbacks, many districts no longer take field trips. Your students can still journey to far away places through the use of virtual field trips. These can be set up as a computer center or as a whole group activity. Here are a few places to add to your "travel" itinerary:
Smithsonian National Museum of National History
Plimoth Plantation
Virtual Jamestown
Statue of Liberty
White House
Monticello
Mount Vernon
Lincoln Memorial
Australia Zoo tour with Steve Irwin
Fire Engine
NASA Space Shuttle
Ellis Island
Google Lit Trips
Visit with Authors
I made a few printable that you may download for free.
Students can rate their experience of their "travels" on this chart.
Students can document their "travels" on these maps:
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Students can write about what they learned on this worksheet:
You can do this activity as a whole group lesson to enrich your social studies curriculum. Or this can be set up as a long term center. For that option, staple this into a book and each week choose a new destination. This is a simple way to integrate technology, social studies, and language arts. Click below to download the pages.
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Do you know of any virtual field trips that I should add to the list? If so, leave me a comment and I'll add them.
9 comments
I love virtual field trips! I play them up so much that my students love them too! Thanks for the new ideas.
Sara :)
Smiling In Second Grade
You can take a virtual tour of the Louvre art museum. I read about it in my Art History class and found this link. Just a thought.
http://www.louvre.fr/en/node/2349
Here are some sites I have from taking a course on virtual field trips. Most are sites that list virtual field trip sites.
http://www.techtrekers.com/virtualft.htm
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic35.htm
http://www.virtualfreesites.com/us.government.html
http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/Visual-Field-Trips---Webcam-Feeds-Classroom-Viewing-2959452
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america8/brief/historytours.aspx
http://www.panoramas.dk/index.html
Kim
Everything's Peachy in 4th Grade
Congrats on your blogiversary!I love the virtual field trips! Thanks for sharing!
Sally from Elementary Matters
I loved the virtual field trip, its a new thing I got along with, thanks for sharing
http://national-express-malaysia.blogspot.in/2012/11/did-najib-know-or-know-of-altantuya.html
I used Arlington National Cemetary for a Veteran's Day virtual field trip.
www.educatevia360.com
We create virtual field trips. Subscription based - VERY affordable. 24/7/365 access from EVERY computer/Tablet in your school.
See a demo field trip: http://tiny.cc/ogtbyw
DC coming in July.... Arlington Cemetery & National Mall (Jefferson, Mason, FDR, MLK, Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam monuments/memorials)
Hi-
I love your suggestions!! I was unable to open your free printable virtual field trip worksheets. Any suggestions? Thanks, Nicole :)
Hi Nicole,
You need to have a gmail account to download it because it is a google doc. The other thing that might cause problems is if you need to update your software.
Thanks,
Michelle
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