Virtual Tours

Google Earth virtual tours are a great way for children to explore the world and places that they could not otherwise travel to! I watched Amy Samuelsen's virtual tour, and one thing I really liked about hers what that she used a fun style placemark. It was fun, and not ordinary. I only used the tack placemarks, and I realized now that it probably wasn't the most exciting. She also traveled around the whole world to learn about environments and ecosystems. It is fun for children to travel around the world and compare the different kinds of land. I also watch Rebekah Handley's virtual tour. I LOVED her image overlays! She had one of Mt. Everest placed right ontop of the mountain image in google earth. It felt like I was on the mountain. Children could get really into her virtual tour becuase she makes the viewers feel like they are there. Now that I think about it, it would have been really neat to use an image overlay in mine. I am impressed with how much I learned during this assignment and the many uses that virtual tours have!

Google Earth

I have learned that Google Earth has many more capabilities than only searching for my house! Google Earth has a lot of features that can be used in all subject areas. It is not only useful for geography, but Google Earth can be explored with math, history, science, literature, and anything you are curious about. It can be used in the classroom to help students have an experience with the curriculum and explore on their own, rather than simply being told information. It would be a great way to engage students in their own learning. I also learned that Google Earth opens .kml and .kmz files. If you search anything on Google with .kmz at the end of the search, you will find files that can be opened in Google Earth. There are a lot of neat files that people have created to be explored with Google Earth.
I found a great link to "Smithsonian's Volcanoes of the World" where you can see the distribution of volcanoes around the world, see pictures, and get specific information.
Link to Volcanoes
This link can be used to observe patterns of volcanoes, their locations, and the effect they have on the physical features of the world.

Digital Storyboards

By looking at other PLE's, I learned that there is so much you can do with digital storyboards. They can be used for many different activities and objectives, not just storytelling. Storyboards can be used for poetry, personal narratives, interpreting, rand esearch projects. Also, storyboards can be displayed in different ways using different form of visual arts. You can use pictures, take your own pictures, draw your own pictures, use claymation, or act it out. Students and teachers have the opportunity to be creative and use their imaginations when creating a storyboard that is just right for the objective.
I am interested in teaching first grade, and I am in a first grade classroom for the cohort this semester. Storyboards can be adapted to the reading objective of students interpreting text. Students could interpret a story by drawing pictures, and then those pictures could be published in a digital storyboard. The students would have a lot of fun!

Digital Storytelling--"The First Snowfall"

Storyboard

The most important thing I learned this week is that storyboards are easy! Although I was a little intimidated at first, digital storyboards are a fun easy way to incorporate research, reading, acting, interpreting, expression and so much more!