SPOTLIGHT on Resources

Welcome to the Resources Neighborhood of Virginia’s Community of Learning. We’re Meg and Joani….the Lucy and Ethel of the technology world! As “Neighborhood Navigators,” we do our best to bring you useful and interesting web resources. While our most recent reviews are listed below, the categories to the right of your screen contain archives of past reviews. There’s a world of resources out there, so stop by frequently to see our recommendations.

Hey Lucy!  Let’s take a world tour!!

Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/   updates Keyhole with a whole new wardrobe! Possibly the most interesting free download that I’ve ever used with students, Google Earth wraps satellite images around a three-dimensional model of the earth. Students experience “bird’s eye” view first hand as they drop from space and zoom in on a selected location. The control panel allows you to zoom in and out, tilt, and rotate alá flight simulator.

Getting students to connect with the content we teach has just gotten a little easier.

While many of the images are low-resolution (high resolution are reserved for more densely populated areas in the free version), students still have access to important information. Latitude and longitude, elevation, and relative location are apparent regardless of resolution quality.  Google Earth users regularly posts “placemarks” featuring information and snapshots of nearby locations, allowing students to get in-depth information about the locations they visit.

The Google Earth website offers frequent updates.  Just days after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast NOAA overlays of the affected areas were available Updated images of the areas affected by the earthquake in Pakistan are a button-click away. Students can easily compare before and after imagery, drawing conclusions about the magnitude of these current events.

From an instructional standpoint, the application for teaching geography is obvious: students can identify the continents and oceans, explored Mali and ancient Greece, learn about latitude and longitude, and view political borders. A National Geographic layer allows visitors to connect with National Geographic stories, images, journals, and webcams in Africa. 

With Google Earth, you can explore everything from story settings to biomes. Although the imagery doesn’t take you underwater, the continental slope and deep ocean trenches are visible from space and easily identified by students.  Nearly all of the locations mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays are placemarked. The possibilities are endless and connections to your curriculum are easily made.

A free download and information about system requirements is available at http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html.

Now Ethel, come back to Earth and visit the Virginia Readers Choice website (formerly Virginia Young Readers) and check out the titles nominated for 2005-06. Again, VSRA (Virginia State Reading Association) has some really good books for students to read and vote for their favorites. What a great resource to encourage reading across our state.

Since I love hanging out in the library, I have had the chance to actually read a few myself. One that I have shared with several second grades is Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nelly, by Gloria Whelan. This is a tender story beautifully illustrated about a young girl getting ready to start school in the fall. Finances are tight and her father is not sure how they will get the money for a new coat and boots. Her mother, Nelly, has a plan. Holly lives in northern Michigan. After we read the book, we fastened our seatbelts and placed out seatbacks in their upright position and took a trip from Virginia to northern Michigan, via Google Earth. They loved the trip.

Take your students on a trip they won’t forget.