Tip:
Margie Brown, a Campus Technology Coordinator in Austin, Texas shares this activity, that she used with elementary students at her school.
Our Texas standards cycle so that each year students learn more about the Cardinal directions and reading maps. This activity can be adjusted so that it can be used at various levels.
Start by opening the Google Earth program. Next the student types in his/her home address. He or she can then zoom in on the map until they have a clear view of their house. Younger students may not have ever seen a bird's eye view of houses and have trouble believing that it is their own house. Another suggestion for younger students is to have them write down their home address before beginning the activity.
Once they have found their own house they can choose FILE>Save>Save Image and save the image of their house on the desktop or wherever they save files.
Now they will open up a Word Processing Document and insert the picture. If they are using MS Word they would use Insert>Picture>from file and find the file they just saved. Now it is possible for them to type information about their own home under the story.
Some possibilities are:
This is my house.
My Address is:
North of my house is:
East of my house is:
South of my house is:
West of my house is:
Other interesting things on my map:
This activity could be made more complicated by asking students to draw a compass rose or to find two different locations and write directions below that site. Should you have questions about this tip, contact Janice as shown below.
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