Google Earth Brings Literature to Life

I am so excited that people are actually looking at my blog. I especially want to thank the people at Promethean for giving this new blogger such positive feedback.

On to today’s topic:

Google Earth is a free program you can download that works great with the interactivity of an interactive white boards like the Activboard. Using the mouse, pen, or your finger you can travel the world. You will need to stop at your school and each child’s home first. Once you have gotten that out of the way the teaching opportunities are endless.
My favorite use of Google Earth is being able to bring books to life for the students.

When reading nonfiction books about an historical event you can find the city and view images. You can even read about a ship that sank and then find the wreckage. Once you find the location of the wreckage you can double click on the ship and you will get more information and some links. The link connected to the Titanic shipwreck will give you a video of the ship on the bottom of the ocean. Look to the right in the media gallery to find the clip.


While reading fiction it is fascinating to watch the student’s eyes get as large as saucers as they see places in their story come to life. Students find it amazing that authors use real places as the settings for their stories. While reading Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, we were able to find the University School and the general area where Calder and Petra lived. What really wowed the students was when we went to the street view and they saw Podwell’s bookstore. The personal connection to the story heightens interest, which improves the reader’s comprehension.

All of this makes Google Earth a truly useful tool that is both fun and educationally sound. To get Google Earth for your classroom down load it from: http://earth.google.com/