Google Earth in Reading

We are reading Walk Two Moons in Reading and the book tells the tale through a journey to several different places in the United States. I thought that the girls would really be able to "see" the story if they could document the places the main character traveled to using Google Earth.

Today went great! The students put place marks on the first two places that were discussed in the story. Then they wrote about what happened at those places, what feelings the characters while in those places and they ended with a thinking question or reflection statement. It was really neat to see how the students were getting into it and how much they were reflecting on their writing!

I am learning some more tricks of Google Earth and the girls are learning to problem solve as well! It is addicting though, it is hard to turn Google Earth off once you are on it! The 360 degrees feature is really amazing. I realized that for a couple of my sites I had to make them more specific (the Ohio turnpike) in order for the girls to find the exact place. Although it was neat because the girls really understood after seeing it why it is called a turnpike!

Each day Google Earth is becoming easier and easier and more amazing for the girls!
Their writing is incredible and they are really pulling events/emotions/character traits and all the other elements of a novel and relating them to the setting. It is quite amazing to see! The girls had an opportunity to share the place marks they had made today with a partner and they are ending with great reflective questions. Each new day I am excited to see what they have added to their Google Earth! I am really enjoying this project and it is helping to make the book come alive for the students!

The girls have already created 6 place marks and have written some very thoughtful comments on their place marks. In the end they will have at least 16 place marks. I thought maybe the best way to share was to get in groups of 4 and each person lead a trip through their place marks. Since each of their place marks has a comment and ends with a reflection question, as each student leads her tour, it will be a literature discussion.
I would love for their tours to be posted in some way but I am not sure how. Any ideas of how to share their tours and allow others to view them?

It was really neat to see the other day. The students in my class were working on comprehension questions. One question had the students comparing two different places. A few students didn't even hesitate and went on to Google Earth to look at the two places to compare them. Wow!