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eField Trips

What it is: eField Trips are a neat idea for students to ‘travel’ virtually to learn about the world.  These virtual eTrips are composed of 4 parts.  The first part is a pdf called the Trip Journal.  Teachers download and print out the trip journal to guide students on their journey and to give them a place to record what they are learning on their trip.  Second is the virtual visit, this is a flash video where students go on the actual trip at their own pace.  Generally trips take about 15 minutes to complete.  Third is a form where students can ask experts questions they have about the trip they took.  Actual experts will respond to the question in 1 to 2 days.  The fourth is a live chat.  These chats allow students to interact with the experts in a live session at a scheduled time.  Available eField Trips include: Pearl Harbor, bats, underwater ecosystems, brown vs. board of education, butterflies, western exploration, caves, climbing Denali, desert dwellers, Dred Scott, Earthquakes, mountains, and glaciers, fires roll in an ecosystem, Glacier Bay, Grand Tetons, invasive species, whales, renewable energy, sea turtles, mammals of Denali, manatee, reptiles and amphibians, wetlands, and more.  I would categorize eField Trips more like a webquest than a virtual field trip.  These are great webquests! How to integrate eField Trips into the classroom: These eField Trips would be an excellent extension (or replacement) for text book reading.  Students can work through the eField Trip at their own pace in the computer lab setting.  I like the Trip Journals that guide students on their journey and keep them thinking critically about what they are encountering.  For younger students, take an eField Trip as a whole class using a projector or an interactive whiteboard.  Each student could still fill out a Trip Journal as the class goes on the journey.  Because the etrips require reading, struggling readers may be paired up with confident readers or a helper.  I really like the interaction that students get with experts after the field trip.  As students are going on their journey, they are bound to come up with additional questions.  Students always love sending and getting mail, eField Trips gives students the opportunity to do both. Tips: One thing that I don’t love about this site, it is hard to navigate back to the homepage.  This isn’t a problem for students completing the trips, but it is a little frustrating as a teacher planning a trip.   Leave a comment and tell us how you are using eField Trips in your classroom.

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Story Cove

Posted by admin | Posted in Character Education, Fun & Games, Geography, Interactive Whiteboard, Interactive book, Language Arts, Primary Elementary, Secondary Elementary, Social Studies, Teacher Resources, Websites | Posted on 11-10-2009

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What it is: Story Cove- A World of Stories is an excellent collection of stories from around the world.  The folktales come from a variety of cultures and places sharing timeless lessons and universal values.  The stories are shared in two ways, as an audio story only, or as a movie.  The stories have been collected from countries around the world including: Africa, Asia, Americas, Australia, and Europe.  Students can explore the world through the stories told there.    Each story is accompanied by a variety of activities including coloring pages, mazes, printable masks, etc.  There is a teacher page where you can find lesson plans for each story that extend the story elements to explore the original story with projects and activities that encourage interaction with other students, parents, and teachers.  Each story has a lesson for students in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.

How to integrate Story Cove- A World of Stories into the classroom: Story Cove- A World of Stories is a fun way for students to learn about other cultures and countries through the stories told there.  It provides a great tie in between geography, language arts, and social studies.  As you are teaching about other countries, use Story Cove as a way for students to understand more about the people who live there.  Because the stories have universal values, students will be able to relate them to their own lives.  Story Cove can be used with a projector or interactive whiteboard for whole class participation or set up as a story center on classroom computers.  These stories are great for building reading strategies like making connections, summarizing, synthesizing, questioning, and evaluating.  They are also helpful for language and vocabulary building.

Tips: If you can’t find a place to directly tie in Story Cove in your curriculum, consider introducing a new folktale to students each week of the school year.  Use the Story Cove story as a writing prompt for journal writing.

Related Resources: Speakaboos

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Story Cove in your classroom.

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