Virtual Fieldtrips

Do you feel like traveling this year or semester with your students? Want to get out of house? Have cabin fever? Why not check out some of these great virtual fieldtrips to take with your class or kids on the computer or interactive whiteboard. 





Simple k12 virtual field trips - Many different virtual field trips on different topics: health, consumer science, business, history, language arts, math, science, and more!

Field Trip — Visit Awesome Places. It provides animated tours of a park, library, and city hall.

Picturing the Thirties is another great virtual web activity from the Smithsonian.Students learn about the American People in the 1930’s.

Mr. Rogers- Explore the world with Mr. Rogers

Google Earth 5. To create a tour of your own: Before you begin, come up with an itinerary of places you would like to visit. Great for students to create their own field trip of their dreams!
Smithsonian Museum Students can ‘step’ into the exhibits and take a tour through the entire museum in a 360 degree environment.

AR Sights Travel to the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower for a field trip.

Moon in Google Earth Students can visit the moon virtually using Moon view in Google Earth.

Planet in Action - Take a guided tour of the Grand Canyon, Mount St. Helens, Manhattan, and other great locations.

UPM Forest Life A field trip to a forest is a wonderful way to learn about tree species, ecosystems, habitats, and animals. UPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest. 

Olympic museum -The multi-sensory, multimedia experience enables visitors to experience interactively various sports and challenges faced by Olympic athletes. 

Take your class to the Lincoln Memorial Interactive The site features an assortment of panoramic photos from all over the monument.Tyrell museum- Exhibits range from sea dwellers to the Tyrrell's BIG attraction, the dinosaurs.

Take a virtual tour of The White House Museum - Tour the white house museum

Google Apps for the classroom

    This morning I attended a webinar about Google apps in the classroom. This webinar was presented by Alan Klein from Penn State. This webinar was all about how to use different Google apps in the classroom. There are many different Google apps to utilize, Google Apps are a collection of web-based programs. The first step in using Google apps is to have a Google account.  If you don't have one it is very easy to set up. 

After you have an account you have access to many, many cool apps from Google such as: 

• Docs – just like Microsoft office includes docs, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings.
• Gmail – email
• Calendar – online calendar where you can mark events and make plans, also able to share your calendar. You can even have appointment slots!
• Groups -  Create discussion groups that supports threaded discussions. Great way to keep in contact with colleagues, students, and more! 
• Sites – web site creator, I created by Wednesdays with Sam site with google sites - very easy to do!

 Google Apps Classroom Applications:

•     Docs 
•     Easily share documents with students
•     Have students write notes using Google Docs to share with each other in and out of class
•     Forms - create a fun and interactive test or quiz with mulitiple choice, true/false, check list questions
•      Drawing - create a collaborative drawing or concept map in groups
•     Email
•     Keep in contact with parents and students 
•     Calendar
•     Share a class calendar with parents to highlight events in school or parent/teacher conferences
•    Sites
•     Create a class site to show what is going on in the classroom
•     The site can house all websites and resources used during class 
•     Wednesdays with Sam example

Advantages for Google Apps:

•     Any time and any where access to your materials and resources 
•      Convenient 
•     Save time, energy, frustration, and money!
•     Storage
•     Familiar and consistent interface

Disadvantage for using Google Apps:

•     If you dont have access to the net  - no access to your materials and resources
•     Materials and resources are stored on a 3rd party server
•     Security