Our first grade reader has the story Lost! by David McPhail as one of the selections. During the 1st year of reading it I realized that it was set in Boston (Swan Boats was the trigger) and would be a perfect book for a Google Lit Trip (GLT). I got busy and made my trip but made the mistake of using pictures saved on my computer. So when the school made the switch from PC’s to Macs, I lost most of what I had done.
It had been a long time since I had made my GLT so I had to redo some research on how to placemarks and add pictures. Thank goodness for YouTube! There are several good Google Lit Trip tutorials that are easy to follow. You can also use the Lit Trip Tips but it is hard to find it on their site.
The first step towards your GLT is to download Google Earth. I use Google Earth a lot in my classroom. This past week it was perfect for teaching street view, bird’s eye view and map view. We visited Mystic Rock Minis outside of Oklahoma City when we read Foal, another story in our reader and were watching their barn cam. We have taken virtual field trips to Williamsburg, Yellowstone (with our Wilson Elementary School pen pals in Wyoming), Texas, Kansas and Korea. Next week we will be visiting several dinosaur parks when we read Dinosaur Babies and then visit lighthouses when we read The True Story of Abbie Burgess.
To start your Lit Trip, make a story board. The advantage of doing this is that you will have all of your information in one spot. You can see how the narrative flows and check for repetition and spelling. When the time comes to do your placemarks, it will be easy to cut and paste the information.
I worked on my revised Lost! trip for several days during my breaks at school but the kids love them! It becomes a different way to retell a story. Google Lit Trips can take a lot of time to make so I would like to share it. You can download my GLT for Lost! . You will need Google Earth to view it and if you have difficulties consult the GLT website for viewing tips.
How to open a GLT downloaded file
When the Swan Boats were mentioned in Lost! I was surprised to find out that my students had never read Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Since it is set in Boston also and one of my all time favorite books, we read it and then viewed the Make Way for Ducklings GLT (in the K-5 section) as well. We compared and contrasted where the bear in Lost! and the Mallard family in Make Way for Ducklings went in Boston.
Time consuming to make…..yes! Watching the children get excited about their virtual trip…..priceless!
Teach Learn Laugh 