Google Earth and After School

The official name for the color of these shoes: PEWTER.
Unofficially, they are CUTE!

I knew today would be a long day.  With recess duty and a district meeting after school, I knew I would need to be comfortable and fast-moving.  Flats are a great option.  These are by Naturalizer, and they are SUPER cute with skirts. 

Today's great teaching moment came when I used Google Earth. Our district wanted to help the people affected by the Bastrop wildfires, and our campus decided to create  banners of encouragement for their school communities. My students wondered where Bastrop was, so I pulled up Google Earth. Rather than find it on a map in our social studies book, we could instantly pull it up and zoom in to surrounding locations with the touch of a finger on our Smartboard.

Then, spontaneously, my fourth graders started throwing out all kinds of fabulous questions (which I immediately collected in a Word document). The questions were insightful and deep---much better than any worksheet or textbook.   As we were thinking and discussing, I realized that sometimes the best learning is unplanned.  I used it not only to teach service to others, but also as an academic learning opportunity (geography, math, capitalization).  The students were even discussing what region it was in (something we were learning in social studies the day before). (That made me smile.)

 Take advantage of every chance you have to create real learning opportunities for your class.