These best virtual tours of waterfalls use interactive 360 videos and photos and immersive VR. Tour breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls around the world!
Today, we're going to take a trip to 5 different Canadian virtual field trips that you and your children can join in from the comfort of your own home.
Practicing social distancing but getting stir crazy? Enjoy viewing lots of different animals by taking a virtual field trip!
When teaching about places outside our hometowns, many of us dream of being able to show our students these locations in real life. Cost, travel time and the work it would take to plan a field trip to China, for example, are completely out of the question...unless you're ready to use the magic of the internet! I'm about to show you how to make virtual field trips for your students that will enhance your curriculum and amaze your students. Google Earth is a free program you can download here. Each device your students use needs to have the program downloaded to it. Google Earth has a wide variety of layers that enable you to access pictures, information about earthquakes, NASA and much more. My favorite option is 360Cities and I'm excited to show you how you can use it in your classroom! 360Cities is a feature that has 360 degree photographs that put you and your students right into the action. Students can turn the photographs in all directions and truly explore the wide world outside their classroom right from their own computer screens! Ok. Roll up your sleeves and let's start creating your first virtual field trip! P.S. There's directions for the less tech-savvy teacher at the bottom. This is an activity that any teacher can do! I'm going to jump in and assume that you've already downloaded the program. Once you're set up and ready to go, look on the left hand side of the screen and find the "Layers" window. Go to the "Gallery" option and make sure that 360Cities is selected. I usually deselect all the other options because I like a nice clean interface. On that note, I also deselect the "Global Awareness" layer and the "More" layer so that I can focus on finding the 360Cities locations. Feel free to explore these sections, though, and click on various layers to see what you can find! Identify the locations you would like to have your students visit. I've chosen famous landmarks because I want to introduce my students to the process of using Google Earth during our first couple weeks of school in a really engaging way. Then make a list of the specific locations you want your students to visit. Here's my list: 1. The Great Wall of China 2. Pyramids of Giza 3. Mount Rushmore 4. Taj Mahal 5. Machu Picchu Right click in the "Places" window on the left side of your screen. Click "Add" and "Folder". Name your folder ______ Virtual Field Trip. Now it's time to find the first location on your list. In the search bar at the top left of your screen, type in your first location. Click "search". Google Earth will automatically take you to your destination. Next, scout around for a good 360Cities icon. I usually find them in most of the places I have on my lists. Once in a while I strike out. In that case, I have to adapt and find a new location! :) In this case, though, I found the perfect option at the Great Wall of China. There's nothing inappropriate in the picture and it has great image quality! (Please note: I've never found anything inappropriate in any of the 360 images, however I never leave anything to chance. I always preview the pictures before I send my students to any locations around the globe.) Back on the map, click the "Add Placemark" option and a pin will be added to the map. Drag and drop it onto the 360Cities icon and give it a name. Finally, make sure your new pin is inside your Virtual Field Trip folder. Simply drag the destination onto the Virtual Field Trip folder so that it falls underneath as a subfolder. You did it! Now repeat the process to add other destinations to your virtual field trip. Once you have your folder filled with all your destinations, it's time to export the file and put it somewhere all your students can access it. Right click on your virtual field trip folder in the "Places" window and click the option "Save Place As...". Save the .kmz file into a folder on your computer. Our last task is to make the virtual field trip easy for our students to access. There are a few ways you can accomplish this task: 1. Post the .kmz file to your class website 2. Share it through a school-based program like Google Classroom or One Drive. 3. Save it to a flash drive (This works if you're only using one or two other computers in your classroom for stations or centers. It's not advised if each of your students have their own computer! The task would be quite time consuming.) Students will need to save the file onto their computers to use it in Google Earth. Then all they have to do is go to Google Earth, click "File" and "Open", find the file and voila! They are off on a fun and educational adventure. If the directions above make you a little nervous, there's another option just for you! :) You'll still need to locate particular locations on Google Earth as well as relevant 360Cities locations. Instead of dropping a pin, however, you'll hover over the 360Cities icon and find the latitude and longitude of the icon. The coordinates you'll need are located at the bottom of your screen. Write down the coordinates exactly as you'd like your students to type them into the search bar to get to their location. In this case, the coordinates should be typed: 40 25 57.96 N, 116 33 48.63 E You can post your list of coordinates on the board or on a piece of paper for student reference. Students will type the coordinates exactly as you have written them. You're all set! I would LOVE to hear how you plan to use Google Earth in your own classroom as I'm always on the lookout for new ideas to bring to my own students. Leave a comment below to share your ideas! :)
Join me on my journey to engagement (and get a freebie to boot!) If you have been following my blog lately, you will know that I am absolutely (and probably ridiculously!!! ) obsessed with virtual field trips. I promise I will blog about something different soon but I have one last thing. I have been working on organizing all the field trips I find into one sheet and I was just able to make it into a searchable database! So search away and make some connections! Let me know if you take any of these field trips! I would love to hear how others are using them in their classrooms!!! This list is ever growing so bookmark this and keep coming back when you are planning next year!
Many years ago we started teaching our children using the Montessori Method. I love the way it taught the kids to do it themselves, and it was Making learning fun is a top priority for me teaching my kids. This list is where I start when doing our Africa unity study. There are tons of great ideas.
Looking for ways to keep young minds busy? Travel the world virtually! Online museum tours, virtual field trips for kids, zoo webcams & more!
When your itchy travel feet are stuck indoors with the family, take your family travel vacation online with these virtual field trips.
Virtual Field Trips Our Virtual Field Trip programs will never leave you adrift! All options are live, naturalist-led programs, delivered to your classroom via a …
Have you ever taken your students on a digital field trip? Field trips are a wonderful way to give your students real-world exposure to the content you're teaching. There are so many experiences that just cannot be replicated in the classroom, and a virtual field trip allows your students to have the interaction
It can feel overwhelming. The schools are out for weeks in some places and even months in others. We are being asked to foster learning at home as the country faces an unprecedented time of social distancing. While we are being asked to stay at home, there are still
Here are 30+ great Virtual Field Trips for kids to explore from your home. From zoos and landmarks to famous museums, go explore the world!
Join Us For a Virtual Field Trip! Bring Hershey, PA to your classroom with our new, interactive virtual school programs! All programs are led by a museum educator and … Continue reading Virtual Field Trips →
5 Advantages of Middle School Virtual Field Trips ~ PLUS an easy way to find them using FieldTripZoom. They have over 300 programs for all ages!
Parents looking for virtual field trips with your kids: take a virtual vacation to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Explore the World With Virtual Field Trips This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details. Sometimes it is a major production to leave the house w…
TAKE YOUR STUDENTS TO MARS!This virtual field trip makes it easy for you to show your students all about NASA's Exploration Program to Mars! Students will learn about NASA's program, their technologies, be informed about their rover missions, and much more!*Presentation done through Google Slides = ...
Discover ways to take your kids on virtual field trips on-line, exploring the world from your classroom or home with your tablets or computers!
Here is a collection of websites for bringing history to life. Along with other engaging history resources such as historical fiction, fun with maps, and virtual field trips! These are sure to help kids be more engaged in their history studies!
Time to go on a field trip. An Arctic Virtual Field Trip as I don't see a trip to the Arctic fitting in the budget, these are great options.
Inform parents of an upcoming field trip and gain permission for their child to attend with this detailed form.
Explore zoos, aquariums, museums and destinations around the world without leaving home. Here are 20 virtual field trips you can take with your kids.
Take a virtual aquarium field trip with these ocean and sealife live feeds! Perfect for homeschooling, ocean-lovers, and a moment of zen!
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Through virtual field trips, your children can visit other states, countries across the globe, and even other planets.
Learn all about animals and life on the farm with this farm virtual field trip, perfect for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade!
If you are planning virtual field trips in kindergarten for distance learning via Zoom or Google Meet, here are some tips to get you started.
When you can’t physically leave your house to visit a location or event, log on to one of these sites and take a virtual trip/tour from the comfort of home.
Hey all! Now that I have been in my new job for a bit, I have sooooooo much to share with you. My job is super fantastic! I spend my days traveling to schools teaching teachers and students how to use Google Classroom, Green Screen videos, iMovie, podcasting and more! My favorite part of the job is bringing kiddos from my fabulous district all around the world with virtual field trips. I have taken the DEEP dive into virtual field trips. Some may even call it an obsession but I adore the fact that I can introduce my students to experts and places all over the world. My favorite experience right now is Wild Safari Live! OMG! This is amazing! Wild Safari Live is a game changer. It is a live feed of an actual safari from the Djuma Game Reserve in South Africa. You can watch the live feed every day from 9:30 - 12:30 and 12:00 to 3 am eastern. You can watch the live feed at http://www.wildsafarilive.com/ or Youtube Live. On the safari, you have 3 rangers traveling throughout the reserve looking for amazing animals and answering questions from Twitter using #safarilive. But the excitement does not stop there! Thanks to an AMAZING educator, Erik Moore who is an Instructional Technology Specialist for Landstown High School in Virginia Beach, Wild Safari Live is a teacher's dream! Erik worked with Wild Safari Live to save the first hour of the sunset broadcast (the morning broadcast here in North America) for student questions only. Three schools can sign up daily (Click here if you would like to sign yourself up!) and get to monopolize the questions for the first hour. Teachers submit their questions through the message option in Skype and the absolutely best part about it is they speak directly to the students and post their question and name on the screen! The kids absolutely freak when they see their names on the screen and love it when the rangers personally talk to them! I have conducted about 15 safaris so far, from grades 1 - 8, and it has been amazing. I have seen giraffes, impala, rhinos, elephants, tortoises, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, eagles, and more! If you are interested in exploring this, check out the following resources! 1) Read a great blog about what Erik Moore has done for us right here! 2) Email Erik at [email protected] for materials and ideas. 3) Follow Erik on Google Plus at Erik Moore and on Twitter @ITS_LHS_Erik 3) Click here for resources I have put together for the experience! 4) Here is a great video that describes the safari experience: Watch this clips to see one of my kiddo's questions being answered. How cool is this? Lastly, click here to check out my experiences with Wild Safari and other virtual field trips I'll be discussing in the coming weeks! As always feel free to contact me at twitter @kwilkinstchr!
Discover ways to take your kids on virtual field trips on-line, exploring the world from your classroom or home with your tablets or computers!
Explore on a virtual field trip to the rainforest as we discover jungle animals and plants with rainforest videos and rainforest songs for kids.
Learn how to engage science student and integrate technology, like Nearpod, to create 21st Century digital learners.
Virtual field trips allow us to take our students where the bus can’t. Here are 25 field trips and 10 activities to do while you're on one!Imagine your
Take your students on a virtual field trip to three different NASA space centers across the United States. Using a combination of Google Earth™ 360-degree views, informational text, video, and visuals, your students will learn about NASA, research and contributions, space travel, and significant events. THIS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP COVERS: :: NASA Headquarters :: Mary W. Jackson :: Field Centers :: Langley Research Center :: Apollo Lunar Landing :: Landing on the Moon :: Margaret Hamilton :: Johnson Space Center :: Space Shuttle Independence :: Mission Control Center :: Saturn V Rocket :: Kennedy Space Center :: Launch Platform :: Landing Facility :: Space Exploration Risks THIS RESOURCE INCLUDES: :: Informational Text (build background knowledge) :: Response Questions (EDITABLE) :: Google Earth™ Links to 360-degree views :: Video Links :: Grading Rubric :: Everything is set up in Google Slides & ready to go! HOW THE VFT WORKS: This virtual field trip can be conducted teacher-led or shared with students through Google Classroom as an independent assignment. Everything is set up for you. This resource is LOW PREP and would even make great sub plans. Student directions are found within the lesson, and direct links are included to specific Google Earth™ locations and videos. All work is completed digitally. No printing necessary. STRUCTURE: This virtual field trip is structured. This means that the informational text and links are meaningful and are meant to lead students to think critically as they respond to the questions throughout the virtual field trip. This is also a great way to keep students accountable as they learn and explore. All response questions are EDITABLE, so you can tailor to your class needs. Students complete this activity in edit mode of Google Slides. GRADING RUBRIC: A grading rubric is included which assesses: accuracy, thoroughness, validity, and writing conventions. Answers will vary throughout, as students are recording their observations and findings. TECHNOLOGY: Please note that students will need to access Google Earth™ and YouTube to complete this assignment. Google Earth™ can be accessed on a desktop using Chrome as the browser. If using a tablet or smartphone, simply download the Google Earth App before starting the virtual field trip. If you have questions, feel free to reach out prior to purchasing. Looking for another virtual field trip that you don’t see? Let me know! I can be reached directly by email at: michellemcdonald9515 [!at] gmail.com
From museums to zoos to famous wonders of the world, with these virtual field trips for kids, students can explore the world right from their living room couch!
