One of the great things about using Google Apps in the classroom is that students can collaborate on the same document at the same time. So partners could be writing in a Google Doc, entering data into a Google Spreadsheet, or making a Google Slideshow… together, even if they aren’t in the same class, or the same school! Today Ms. Lizotte’s fifth graders at Chamberlayne Elementary created a collaborative Google Map for their “Amazing Mail Race” project. Earlier this year they sent out letters to schools all over the USA and waited to see which schools replied. Here at the end of the year, they wanted to see all the different states where they received mail from displayed in one big map. So each student was assigned a letter/state to plot on the map. They chose an icon, marked the state, and wrote their name and where the letter was from. Then we embedded the map into a website created with CheckThis. You can see the website by clicking here. The map is interactive so be sure to click on the icons and zoom out, because they even received mail from as far away as Alaska! You could adapt this activity to your class by making collaborative maps about the explorers or Civil War battles or whatever else you are studying that can be displayed on a map. Let me know how I can help!
