Today 3rd grade students at Chamberlayne Elementary created their own websites about the Explorers (SOL3.3) using CheckThis. I taught a similar lesson last year but this time I wanted them to include a Google map of the location where their explorer landed. I also wanted them to work on creating a more difficult polling question. So first they wrote their facts about their explorers in their own words. Next we searched for a picture of their explorer and pasted the link into the webpage. Then I showed them how to search for the location where their explorer landed in Google Maps. They copied the link and added it to their webpage, which embeded the actual interactive map (if we had more time students could create their own map showing the path the explorer took with markers like in this example). Finally we talked about writing a good poll question that would make visitors think. Some of the students thought of some really good questions. Take a look at a student sample here or you can check them all out by clicking this link. One of the benefits of posting student work online like this is that they can be accessed anywhere, so students review their facts every time they share their webpage with a friend or family member. Encourage them by “liking” their pages, answering their poll questions, and even leaving a comment!
