Go on a Google Map HyperDoc Adventure

Meia (2nd Grade): "I can control the world!"

Introducing Google Maps to Students

If you've never used Google Maps in your classroom, now's a great time to start! I have created an easy lesson to get students excited about using Maps.

A quick intro activity includes 3 challenges that help give students the basic map skills that they need for success as they explore on their own. Take a look at the Google Maps Introduction. If you would like to use it with your students, feel free to make a copy and modify it in any way the you see fit for your class.

HyperDoc Adventures

After students learn the basics, they are ready to start exploring on their own using the Google Map Adventures HyperDoc! Knowing that Google had some incredible Street View expeditions, I had a feeling that I could find some related inspirational videos. Sure enough, the Google Maps YouTube Channel was exactly what I was searching for! I used ViewPure to take out the distractions of related videos. Trust me, you will want to Purify your video because inappropriate videos about Google Maps are likely to appear on the page.

I created this lesson for 2nd grade students, so I had them share their observations on a Padlet. Students were encouraged to do their best guess spelling and in the end, every student participated. Click here if you would like to see what the 2nd graders came up with.

Modification for Older Students

If I were to do the lesson with older students, I would have had them submit their information into a Google Form. After all of the students complete the survey, you can import that data directly into Google My Maps. If you would like to know how to do that, I created 2 quick video tutorials:

• Creating a Google Form to Record Observations
• Importing Data into Google My Maps

Sample Google Map Adventure HyperDoc with Google Form.

Google Cardboard Option

All tours created in Google Street View can also be found in the Google Street View mobile device app (Android/iOS) and can be used with Google Cardboard. Even if you only have 1 or 2 mobile devices with Cardboard, students could take turns experiencing the virtual reality while the rest of the class works from the HyperDoc. Google Cardboard can be found and purchased on Amazon.

Share your Google Map Ideas

This is just one Google Maps introduction lesson and once students are excited about exploring the world, the possibilities are endless. If you have any Google Map ideas, lessons, HyperDocs, or resources that you would like to share, please share on the Google Maps Padlet.

Created with Padlet

If you have any questions, or would like any help implementing this lesson, please email me,

ReadWriteThink/EduWin for Christa Aoto with Google Maps

ReadWriteThink is a website that partners with the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English to provide quality language arts lesson plans you can use in your classroom. 

Recently, ReadWriteThink (RWT) has begun offering a number of free apps for your iPad, and one for Android tablets. One I recently downloaded from the App Store is Timeline.

The timeline can be organized by date, time or event. Each pin the student creates on the timeline has room for text and images. If students need to leave their work and return to it later, there is a Save Draft function. Next time the student returns to the app, the timeline can be edited. Once the timeline is finished, it can be e-mailed as PDF, or saved as a JPG file to the iPad's Camera Roll.

Another RWT feature is a list of interactive lessons. You can find these under Classroom Resources. There are about 60 interactive activities that span Kindergarten through 12th grade and include lesson ideas. Since ReadWriteThink is web based, it is easily accessed on student Chromebooks. 

I loved using the interactive lessons with my students but often ran into the challenge of having students who weren't able to finish the activity in a class period. Once they logged out, their work was lost. Also, the only way to save finished work was to print it. However, a new feature that 
ReadWriteThink offers in some of its interactive activities is the ability to save student work, and with Chromebooks, it is easy to save directly to your student's Google Drive account. You can find these by looking in the Interactive left-hand navigation bar and looking under Capabilities. 

You will also know when an activity you open has this capability because it will have a Save tab.



Once the student is ready to save their draft or complete work, choose the Save tab. Students should name the file and press Save.

On the next screen, choose Google Drive. If the student has multiple folders, they can open up My Drive and choose the folder they would like to save the file in.

They will receive a notice that the file has been saved.

When they go to My Drive in their GAFE account, it will be saved in My Drive, or in the folder they directed it to.

Next time they go to RWT, they will find their work by selecting the same interactive activity and choosing, Get Started. When the activity opens, choose the Open tab, and then choose Find My File.

Choose Google Drive and find the find the file by opening it from the folder it was saved in or from My Drive if wasn't saved in a folder. This may be a little tricky depending on how the files are ordered. Files can be listed as Last opened by me, Last modified by me, or Last edited by me. Depending on how long it has been and how much has been saved since the last time the file was opened, it might also be found in Recent. Double click on the file. A window will show that the file has been opened and the student will be able to continue editing.

When the activity is finished, it can be saved in Google Drive following the same directions as above, it can be e-mailed, or it can be printed assuming Google Cloud Print has been enabled.

Another feature offered by RWT interactives are nine audio activities. Find these under Capabilities. This one is memory match game.

With all the resources there are, it is sometimes hard to zero in on the one that is best to support your lesson and curricular objectives. RWT has vetted lessons that you can search by grade level, type of lesson, learning objectives, and themes. And now that they offer easy to access, use, and save interactives, it might become one of your favorite places to go.



EduWin for Christa Aoto with Google Maps

Christa Aoto is a TK teacher at Athenour. Recently, her students were a bit puzzled that they could be living in the United States, California, and San Jose. To illustrate this concept, Christa turned to Google Maps. Using the Earth view, she showed her students how they could be living in so many differently named places at once. 

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.