Virtual Field Trips

Greetings,

Wouldn’t it be great to take your kids to some of the most famous museums? As we are winding down this school year, why not try a virtual field trip? Scholastic has some great ones. Go to http://www.scholastic.com/livewebcasts/webcast_tips.htm and look on the right sidebar for a list of places you can ‘go’ with your class. If you have a smartboard or a computer connected to a projector, just show it like you would a movie. Another way is to let the students bring it up on the computers and watch it individually or in small groups.

Decoding History with The 39 Clues: A Virtual Field Trip to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for grades 3 and up is the most recent one. It is hosted by David Baldacci who began the 39 Clues books and the reading club. Even if you aren’t interested in the books themselves, it is pretty cool to have the author take you behind the scenes. You can watch the full program which lasts just over 22 minutes, or in segments. Items shown are Lewis and Clark’s compass, restoration of the Star-Spangled Banner, David Drake pottery, and Lincoln’s pocket watch. The whole thing is really very cool.

Immigration (1892 – 1924): A Virtual Field Trip to Ellis Island for grades 3 – 8 shows photographs, maps, and video of items related to Ellis Island. This field trip lasts just over 30 minutes.

Wonderstruck: a Virtual Field Trip to the American Museum of Natural History is narrated by Brian Selznick. Brian Selznick wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, both enormous sized books, but mostly illustrated rather than text to read. Three parts of the museum are visited – the Wolf Diorama, the Giant Anopheles Mosquito, and the Ahnighito Meteorite. Activities for each of these are included on the website. This presentation lasts for about 15 minutes.

The First Thanksgiving: A Virtual Field Trip to Plimoth Plantation for grades K – 8 lasts almost 20 minutes, but you might want to allow more time to see the other ones listed there. There are virtual field trips for the Mayflower, Pilgrim Village, Wampanoag Homesite, and lots of other videos about Miles Standish and Pilgrim life. This could be a part of a longer unit and bits shown every day.

The Magic School Bus: A Virtual Field Trip to Liberty Science Center for grades 2 – 8 is about the climate challenge. The video lasts for 27 minutes and begins with the cartoons you may be used to seeing in other videos about the Magic School Bus. Then “Mrs. Frizzle” comes on to host the show and it is live action. They use Google Earth to show where the museum is located. There is an activity pack that you can download. This particular presentation was made to celebrate Earth Day on April 20, 2013.

Winter’s Tail: A Virtual Field Trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for grades K – 6 is one that we were able to watch live in October of 2009. This is the story of the baby dolphin that lost the end of its tail after it was damaged in a trap. The people who rescued Winter were able to work with specialists to have a prosthetic tail made for her and she learned to swim again. A movie was made in 2011 titled “Dolphin Tale” about Winter and her story. The webcast lasts 35 minutes. If you go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium you might even get a glimpse of Winter in the webcam. (Note: I tried, but the webcams are being maintenance at this writing. I’ll try later.)

All of these webcasts have Common Core information and are wonderful to watch and share with your students. Below the Virtual Field Trips sidebar are Virtual Author Visits. You might want to watch these ahead of time to decide if any of them are items you want to share. I watched the Dear America one with Lois Lowry, Andrea Pinkney, and Kirby Larson. All three are authors that have written a Dear America book for Scholastic. (Personally, I would avoid the webcasts with Goosebumps and R. L. Stine.)

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

PS. Just for your information, I checked out the first Kindles this morning. The students are excited. Last Thursday and Friday I let them play on them during their library class period, then I put the parental lock on them to block all but the books. One student was heard commenting, “Where are the games?” I reminded him that they were for reading, not games.