CoolToolGoogleLitTrips

**Google Lit Trips are virtual journeys that serve to strengthen a student’s experience with literature.**
 Great books take us to new places, spark our imagination, and make it possible to experience the world in new ways. GoogleLitTrips are virtual expeditions created by and for teachers and their students. These free resources offer a unique reading experience that make it possible for students to virtually travel right along with the characters from many of the world’s greatest literary works. Along the way, they learn about the places where characters lived, traveled, struggled, and triumphed. GoogleLitTrips supports higher-order reading and thinking skills such as interpreting, analyzing, comparing, and explaining. Pairing GoogleLitTrips with the study of literature makes makes a world of difference in your classroom.

**By pairing __[|Google Earth] __ ’s mapping, satellite and geography features with literature, students can follow geographical plots, better organize events in the text, and increase comprehension. In addition, Google Lit Trips give students a chance to pause at “points of interest” in connection with a given piece of literature, extend their thinking, and gather further information about themes within the text. These resources and literature pairings are available in grade bands ranging from kindergarten to higher education, and the number of Lit Trips continue to increase. **

Getting Started with Google Lit Trips
[|What is a Google Lit Trip, What do I Need, & Video Tutorials]

Resources for Google Lit Trips

 * __[|How to Take a Lit Trip]__
 * __[|Google Earth Video Resources]__
 * __[|Introduction to Google Lit Trips (YouTube)]__
 * __Basics of Viewing a Google Lit Trip (pdf file) __
 * __[|Basics of Building Lit Trips (pdf file)]__

Find Out More About Google Lit Trips

 * __[|Thinking Outside the Book: Reading the World with Google Earth]__ By Jill Castek and Jessica Mangelson
 * __[|Geo-Literacy Tools and Pedagogical Literacy By Jerome Burg]__ (creator of Google Lit Trips)
 * __[|Boss, S. (2009) New York Children Take a Google Lit Trip.]__//__[|Edutopia.]__//
 * __[|Boss, S. (2008). Google Lit Trips: Bringing Travel Tales to Life.]__//__[|Edutopia.]__//

**Find Out More About Google Earth**
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 *  Thomas Cooper's Google Earth Webinar Archives can be accessed from the [|Google Lit Trip homepage]