Charlotte's Web ThingLink

Friday, May 13, 2016

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:

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.


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