Google Earth in Kindergarten

I decided to use Google Earth this week in my Kindergarten class. We used it on Tuesday to start our unit about the presidents. We talked about where we lived (city, state, country) and I showed them these things on the map. We zoomed in to Dacusville and were able to see the elementary and middle school which they loved! Then we flew to Washington, D.C. to talk about where the president lives. I was able to show them pictures of the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian(which we discussed with one of our read-alouds)and many other places in Washington. The students really enjoyed this and did not speak or move from their carpet square during the entire lesson. I think this was a really important thing to do because for many of these students Greenville is the biggest place they have ever been. This allowed them to travel to another place and see sites that they would not usually be able to see. It is also made talking about the president make more since to them because they could relate it to the big white house they saw. I think this lesson went really well and I plan on using google earth again during our St. Partrick's Day themed week to dicuss Ireland.