4th Grade Geocaching - Integrating Math & Social Studies

I love geography and try to incorporate as many geography related skills in my lessons as I can. This week’s activity gave me the chance to integrate geography, math, and other social studies skills into one lesson.


Geocaching in 4th Grade from Anna Baralt on Vimeo.

Advance Preparation
First, I prepared eight sandwich-sized caches to hide in the middle of our school campus. Within each cache I placed four plastic baggies with replicas of world currencies. (One bag for each class), Next, I hid each container, marking their waypoints on one of eight GPS receivers. I organized the caches as follows: Cache 1’s waypoint was recorded on GPS unit #1, so on. I also marked all eight waypoints on my personal GPS as a backup. Finally, I used a map of the area to mark the location and waypoint for reference. (This is a really important step in ensuring that you can locate caches after lessons are over. It is also helpful to keep these maps to use those some waypoints with other classes.)

Lesson: Getting to Know the Garmin60
I wish I had captured the 4th graders on video as they entered my classroom this week. The cheers they let out when they realized they would be geocaching for the first time was incredible. It took them a few minutes to settle down before I could even start my lesson. I began with a short Power Point on the Garmin 60, the hand-held unit we will be using, introducing different features of the receiver. The presentation included screenshots of the different pages used when navigating. We then reviewed important vocabulary such as acquire, satellites, cache, coordinate, page, compass and waypoint.

Getting Started
As there are only 16 students in each of my 4th grade classes, students were able to work with partners for this first activity. After acquiring satellites, students were instructed to use the Find feature to locate the waypoint that had been programmed on their receivers. We then moved to our Compass page to find out in which direction we would be traveling. Once students found their cache, they returned to the computer lab to research the different currencies taken from their cache by converting their values into US dollars.

Mr. Frecklehead is Going to Paris!!!

Received the following message through my Geocaching account from Princess Squirtle:

"Out to dinner with The infamous Turtle Team and the Mind boggling Q & B , Turtle team brought us some goodies.. and here I just happen to have a Geo Caching buddy who is going to the Eiffel Tower!!! She is leaving the end of March, so I think Mr. FreckleHead 's dreams may come true!!! How nice for you kids to actually have your mission completed before the school year end! Glad I could be part of helping move him along."

The kids will be so excited! We are on Spring Break this week, so they won't know until Tuesday.

4th Graders Define Geocaching

Instead of sharing a Power Point or websites to define geocaching and teach the basics of GPS, I gave the students a list of essential questions to answer. No resources or websites were given, just a blank Inspiration map with questions and space for answers. Students were then told to find the answers independently, using any resource they thought would be helpful.(My reasoning for not giving students the sites to find the answers was to assess how they approach using the Web for research.) Some students launched Firefox and searched my “interesting links” page thinking I left them resources. Others, immediately went to Google and searched for geocaching. A few students decided to use Ask.com as their search engine, typing in the essential questions exactly as I worded them on the recording sheet.

Essential questions included:
1. What exactly is geocaching?
2. What does the word mean?
3. What tools are needed?
4. What is a cache?
5. What is GPS?
6. What is Cache In, Trash Out?
7. Are there any rules for geocaching?

After about 25 minutes of independent research, the students gathered on the floor with their research sheets. We then completed an Inspiration map together as a class to make sure everyone had a basic understanding of geocaching and GPS systems.

An Unusual Teaching Tool

I wish I could meet Greg English from Oak Park Middle School in Louisiana. I would thank him for the wonderful lesson plan he shared on the web site www.louisiana101.com. Like Greg, I was struggling to find a way to teach latitude and longitude to my fourth graders. Using the metal grids holding the ceiling tiles in place was a great way to make the concept real to the students. Using index cards, I labeled the classroom from 50˚S to 50˚N and 30˚W to 30˚E. I taped cardinal direction signs on each wall, labeled the equator and prime meridian, and created a compass rose at 0˚ 0˚. Students were given cards with various coordinates and asked to find their place in the room. The activity was a huge success (and really fun too!)

As a follow-up, students visited the website Kidsgeo.com to play a latitude and longitude game.

A Geocaching First

Last Tuesday, I took my four 2nd grade classes geocaching for the first time. We had so much fun. I was amazed at how easily they took to using the handheld GPS. They learned how to turn on the device, acquire satellites, and use the built-in compass to navigate the 450 feet to the cache (located in a field next to our campus). My 10 -minute introductory lesson included:

Asking the students how many of their parents have a GPS in their vehicles and how they are used. We talked about how some of the GPS found in cars are built into the consoles while others are mounted to the dash and portable.

Defining GPS for them, sharing graphics explaining how the satellites work, and brainstorming reasons why a handheld GPS might not always work (indoors, bad weather, tree cover).

Displaying images of the various screens they would see on the GPS device.

I think I have created monsters. Now all they want to do is talk about geocaching.

Travel Bugs a Hit!

Using travel bugs with my second grade students has been a big hit. I was really worried that the bugs would sit in caches for long periods of times without being moved. So far, in the month since they were released, all four travel bugs have been picked up and moved. And I just got an email from a geocacher who is willing to take one of the bugs to Rome, Italy if I could wait two months. I’m going to ask the kids what they would like to do, but I’m guessing they will say “Yes.”

In a previous post, I discussed about how we made the travel bugs together by drawing them on the SmartBoard. We also included a description to go along with them. Adding the description to the actual travel bug is the reason why this project has been successful. Many of the geocachers that move the bugs comment on how they want to help out the kids. So, if you plan on releasing a travel bug with students, I strongly suggest you include a “note” from the kids. It does seem to make a difference.

Travel Bugs are Released

In January, I released four travel bugs created by my 2nd grade classes. A travel bug is a trackable tag that you attach to an item. The item can then be tracked on Geocaching.com as it moves from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world.

Creating the Travel Bug:
Many people attach their trackable tags to items such as keychains, stuffed toys, or other small objects. I wanted my kids to make their own trackable item but couldn't figure out what we could make that would be durable enough to last through caching adventures. Besides durability, I also had to figure out a way to have every child in the class be part of creating the bug. Finally, I decided to use my SmartBoard and the drawing program Early Learning Toolkit to create the bugs. Using the SmartBoard, each child in the class drew one part of the bug, adding on to what was drawn before them. Next, each class voted on a name for their bug as well as writing the goal for their bugs. The kids were very creative!

Mr. Frecklehead would like to travel to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower.
Nugget would like to travel around the world and see as many places as he can.
Boogler wants to reach Alaska and see the Iditarod.
Lightning Bug wants to reach Hollywood to star in her own television show.

Releasing the Travel Bugs
Before releasing the bugs, I had them laminated as luggage tags. I then added the trackable tags that I purchased from Groundspeak. Three of the bugs were sent to an acquaintance in Michigan who will release the bugs in different caches as she travels for work. One of the bugs stayed back and was placed in a local cache.

Tracking the Travel Bugs
As travel bugs are retrieved from and dropped off in caches, their movements are logged on the Geocaching.com website. I have set my account to send me email notifications anytime a bug is moved. I have also created a Google Map to keep track of each bug's movements. Finally, I have a large map in my classroom where the students will place pins when the bugs are moved.