The Geomate Jr.

When I introduced geocaching to my students last year, I was flooded with parent emails about how they could geocache with their kids and what was the best unit to buy. I would show parents the unit I have, the Garmin GPS60, and then provide them links to Dr. Alice Christie's site where she compares different units by price, battery life, accuracy, etc.

If I get asked that question again this year, I will probably recommend the Geomate Jr. I logged on to my Geocaching.com site to checkout the status of my student travel bugs and came across a new hand-held GPS dubbed the "Family-Friendly Geocaching Device." Pre-programmed with 250,000 geocaches in all 50 states, it appears really easy to use. It's price tag is $69.99 and you will be able to purchase additional update kits for $19.99 to add more caches to the database. Definitely worth a look. I may be purchasing one for my own family. It would be nice not to have to fuss with downloading waypoints, etc. Just turn it on and go!

Even if you already have a unit, check out the site. There are some short videos that are great for introducing geocaching to your elementary students.

Please comment if you have used or heard about this unit! I have read some online reviews but would like to hear about it first hand.

Nugget Travel Bug Found!

In mid June, I received a log post from waterboy1277 through my Geocaching.com site that my travel bug, Nugget, had gone missing.

"I'm sorry to say that I think that this was muggled, I talked to some fellow cachers I came across in the area I left this bug and they told me the contents of that cache were everywhere. They said that the TB was not there. I went to go and see for myself and look around the area just in case it was tossed aside. I could not find it. I am sorry but I think it is MIA."

Of course, extremely disappointed, I was going to have to tell my students about Nugget's demise.

Then yesterday, six weeks after he went missing, gecoacher candum "grabbed it, got it in a different nearby cache. it was in cache called House for a Buck just a mile or so north. took it back to wyoming."

I can't tell you how excited I am that he has been found. I will be presenting at a conference about geocaching and using travel bugs in the elementary curriculum in November. His travels are an important part of that presentation. YEAH!

Tech Savvy Kids Summer Camp

Today is the last day of my Tech Savvy Kids summer camp. In addition to working with digital cameras, Scratch, ComicLife and creating clay animations, students have geocached both on campus and in the local community.

Students are pretty well versed in finding waypoints already programmed in their GPS, so today they created and hid their own caches across the school campus. Working with a partner, students researched an animal or famous place and wrote 5 to 6 clues about it. Next, they typed their clues in Microsoft Word. Finally, they set out across campus hiding, marking, and naming their caches.

After exchanging GPS units, students located their waypoints, tracked down their caches and raced back to the computer lab. Most groups found their caches independently while others required some help from their friends. Using the Internet, campers evaluated each clue, looking for keywords that would help them in their search.

Here is one of the caches that was created.

Clue 1: I am a city.
Clue 2: There is a labyrinth within me.
Clue 3: An earthquake once destroyed a large part of me.
Clue 4: I have a lot of mosques.
Clue 5: I have the most Koran schools than any city in my country.

I can’t wait to try this activity with my 3rd and 4th graders during the school year. I think it would be neat to have 4th graders write caches on a topic 3rd graders are studying (i.e. explorers, US states) and vice versa.

An Environmental Geocache

With only 18 ½ days of school left, I was worried I would not be able to geocache with my third grade students. With plans to finish a Comic Life project on rocks and minerals as well as a Photoshop self portrait activity with the art teacher, I have officially run out of weeks. You can imagine my excitement when our school’s science resource teacher entered my lab and asked for ideas on an integrated technology project.

So on Monday morning we will be hiding 10 caches around the pond at the end of our school’s property. As we will be traveling quite a distance with many potential routes, we have several parent volunteers that will be supervising the student groups with us. Inside the caches will be questions related to four different environmental topics: recycling, pollution, water, and composting.

The caches will be used by four different classes, one topic per class. To help the students stay organized and remove the proper questions from the cache, I have color coded the questions by printing each set on colored paper. Here are the questions the students will be answering back in the science center using the laptop cart:

Recycling
1. What are the 3 steps of the recycling process? (Not the 3 R’s)
2. In your own words, what is recycling?
3. How much trash is disposed in landfills in the US each year?
4. What is special about the design of landfills?
5. Name 6 types of trash that can contaminate land, water, or air if not disposed of properly.
6. Why must you sort different types of glass when recycling?
7. What can be made by recycling high-density polyethylene?
8. Name 6 different ways old tires are recycled?
9.How can you determine if your can is made of aluminum and recyclable?
10. Why are there seven different recycling codes for practice?


Composting
1. What are the four ingredients of a compost recipe?
2. Why don’t you put meat or meat products in a compost bin?
3. Why don’t you put diseased plants in a compost bin?
4. What are 5 foods that worms will not eat if placed in a compost bin?
5. What is a worm’s job?
6. In your own words, what is a decomposer?
7. What type of worm is best to use in composting bins and why?
8. In your own words, what is aeration?
9. Why does worm bedding need to be moist?
10.What are castings and why are they important?


Water
1. How much water does an average washing machine use per load?
2. Name three ways to help you remember to take a shower less than 3 minutes?
3. How many gallons of water are wasted in one day by a dripping faucet?
4. Why must old batteries not be thrown in with your regular trash?
5. What percentages of the world’s water is salty, frozen, and drinkable? (Hint: Totals 100%)
6. What can you do to prevent pool evaporation?
7. What is an aquifer?
8. What are 3 dangers to the Wakulla Spring watershed?
9. How does fertilizing your lawn affect the watershed?
10. How does storm runoff affect the watershed?

Pollution
1. In your own words, what is acid rain?
2. What are the main gases that cause acid rain?
3. What effects does acid rain have on trees and plants?
4. What effects does acid rain have on lakes and water life?
5. In your own words, what is air pollution?
6. What are the two main sources of air pollution?
7. What two greenhouse gases (bad gases) are colorless?
8. What are four possible sources of air pollution inside homes?
9. In your own words, define “Greenhouse Effect.”
10. Name 3 ways you can measure your ecological footprint (environmental impact)?

Once the students find the answer to the question, they will be given a blank puzzle piece on which to write the answer and complete an illustration. The ten pieces will then be displayed together in our halls to share with the rest of the student body.

The Longest Hike Yet

Second grade classes in the computer lab began with cheers on Tuesday as students entered the classroom and saw the GPS units laid out on the table. It made all the time spent preparing for this week’s lesson worth it! After a quick review on acquiring satellites, pulling up a waypoint and using the Page feature to navigate between the GPS screens, students were off. This week’s challenge was to find caches hidden .20 miles away from our classroom – their longest trip yet. Students worked with partners to navigate across our campus making sure to say clear of “muggles.” Great emphasis was placed on cooperation and problem solving as students were completely on their own for the first time. It was interesting listening to students as they figured out the best routes to get around buildings, fences, and other obstacles.


Asia Cache - 2nd Grade April 2009 from Anna Baralt on Vimeo.

Each pair of students was given the waypoint for one cache. Inside the cache were flags from 14 different countries. The activity served as a jumping off point for their study of Asia. Back in the lab, students used Enchanted Learning to identify each of the flags. They also used a large world map to locate the countries.

Next week, students will return to the lab and begin researching one of the countries. As I have four second grade classes, each one will research one of four topics - geography, economy & government, people & culture, or history of the countries. They will then share the information individually gathered in a grade-level wiki, http://aboutasia.wikispaces.com/. The final part of the project will have the students participating in a wiki scavenger hunt to learn about the other countries researched by their classmates.

Community Walk

Last week I discovered a new tool, Community Walk. A map making tool, you can create custom map tours. I’m think this would be a wonderful way for me to keep track of our travel bugs from this school year to the next. First, I thought I would use the maps generated by Geocaching.com but realized the students could not see those maps as you have to be logged in. (Those were the snapshots from the previous post.) Next, I thought about using Google Earth but realized it would be difficult for this year’s class to keep track. I don’t want have to constantly upload updated KMZ files. Since Community Walk is online, I can post a link to the map on my Web page and students can check in from time to time. Has anyone used this site before? I'm still trying to figure it all out and would appreciate any tips.

http://www.communitywalk.com/

Travel Bug Update 4/22/09

I can't decide who is having more fun watching our travel bugs move along, me or my students. They have seen a lot of action these last few weeks, so I thought I would update you on their progress!


Mr. Frecklehead is the first travel bug to reach its goal. I never imagined it happening so fast. But sure enough, it made its way to the Eiffel Tower logging more than 4,500 miles!






Nugget has been very busy these last few days. Just heard he got picked up again. He recently visited Echo Canyon in Utah, an old stop of the Pony Express. He has logged more than 1,900 miles.







Lightning Bug was in Georgia but was recently picked up. Awaiting to see where she is dropped off. She has logged the least amount of miles so far.







Boogler was picked up back in February but hasn't been moved yet. Sent an email to the geocacher to nudge him/her along. Hopefully, we will hear back soon. Last time Boogler was sited, he was outside Chicago, IL.