I Love Geocaching!

Taking my students geocaching across the Shorecrest campus is one of my favorite activities. Typically I geocache a bit later in the year, but I just had to take advantage of the beautiful weather we had last week. So, I setup caches for both the second and fourth graders.

As the second graders have been learning about the seven continents, I thought it fitting to also learn about some of the different bodies of water around the world. Hidden inside their caches were slips of paper listing the names of the oceans as well as gulfs, seas, bays, and rivers. After a class discussion about the differences between these bodies of water, students used WorldBook for Kids to research a specific body of water. Next they will write, illustrate, and record riddles to share with each other.

  

The fourth graders have been studying the concepts of latitude and longitude in math, so learning how to use a handheld GPS receiver was a wonderful hands-on opportunity to better understand absolute location. They also learned how to track distance and use the built-in compass. Hidden inside their caches were coordinates and riddles related to famous places important during the American Revolution.  Back in the lab, the students used Google Earth to look up the coordinates to figure out the important city or colony named in their riddle.