In a Google Lit Trip, a book character's journey is plotted out on Google Earth, and a marker is placed on each location where the character goes. At each place mark you can find a wealth of supplementary information including relevant photos and videos, questions for discussion, and links to information about "real world" references made in that section of the story. Students can see where the characters are and that the characters are in real places...sometimes even interacting with real history! In this way kids can travel with the characters in a fully immersive, interactive, three-dimensional environment.
To get started, go to the Google Lit Trips website to see which books are available. There is a section for K-5 literature as well as a separate one for middle grades and one for high school. When you find a book that you would like to use, look on the upper right corner of the page for a link in the format "Download titleofyourbook.kmz". Click on this link and the Google Lit Trip file will automatically download. You must have Google Earth installed on your computer in order to view this file. If you don't already have Google Earth installed on your computer, you may download it for free by clicking here.
Once you download the file, open it by double-clicking. Google Earth opens and immediately puts your Google Lit Trip on the surface of the globe! You can start exploring the character's journey by clicking on the place marks as the globe spins and starts you on your journey.
To learn more about using Google Lit Trips, click here for instructions, or watch the tutorial video below:
