All through my education, when I would be assigned a project on a subject of my choice, it would turn out to be featuring maps and globes in some way. It was a thread running though many years of classes. When I first became an elementary enrichment teacher, I became more interested in maps. Google maps and Google Earth were introduced in these years and became a staple with my special groups. Geocaching added another, more adventurous side to this subject, and I visited caches from Canada to Switzerland and many points in between, finding them with family members and friend, enjoying the technical and social aspects of the activity. Although I enjoy my GT position, I am gently nudging myself toward a change, and it may be toward math. Geometry, and therefore, maps, are a key part of math, and that is a major reason for me taking the PLS course, Geometry for the Middle School Teacher Online. The other reason is to just simply learn more about geometry. I want to broaden and deepen my understanding of this interesting and useful subject area.
Sarah
Gotta Love Math! 
Sarah,
Google maps are great but Google Earth is awesome. I have used it with video and images to create projects that students do indepenently in centers. I am a Discovery Educations Network Educator and I have done training events on Google Earth. I am sure your gifted students love Google Earth as any student that I have used it with have enjoyed it. If you do not know how to insert images and videos let me know and I would be glad to assist you. (It makes for a great field trip.)
Roberta
By: rant84 on January 27, 2010
at 11:15 pm
I love maps too!! My fiancée and I do a lot of back packing so maps are pretty important to us. It’s amazing how those close little lines on the topo map don’t seem like a big deal on day one of a hike. By day 7 those same little lines make you cringe when you see them coming up in your bath. Me personally I love seeing contour lines spread nice and far apart!
By: joshbeals on January 28, 2010
at 1:53 am
Sarah,
What we can do with technology these days is amazing! Being able to access Google Maps and Google Earth and incorporate both into instruction is awesome. Technology is the world our students have grown up in and we need to use it to our fullest capability!
Judy
By: Judy on January 30, 2010
at 9:43 pm
I love the name on your page! It is very fitting. I had to look up geocaching to figure out what you were talking about. After I read, I have heard of it before. That sounds so neat, maybe I will have to do a little adventure. I think it is awesome there are things like Google Maps and Earth being used in school. By the time these sites were starting be more known and used I was out of all my geography classes, it will be neat for me to see how to use this in my classroom someday.
By: mobleysmath on February 1, 2010
at 11:52 pm