Social+Studies+&+Technology

Technology can be utilized to flatten the walls of our classrooms and allow our students the chance to connect with other students around the world.

Making connections with other teachers through social networking on Twitter has opened my eyes to the wonderful projects that could take place in our classroom. In the past students could connect with other students through pen pal writing but today we can put a 21st century spin on this idea by making online connections. Forums such as [|Epals], [|Elanguages] and [|The Flat Stanley Project] make it possible to collaborate with children around the world.

**//Some practical ways of integrating technology with Social studies://**

Google Earth - students can investigate continents, countries, cities, etc. They can take a "drive" down their very own street. For ways to use Google earth in the classroom check out [|Ask a Tech Teacher]



**//This lesson was done using the camera tool in Notebook software. Students captured the image from Google Earth//** **//then located the country's flag on Notebook picture gallery and added information about their chosen country.//**

Learning about map and globe features - A smartboard resource: [|Mapping our world]

Learning about Flags and creating your own - [|We are Multicolored]

Interactive games to review the continents: [|Geospy - National Geographic] [|Identifying continents]

An online magazine: [|National Geographic for kids] [|Learning about Countries around the World]

Interactive puzzles : [|World Monuments Puzzle] [|Continents Map puzzle]

Want to learn about Egypt? Check out this site: [|Egypt]

Teaching about children's rights? Check out [|Unicef for kids]

Want to learn about Italy? Here is an online book: [|Italy for kids]

Teaching about France can be more interesting with this Slideshare presentation: [|France]

**More interactive resources can be found on the [|Smarttech] website**