Google Earth is a free resource that you can use with any grade level and every content area. It is our earth, in globe form, complete with 3D imagery, roads, addresses, borders, access to StreetView images, data layers, a measurement tool, and elaborate and professional Voyager Stories. Donnie Piercey has an excellent set of resources for Google Earth on this site. The official Google Earth Education site is awesome too for inspiration and resources. 

The Voyager Stories are my favorite. These are guided tours on a wide range of topics. Just click the ship wheel on the left menu.  (all images in this post are screenshots from https://earth.google.com/web/)

From there you can view many categories. Culture, Nature, Education, and Layers are my personal favorites.

My friends Peter, Jessica, Brooke, Joël, and Afzal worked on this awesome Voyager Story about the value of water, and conservation of the Great Lakes.

My friends Joël and Afzal created this incredible Voyager Story on the astrolabe.

Here’s a sample of one of the layers, Current Weather Radar.

For my fellow HP fans, here’s another that explores the “real” world of Harry Potter.

In the options menu (3 lines at the top left) you can change the map style to show or take away map details and information.

Have fun exploring our earth with your students. Let me know if you have any questions or would like ideas on how to make Google Earth a part of your instruction.