Fourth graders at Holladay Elementary have been learning about the Civil War in Social Studies (VS.7) and measurement in math (SOL4.7) so today we created Civil War Marching Maps using My Google Maps. First the students chose two major Civil War battles to mark on the map (Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Appomattox, or Hampton Roads). Then they added an image and some brief factual information about the battle to each marker. Next we clicked on a marker and chose the directions icon at the bottom of the popup window (it looks like an arrow). That added a new layer to the map legend on the left with the location marked as “B”. We added the name of the other marker in the “A” box, and clicked the three dots to choose “Step-by-step directions.” That gave us the distance in miles. However, the time wasn’t accurate because it was based on driving, whereas the Civil War soldiers marched. So we clicked the car icon and changed the Transportation mode to walking. Now students had an estimate of how long it would take for the soldiers to march from one battle to another. Yet that still was not accurate because soldiers didn’t march nonstop. They averaged 15-30 miles per day, so students could divide the distance by 20 or 25 to figure out how many days it would take for Civil War soldiers to march that distance. Students shared their maps on Google classroom, and you can see them all here.

Fourth graders at Trevvett Elementary have been learning about perimeter and area in Math (SOL4.7) and Civil War battles in History (VS.7b). Today students in Ms. Reed’s class used Google Maps to find the perimeter and area of Manassas Battlefield, where the Battle of Bull Run was fought in 1861. It was the site of the first major battle of the Civil War, and it’s now a national park. First, we explored it with regular Google maps so we could take a virtual field trip there. We turned on satellite view (bottom left corner) and clicked the yellow guy in the bottom right corner (also known as Pegman). When you click on him, you will see blue lines and blue dots. The blue lines show street view, but the blue dots give you a 360 degree view of those sites. Sometimes they are even inside of buildings and museums! So Pegman is a fantastic way to take virtual field trips (TIP: Try dragging Pegman over Hawaii or Nevada, and see what he turns into)! After exploring the battlefield in Google Maps, I asked the students to estimate its perimeter and area. I explained that in the next step we would actually measure its perimeter and area and see whose estimate was closest. My Google Maps is a great way to create, customize and save your own maps. To get started, we clicked the red button “Create a new map.” In the search box we typed “Manassas Battlefield” and arrived at the site. Then I showed them how to use the drawing tool to outline the battlefield. It took a bit of practice, but once the outline was complete, we gave it a title, typed a description, added a photo or two, and hit the Save button. When we clicked back on the outline, a box popped up with some cool features. We could change the outline and fill color with the paint bucket, but more importantly, it told us the area and perimeter of the outline! To finish the project, we clicked the Share button, changed the settings so anyone with the link could view the map, copied the link, and pasted it into Schoology. The students also typed the perimeter and area into the comments so they could compare their findings with their classmates’. You can see some of their maps and comments here.