Our First Postcards

We received our first postcards today and they came all the way from The United Kingdom. My husband brought in the mail and he never mentioned to me that any postcards came. Luckily I noticed them on a table in the kitchen. I shudder to think what would have happened had I not gone through the pile.

Mel sent us two postcards from Lincoln, Lincolnshire. It looks lovely from the photographs on the fronts of the postcards. My son zoned right in on the castle and I am sure had visions of jousting and knights running trough his head.

We read the descriptions and the wonderful facts about the area that Mel wrote about. Then we went to Google Maps. I started at our house and slowly zoomed out. We talked a bit about local geography as I brought us further and further from our house. Then we began the virtual journey to The United Kingdom. We went across the Atlantic Ocean and the kids saw how big it was. It is much larger than any of the Great Lakes.

Once we got to The United Kingdom, we found Lincoln thanks to those lovely red pins that Goggle Maps uses. Both children were interested in different things. My son wanted to see the buildings so we went to street view for that. My daughter however wanted to see the "flatness" around Lincoln. So I zoomed out for her. It is funny that I never thought to use Google Maps when we did this the first time.

I only thought of it now because when I taught a lesson on maps to a first grade class I used it with the Promethean (like a Smart Board) Board. It really allowed to them to see how maps are drawn of cities and towns.

I am hoping we get a lot of postcards this summer. We can't afford to do any real traveling so I hope our virtual exploration helps keep them entertained this summer. Thanks Mel for our first postcards of the summer, you should be getting mine soon.