Google Lit Trip

Outside Reading Assignment on War and Conflict: Google Lit Trip

To present the results of your reading, you will create a Google Lit Trip. This is a tour of places associated with your book. You will create 10 placemarks (5 from English, 5 from Social Studies) with descriptions and pictures. You must organize them to tell about the book and what it tells you about the impact of war. In order to plan your trip, you can use post-its in your book or the chart at the end of this packet to make notes. Once you have done that, you can create your lit trip to present to class.

Key Google Earth Skills:

1. Saving a .kmz file so you can work on your lit trip:

1) Highlight “My places” and right click.

2) Select “Add folder” and name it [TitleofYourBook]LitTrip (eg. DiaryofAnnFrankLitTrip)

3) Edit the file (Add placemarks, etc.)

4) When finished working, highlight the FOLDER (not the .kmz ball) again and select “Save Place As” to save it as a .kmz file on your USB key and in your My Documents folder.

5) Next time you wish to work on it, find the .kmz icon and double click it to open it in Google Earth.

6) VERY IMPORTANT: When done working, you must again highlight the FOLDER and select “Save Place As” to save it as a .kmz file on your USB key and in your My Documents folder. If you do not, you will lose your work.

2. Finding a location and selecting a view, and inserting a placemark:

1) In the Search Box at the top right, type the name of the place you wish to find.

2) Once you are there, use the zoom and tilt tools to get the view you wish to show.

3) Select “Add Placemark” once you have found this view.

3. Editing a placemark:

1) You can immediately edit a placemark, or go back to it at any time to edit it by right clicking it and selecting “Properties”

2) Name the placemark and select the icon button to the right of the name to choose the shape of your placemark (the default is a pushpin). You can edit the color and size on the “Style,Color” tab.

3) To select the altitude, angle and tilt you’ve established, click the “View” tab and the click “Snapshot current view”

4) To write a brief text and add a picture or link, click on description.

4. Inserting text into the placemark’s balloon:

1) Select the “Description” tab and begin typing your information.

2) Use the HTML tags (see list below) to format the text. For models, you can also look at the description on balloons prepared by others.

5. Inserting a picture into the placemark’s balloon:

1) Find a picture on the internet that you would like to use.

2) Right click on the picture and select properties. Check the address (URL) of the image to make sure that it is a .jpg or a .gif

3) In the “Description” tab of your placemark, copy and paste the URL into the following HTML form: <img src=”http://www.yourimageaddress.com/jpg”> TYPE IT YOURSELF. IF YOU COPY THIS HERE IT WILL NOT WORK.

4) To play with the image size you can change the height and width numbers, i.e.: <img src=”http://yourimageaddress.com/jpg” height=400 width=300>

5) Consider placing a break between your picture and your text with the following HTML line: <br>

6. Setting the touring options in Google Earth to practice your presentation:

1) Go to “Tools” and select “Options” and click on the “Touring” tab.

2) Check the box marked “Show balloon when the tour is paused”

3) Set the number of seconds you wish the tour to pause at a location.

4) Play your tour.

HTML Tags list to spice up your description:

Heading Elements

<h1>Largest Heading</h1>

<h6>Smallest Heading</h6>

Text Elements

<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<br> (line break)

Physical Styles

<b>This text is bold</b>
<i>This text is italic</i>

Links and Image Elements

Grading Rubric for Google Lit Trip Presentations:

_____Meaning:

Descriptions and text are relevant to the story and the setting (wartime).

_____Development:

Includes 10 placemarks with balloons that include pictures and text (5 from English, 5 from Social Studies). These placemarks illustrate details that help deepen the understanding of the story and setting.

_____Language:

Proper use of conventions in written and oral communication.

_____Organization and Appearance:

There is a coherent order of places presented that help a potential reader understand the setting and general story-line. Pictures and text are easy to read in the balloon, and there is a consistency of style. Appropriate voice, volume and manner during presentation.

_____Content:

Well-chosen events and places that serve to illustrate aspects of the book and wartime setting, including: author, setting, character, plot points, climax/turning point, key quote, reasons for the war, how government got the country involved, the role of the press, key events of the war, impact of war on people, and/or results of war.