Google Expeditions Visits Melville Elementary

We knew there was no guarantee that they'd come, but just the chance they would was very exciting! So the librarian, Ruth Donahue and myself anxiously applied. Here is a general overview of the program that I copied from their application flyer and here is the link: https://www.google.com/edu/expeditions/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojvq3Jce%2FhmjTEU5z16e4tXae1h5l41El3fuXBP2XqjvpVQcRrM7zORw8FHZNpywVWM8TILtQYt8FtKAzgAG0%3D

THE EXPEDITIONS PIONEER PROGRAM
Expeditions teams will visit selected schools around the world, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Denmark and Mexico. Each team will bring a complete Expeditions kit with everything the teachers need to take their students on journeys anywhere. The team will show teachers how Expeditions works and help set it up before class. The Expeditions is a virtual reality platform built for the classroom. We work with teachers and content partners from around the world to create more than 100 engaging journeys - making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences. They are guided tours of places schools buses can't go. They are comprised of virtual reality panoramas and are led by a guide or teacher. Using a tablet, teachers can guide up to 50 students wearing virtual reality viewers. Teachers can guide their class and point out highlights while referring to editable notes.

More Information:

We were so incredibly excited when they contacted us telling us they were coming on Friday, April 1st. We created a schedule whereby all 1st Graders through 3rd Graders would use the Google Cardboard viewers to visit various places around the world they’ll probably never get to visit. The teacher conducted the lessons by controlling a tablet allowing students to go where she chose. Some of the places included: The Galapagos Islands, The Coral Reef, The Great Barrier Reef, The Ocean Sharks, The Great Wall of China, The Moon, Mars Rover, The Egyptian Pyramids and many more. There were about 100 places to choose from! Since they’ve given us a little taste of Virtual Reality Viewers, my principal Elizabeth Viveiros already asked how she could purchase them for our students! They aren’t available for purchase as of yet as this was a pioneer project, but the Google Representative told us "Eventually they’d like to sell classroom kits with all the videos to schools so they can incorporate them into their curriculum".

Contact Information:

Michele Polselli NBCT, 3rd Grade Teacher, polsellim@portsmouthschoolsri.org
Ruth Donahue, Melville Librarian, donahuer@portsmouthschoolsri.org
Elizabeth Viveiros, Principal, viveirose@portsmouthschoolsri.org

Melville Elementary School
1351 West Main Road
Portsmouth, RI, 02871
401-683-1650