About Globetracker's Mission, 2008-2009 Edition

Globetracker’s Mission, an episodic story in blog-style format, takes students in grades 2-6 on a world-wide journey to learn standards-based world geography, landforms, and map skills in an engaging, interactive context.

In each weekly episode, Geo and Meri, fictitious brother and sister techno-savvy teens, share new projector- or whiteboard-ready posts about their travels on a secret mission to find Dewey, the truth-sniffing dog. Each episode includes annotated vocabulary terms and interactive maps for practicing map skills or answering think-aloud questions the teens pose as they use today’s tools: text messaging, cell phones, and blog-posting. Readers vote at the conclusion of each post, telling Geo and Meri what to do next.

Their first mission took place during the 2007-2008 school year and garnered positive responses from teachers and many requests that we "re-run" the mission again for 2008-2009. TeachersFirst is happy to launch the mission again so even more students can take part. This school year's mission will run from October, 2008, until the start of May, 2009. Geo and Meri's travels will be different this time, however, since reader votes determine where they go next. We invite you to read and participate in their  “blog” by voting each week.

Over the course of seven months, classes using Globetracker’s Mission visit seven continents and experience the world through the thoughts and “snapshots” of Geo and Meri.

Classrooms equipped with free Google Earth™ software can tour each step of the Mission using the Google Earth™ placemarker files that accompany each episode. Teacher materials include extensive ideas for implementing Globetracker’s Mission as an engaging alternative to “old world” geography textbooks and worksheets. The carefully scaffolded content revisits and builds upon the standards-based concepts throughout the seven months of the Mission. Teaching materials include review activities in both printable and interactive Flash format (ideal for an interactive whiteboard) and open-ended review and reflection questions for students to extend their understanding of world geography.

New for 2008-2009:

• Classes can report "possible Dewey sightings," uploaded photographs and short accounts of Dewey near your school. Click on "We Saw Dewey!" from any episode to learn more.
• New review activities
• A special TogetheRead sampler of "continents" family reading fun contributed by our partner site, TeachersAndFamilies.com.

If you are a teacher, click here to learn more about ways you and your class can join in the “Mission,” what students will learn, and standards Geo and Meri will address along the way.

If you are a parent who would like to know more about ways you can participate in the “Mission” at home, click here.

Click here to start reading the Mission from the very beginning.

Click here to read the current episode.

Globetracker’s Mission is produced by TeachersFirst, a free, ad-free service of The Source for Learning, a non-profit.
To learn more about TeachersFirst's “mission,” click here.