As we discuss our journey with principals, administrators, teachers and other educators, we have been encouraged by the many ideas on how our materials can be used in the classroom. The usage will, of course, differ based on the ages of the students and how Trekking the Planet’s material will supplement the current education curriculum being taught.
Based on these discussions, below you will find just some of the FUN! activity ideas on how the free materials developed for the Trekking the Planet expedition can be used in the classroom.
Note: By the end of the trip, the Trekking the Planet expedition will have circled the globe, visiting roughly 50 countries on six continents and traveling a total of over 70,000 miles! A new newsletter will be published each week for those educators who have subscribed, detailing the latest education module, images and pictures that are available for classroom use. You can subscribe here: https://www.trekkingtheplanet.com/educators.
Activity Ideas
- Each week, ask a new student to point to the current location of the Trekking the Planet expedition on the globe/map.
- Each week, read the Trekking the Planet newsletter (including the future expedition plans on the last page) and ask for questions. Then, either:
- Post questions on the expedition’s Facebook page: http://facebook.com/trekkingplanet
- Tweet the questions with @trekkingplanet appended to the message
- Send questions to info@trekkingtheplanet.com
- Pre-read the weekly newsletter and identify something that is different between the place the Trekking the Planet expedition is visiting and the community where you and your students live. Here are just a few examples of the places the expedition will visit along with the conditions we expect to find there:
- Ethiopia – it is dry (drought)
- Nepal – it is high in the mountains (Himalayas)
- Amazon region, Brazil – there are dangerous animals (snakes)
- Lapland, Sweden – it is barren (no trees only grass)
- Chile – the people don’t speak English
- Uzbekistan – it is remote
- Ask students to write individual reports on one of the places that the Trekking the Planet expedition visits, starting with the links included at the end of one of the four-page weekly educational modules. An example of an educational module can be found here.
- Ask students to develop a group presentation on one of the places that the Trekking the Planet expedition visits and deliver it to the rest of the class. Make sure to post a link on the expedition’s Facebook page or send out a Tweet with the #trekkingplanet hashtag so that others can see it!
- Ask students to develop a slide show of animal pictures that the expedition has taken. Trekking the Planet Photos and videos will be hosted on Photobucket at
- Show random pictures and/or videos from the trip and ask the kids to raise their hand and guess where the picture/video was taken. A second student could point to the location on the globe/map.
- Develop a video by remixing the pictures and videos from our trip:
- Photos and videos will be hosted on Photobucket
- Photos and video must be first downloaded to a PC or Mac
- Both platforms have free video editing software: PC has Windows Movie Maker; Mac has iMovie
- Make sure to post a link on the expedition’s Facebook page or send out a Tweet using the #trekkingplanet hashtag so that others can see it!
- Ask students to make a packing list for an around-the-world trip. Have them include the following considerations:
- They will be camping
- They will be hiking (500 miles)
- It will be hot (really hot!)
- It will be cold (below freezing)
- It will be wet
- It will be remote (hint: first aid kit)
- They might want to go to a nice restaurant once in a while
- They are limited to 44 pounds (20 kilograms), or else they will have to pay special fees
- Make sure to post a link on the expedition’s Facebook page or send out a Tweet using the #trekkingplanet hashtag so that others can see it!
- Develop classroom or school service project that raises funds for UNICEF:
- Learn more about our support of UNICEF here – https://www.trekkingtheplanet.com/UNICEF
- Make sure to post a link on the expedition’s Facebook page or send out a Tweet using the #trekkingplanet hashtag so that others can see it!
- Bonus: Make a game out of the “Did you know” sections of the educational modules.
- Turn the “Did you know” items into True/False or multiple choice questions
- An example of an educational module can be found here: https://www.trekkingtheplanet.com/docs/W02_Hawaii_Education_Module.pdf
- Make sure to post a link on the expedition’s Facebook page or send out a Tweet with the #trekkingplanet hashtag so that others can see it!
Let us know if you have any other activities to add.
Thank you for dedicating a part of your adventure to students! We Americans don’t know enough of the world, so I’m looking forward to sharing your exploits with my 4th and 5th graders. I’ll be checking back to see you are doing.
Tim
Thanks – look forward to hearing from you and your 4th and 5th graders!
Great idea. I wish I could leave with you 🙂
If you pass by Venice in Italy (and you really should) let me know!
Have a good safe trip around the World!
Thanks for the well wishes. We are going to be in Rome during our journey. We have both been to Venice and loved it, but, unfortunately, have no time on this journey to visit.
Thank you! Your site has been well received by our community school (expelled from home district) classrooms. We will participate and email you questions as your trip progresses.
As an aside, I look forward to seeing Kyrgyzstan, as that is where I passed through (Manas AFB), twice, on my way to, and from, Afghanistan in 08/09. We were only there briefly, so did not get to see the country.
Thanks, we look forward to having your school follow our journey and to your questions while we are on the road.