Staff
Contact
Student Resources
Measuring Tasks
Activity of the Month Archive
Animal Site of the Month Archive
Elementary School Web Resources
Teacher Resources
Unit Resources and Video Support
Catalogs and Order Forms
FAQ About ESP
Learning Standards
NYS Common Core Standards Correlations for ESP Units
Professional Development
Resources
Teacher Created Resources
About ESP
Overview of ESP Units
FAQ About ESP
Ordering Kits
Find Us
Virtual Vacations
Quick Links
ADA Menu
Summer Activities
Animal Students
Ants
Backyard Safari
Beach Science
Build a Birdbath
Butterfly Watching
Caterpillar Hunt
Clouds
Fireflies
Five Senses in Summer
Grasses
Grasshoppers
Having Hummingbirds
Hiking
Homemade Toys
Hurricanes
Insect Sounds
Insects
Keeping Cool in Summer
Keeping Flies Out
Leaf Learning
Measuring Large
Meteor Shower Watching
Migrating Insects
Modeling a Stream
Mosquitoes
Noise Makers
Northern Lights
Photo Safari
Science for a Rainy Day
Spiders
Summer Insect Adventure
Summer Science Fun
Summer Stars
Summer Wildflowers
Summer's End
The World Through a Magnifier
Virtual Vacations
Water Fun
Yellow Jackets
To many people, going on a vacation means going on a trip. It isn't always possible to go away on a trip. Why not take a virtual vacation? It can be almost as much fun and can give you a chance to learn about new places and things.
There are websites which are virtual tours of other parts of the world. For example, try
Virtual Hawaii
or
Landscapes of Nova Scotia
or a trip to the Mojave Desert at
Desert Tortoise Natural Area
. For more ideas, visit
Virtual Fieldtrips
or
Virtual Guidebooks
, or the
OOPS Virtual Field Trips
page.
Books give great virtual vacations. Read about another place or time. Younger children might like Joy Cowley's book about the Central American rain forest, Red-Eyed Tree Frog. Older students may like Steve Jenkins' book about Mount Everest, Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest, or Ted & Betsy Lewin's Gorilla Walk which tells about a trip into the home area of the mountain gorilla. For some more book recommendations, visit
Children's Choices
. These and many more books can be found at your local library.
Look around your own neighborhood as if you had never been there before. What is going on? What interesting animals and plants can you find? Take notes on what you see. Keep a journal including sketches of interesting things. How do the "local people" live? What do they do for fun? Do they raise any of their own food? How would an explorer describe your neighborhood, your family, your yard?
Henry David Thoreau was asked once if he had traveled much and he answered, "Yes - around Concord" (his home town). What do you think he meant?
View text-based website