“Flotsam” is defined as debris floating on the ocean and is usually from shipwrecks. In the Caldecott winning book Flotsam, by David Weisner, the flotsam that washes ashore is a very special underwater camera. Come along for a trip around the world that follows the fantastical trip of a camera, the marine animals it captures on film and the children that find it.

This project was the combined effort of eight first grade classes and over 200 students. Each class viewed the book Flotsam and each class was assigned a photograph from the book to investigate. Classes were divided into small groups and using Atlases and the Internet, each group decided where in the world the picture occurred.

Using a large map and Wikki Stix, small groups picked locations, marked them with stickers and explained their decision making process to the whole class. Each class then voted and decided where their placemark would go on Google Earth. When all of the placemarks were decided, Mrs. Doe connected the locations with a path around the world. Students explored the Google Trip using Google Earth in the computer lab.

About the Developer

Holly Doe

Enrichment and Technology Teacher

Pelham Elementary School

Pelham, NH

As the enrichment and technology teacher at Pelham Elementary, Holly works with over 950 students in first through fifth grade with a focus on math, science, and technology. Students visit enrichment once a week and Holly searches for ways to integrate their classroom curriculum with technology. While teaching first graders about the ocean, she decided to share one of her favorite wordless picture books, Flotsam. Although the pictures are fantastical, there were so many factual details and marine animals to explore.

She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington where she received her degree in Elementary Education. She received her M.Ed. in Technology in Education from Lesley University. Holly's first love is children's literature. She enjoys finding ways to enhance literature with technology and Google Lit trips seemed like the perfect fit. She is the author of Technology through Children's Literature published by Teachers Ideas Press in 2003.

In addition to teaching at Pelham Elementary, Holly is an Adjunct Faculty for Lesley University, teaching teachers how to integrate the Internet into their classrooms.