Instructify

BY BILL FERRIS

Your elementary students can follow Santa Claus’ flight path on Christmas Eve through the magic of Google Earth.

The jolly elves at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (that’s NORAD to you and me) have been tracking Santa using a combination of satellites, radar, Santa Cams, and fighter jets (!) for years. Now they’ve joined forces with Google to better update kids on Santa’s whereabouts as he flies around the world.

The Google Earth Blog reports that the NORAD tracker will go online at 6 a.m. EST on December 24. That’s plenty of time for them to download Google Earth and head to the NORAD website to follow St. Nick’s flight. If your students are already on holiday break, their parents may appreciate a quick email to let them know about this high-tech way to enjoy Christmas Eve.

Track Santa in Google Earth via NORAD

Related stuff:

Enter a new world with lesson plans for Google Earth

Google Earth 5 adds more educational features

Photo credit: cobalt123 on Flickr.