Students at South Elementary School got an up-close and personal geography lesson last week, when a 20-foot-high inflatable globe visited the school's gymnasium.
More than 100 fourth-graders had the chance to sit inside the Earth Balloon in a visit funded by the South Parent Teacher Organization and a grant from the Andover Fund for Education.
Cidalia Pina, program facilitator for the balloon, brought small groups of students inside the inflatable structure, giving them a lesson on Earth's geography, from the inside out.
The Earth balloon comes from Earth Adventure, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that travels to schools across the country teaching children of all ages about their planet. The balloon is made of hundreds of satellite photographs, minus the cloud cover that usually blocks some of the view.
— Bethany Bray
