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States and Capitals
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Next year we will be learning what and where the states in the US are located. At the same time it seems to only make sence to learn the capitals at the same time.
I would love to hear how you might have done this, what worked and what didn’t.
Videos, books, CD’s, a chant you learned or just a song you used. Thanks in advance for all your help. As I know this next years geography will be one of the toughest with all the states AND the capitals I want to make it as fun as possible.
We loved this:
I can’t help too much with states and capitals, but for Canadian geography, provinces and capitals we used the book “Wow! Canada” which our boys LOVED. They still talk about it all the time. We also do map drill and have them quiz each other: One says the name of a province or territory and the other says the name of the capital. They memorized them very quickly, as well as where to find them on the map, so we only review every couple of weeks. Unfortunately, there are only 13 pairs for our kids to remember verses 50.
Maybe you could make a scrap book as you learn them with a page for each state. I know Crayola.com has colouring pages for all the states with different state symbols. (We used the Canadian pages.) Not sure the ages of your kids, but it’s a thought if they are younger and like to do that.
Hm – for Canadian provinces and capitals, there is a song called “The Capital Song” (or “Name the Capitals” or something similar) – I think it is by Stomping Tom Connor… I’d have to check….
“Ottawa is a mighty good town – they never turn the Maple Leaf upside down – Here’s to Ottawa and the land we love – can anyone here tell the capital off….. British Columbia” “VICTORIA!” “Victoria is a mighty good town………”
My kids can name all the capitals
Geography Songs States and Capitals CD has worked well for us. We listen to it in the car as were driving around.
You can probably find it at amazon or Rainbow Resource.
My kids LOVE the Geography games on http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/. My kindergartener watched over his brother’s shoulders when my oldest was learning his states and capitals, and now my kindergartener knows all of them, too. He likes to go on that site and do the same challenges over to beat his time.
We did Geography: A Literature Approach this year (two of the books so far) and we’ve enjoyed that for a more in-depth look at each state.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Man-In-Map/dp/0978510046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334690782&sr=8-1
The Little Man on the Map is a picture book that we bought a few years ago. I never did much with it – the kids mainly read it to themselves. It doesn’t do capitals, but it gives clues for the states (New York is shaped like a flashlight with Lake ONtario being the ON button). My kids enjoyed it and it has helped them (we never gave it our full attention, but the kids read it for pleasure here and there). The same author has made a book about the capitals, but I don’t know anything about that.
disclaimer – this was useless for my husband (“yeah, great, New York is shaped like a flashlight. So now, I’ll look at the map and say, ‘wow, look at that state shaped like a flashlight. I wonder what it is!'” So although my kiddoes liked it, my hubby did not!
We also used Sheppard Software. The kids loved it. I also put this video on their Squidoo page. (A webpage filled with links and videos and games to things relivant to stuff we are learning – with one or two “fun” stuff thrown in too.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvJ9SN8THE
This was how I memorized states and capitols as a kid, so I looked up the video on youtube!
My children also love Geography Songs States and Capitals CD. They even asked for it today in the car. It’s fun and catchy.
It has really helped us remember the states and capitals as they come up in conversation or school. Just this morning during our reading of early American history today the knowledge we learned from the CD came into play. It’s awesome.
We also are using the shepherd software – and it’s FREE. My 8 year old learned her states really quickly and then capitals quickly followed. My 6 year old also knows all her states now and will soon be starting on her capitals – it’s nice to have something that they can do on their own while you work with the other kids.
My children learned the States through a USA floor puzzle. The puzzle we use also connects each State with something they are known for. For example Washington State has an apple on it. This was a huge help for my 5 y/o memorizing the States, he still calls Washington “Apple- Washington”.:) The puzzle also has the capitals marked in each State, but we haven’t focused on capitals yet. Other then that we use a board game called “Postcards from America” and an app called “Geoflight USA”. The board game has postcards with cities and places of interest from all over the USA . Each player draws a certain amount of cards and has to “travel” to these places. The app features a little plane flying criss cross over the USA. You can choose flying to States or Capitals. The app will give you a State/Capital to fly to and you have to tap on the correct spot of your screen. Once you get there you are given a new place to go.
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