50 States Unit Study: Getting to Know Your Geography

Welcome to Day 3 of 10 days of Hopscotching Across the USA!  Today I’m sharing ways to get to know the geography of the 50 States.

Throughout our study I wanted to continually work on the “big picture” of the United States. This was probably the one thing I did want my kids to memorize: the location of each state and it’s name and capital city.

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Songs:

I bought the song Learning our Capitals by Twin Sisters Productions. It was a terrific 99 cent purchase! I played it frequently–while we were cleaning up, in the car…and we still listen occasionally. It’s an easy tune with a patriotic flare, and the words are easy to understand.  (I can’t stand educational songs with unintelligible words or sung so fast you can’t really follow along!)

Books:

• The Little Man in the Map: This is an incredibly creative book! It is about a classroom of children trying to learn the 50 states, so they turn the states into pictures with rhymes to remember their names.  They identify a “man in the map” in the center of our country, and we still remember and describe Minnesota as “Mim’s hat” and remember other states based on their pictures in Man in the Map.

• Scrambled States of America: we have the book and also the Scholastic Video (which is hilarious and well done). My son especially loved this silly book that reinforces each state’s name, shape, and location and some of what makes it unique (like food products or weather). In the book the states throw a party to get acquainted and decide to change places—unhappiness follows and everyone ends up back where they belong.  My favorite part of the book are the illustrations–tiny details and funny dialog fills each page!

Puzzles:

We utilized a couple different USA puzzles.  I used a small one from the dollar store to take with us on the go.  My favorite puzzle, though, was a large USA floor puzzle. The pieces are in the shapes of the states and the large size is beneficial so all but the tiniest New England state is its own piece.

Come back tomorrow for the games that helped us have fun and learn a lot during our 50 states study.  Subscribe via email or RSS so you don’t miss a post!

Here are the topics from this series:

Day 1: Introduction to the 50 States Unit Study
Day 2: Learning About the States
Day 3: Getting to Know Your Geography
Day 4: Games to Play
Day 5: Recording Your Journey
Day 6: Famous Places in the USA
Day 7: Natural Attractions
Day 8: Nature Study
Day 9: The People of America
Day 10: Food from the 50 States

I’m teaming up with over 25 other iHomeschool Network bloggers. Hop over to iHN for ideas from veteran homeschooling moms on topics ranging from Teaching with Legos to Project Based Learning.