50 states unit
Okay, each day I had one state for each of my children to present on. They were given a state coloring sheet to color and learn about their state. I found these great pages at Crayola (click on crayola link and search each state). They also colored the flash cards provided there for our flash card game.Next, I went to this great site....
where I clicked on each individual state and found what I liked most for my kids. You may find links you like more than others....for us, we really like the state quarter observation sheets. To get to each one, you have to click on that particular state, then click on the link that says something about teacher resources and printable worksheets, then the state quarter link should be found from there. I had the children do a google search from the with the words of their state and then state quarter. We usually found ourselves on wikipedia or netstate.com gathering information. The kids would then fill out all valuable information on their quarter observation sheet about the images chosen for each state quarter and a summary of why they were chosen. Then, the next day, each child would stand in front of our classroom and present to us on their coloring sheet, flash card, and quarter sheet. I usually stepped in at the quarter part and offered a richer detail to the history of the quarter and answered any questions from there. I would usually have something cool I looked up about the state I could show them on you tube or something to give them a nice visual to add to the experience. It worked wonders as now when my kids hear a different state, they often recall something they colored, learned or watched about that state. We laminated the flash cards and played games with them regarding shape, abbreviations and state capitals.
We joined a yahoo group called "Postcard Kids" and got involved in a postcard exchange for each state.
We compiled a book of all the state sheets the kids worked on to look at and review at any time we need or want to.
We also picked up a state quarter collection and now 2 of my kids are avid collectors. :-)
For our complete blog post of this unit, click here.
Good Luck!
