lindsrae Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Is there a "Little Passports" style program/book for teaching US geography? I borrowed The Man in the Map from the library--love it--and I am hoping to find a fun way of studying the states more in depth without having to create my own program. My eldest will be in first grade next year, and I have two other littles, so something that is pretty open and go is ideal :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Ooh, my daughter loves the Little Man in the Map, as well as Scrambled States. We learned our state geography and capitals by just taking a book and reading about two states per day, finding them on our map, and filling out a notebook page. I couldn't find any us state geography programs I loved, so we just winged it and it turned out great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Girl Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 We're enjoying the Which Way puzzle books from Highlights--each month (or every other month--can't remember) you get two new state maps and two puzzle books to go with them. My 8 year old and my 5 year old work on them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 For the ages you are talking about I would not spend much on curriculum. I would just take a state and spend 3 days on it. The order you study them can be by region, by statehood, alphabetical, or even work your way out from the state you live in. Day 1: Introduce the state the first day, find it on the map, look at it in relation to where you are. Place books on the state you get from the library in the childs reading basket. Day 2: Review states you have gone over, include the new state. Talk about the type of geographic features. Dover has a great color book with the 50 states. It shows the state, state flower, bird, tree, and so on. Color a map page. Look at library books Day 3: Review all states you have learned. Have them tell you some things they know about the state you talked about or they got from looking at books, write it down for them for a notebook page. Amazon sells a folder with a blank United States map on it, it comes with stickers for each state. A great addition for them to add the sticker to the map as you go along so they see the US being built state by state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I believe that Rainbow Resource Center sells little passports that you can use with geography studies. They look like fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) My parents just bought each of our kids a 50 State Quarters collector folder. The kids love trying to find all of the quarters to fill up each spot. They are learning the 50 states painlessly! There are also lesson plans for each state quarter on the 50 Quarters website which help you teach what the symbols on the quarters mean and learn about each state. Here is the link: http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/lessonplans/50sq/ Here is a link to printable USA maps that teaches the rivers and mountain ranges. I have to cut out the mountains (a little hard for my young ones), but they like doing the pasting. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/make-your-own-usa.html Edited March 27, 2011 by Mrs Twain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon in TN Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 What would you suggest for grade 4? We're doing Beautiful Feet Geography now, but we're not taking it "in depth" with the notebooking and side research projects. We're mainly taking time coloring the maps and labeling. She's liking it ok, but i'd like to see something a little more in-depth for next year. Any suggestions? Thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Scrambled States and Hop Off were fun for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 What would you suggest for grade 4? We're doing Beautiful Feet Geography now, but we're not taking it "in depth" with the notebooking and side research projects. We're mainly taking time coloring the maps and labeling. She's liking it ok, but i'd like to see something a little more in-depth for next year. Any suggestions?Thx When my youngest son was in 4th we used Regions of the USA http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/afc/books/TEC875/detail.do?productId=TEC875&OID=536932330&contentTypeId=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I'm doing the 50 States with my 4th grader. I picked up Simply Stated at my half-price bookstore, and work from that. It divides the country into sub-regions, and each state has a list of books relating to that state. I spent a few hours at the onset looking up each book at my library's online catalog, and penciled it in by each book - that made it open and go for the rest of the year :) I have him pick a few books to read throughout the week (we do one state each week). I usually expect him to select at least one picture book, which he reads to my 5 year old. If I were working only with younger kids, I'd skip this for later use. They each created an index-card flip book, using one index card per state. My 4th grader puts the following information on his: state postal code, capital, state motto, number of state representatives, and at least one major attraction (we travel often, so this is for future reference and field trips LOL) or famous person. My 5 year old puts this on hers: state postal code, and an illustration sharing something she gleamed from the book she was read. Additionally, my 4th grader uses an atlas and a $10 workbook I picked up at a bookstore -- it includes mapwork, state history and trivia, and all of the information required for his index card flip book. It takes him about 15-20 minutes, then another 10 or so to work on his index card. While he does that, my 5 year old colors a page from an oversized Crayola coloring book I found on clearance at Target. I've also seen them in Dollar Stores. You can print/download from the crayola site, too - HERE. I also got her a $1 workbook from the dollar bins at Target, geared for 1/2-graders. She does a small puzzle (connect the dots, two-word search, etc.) then copies the state's name in the alloted lined space. I bought it a few years ago but it was too easy for my eldest, so I saved it. I see them back out every year once the school stuff gets put out. I also bought this re-usable map, which hangs in our bathroom (hostage audience there, for review LOL). After the end of our 30 minute state study, the kids put the sticker on the map and we call it a wrap. As filler, we play the Sequence game (states version) and also the Which Way USA game. My 5 year old can keep up with both, especially the Sequence game - definitely consider those. They also have watched Scrambled States, and we own the book/CD as well. We also have use this DVD, which I had my library order for us. It gets heavy rotation here :) Geography is my favorite subject, but it's really fluff at this point. We keep it to about 30 minutes per week, plus another few minutes of reading and the occasional game or DVD. We don't do it every week, so it'll take us about two years to get through all 50 states. The kids like the break from our normal schoolwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsrae Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Great suggestions, ladies! Satori, I saw your unit on your blog; we love MIM! We are in CC and will be studying US geography next year. I wanted to do a study on it this summer since we will be doing some travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I have some cool links for this - I'll post later from my pc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 When mine were younger, I used a ton of picture books to cover all the states and U.S. territories one year, for U.S. geography, and then did a similar thing with nations of the world for world geography the next. I used a U.S. and then a World Atlas as my "spine". I added in sticker books because my boys did not like to color at that young age. I saved the BF studies for when they were a little older (fourth, fifth, sixth), so that they could get more involved in the maps and research work. I have also used Trip Around the World and Another Trip Around the World as a jumping off point for elementary geography studies. I like the book Geography from A to Z for learning about land and water forms. Enchanted Learning and other sites offer worksheets for landforms, water forms, etc. and you can always model them in clay, as well (which I've done with co-op classes I've taught in past). Maps, Graphs, and Charts is a good series for learning map work (Rainbow Resource Center). McGraw Hill's Complete Book of Maps and Geography is a great book that can be used for multiple years..... I tend to mix some of this and some of that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon in TN Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I also bought this re-usable map, which hangs in our bathroom (hostage audience there, for review LOL). :lol::lol: I really like your suggestions, as well as the Regions of the USA text, so I have much more to think about and look into. I think my DD is turning into a "worksheet" girl as opposed to a "lets sit down and discuss" girl, so these suggestions really work well for us, I think. And I love the map in the bathroom idea :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aconnolley Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 This isn't a curriculum, but it is helping my kids learn the location of the countries. My son has all of Europe learned and is working on South America. It has different levels from actually teaching the locations to placing the countries on a map without any outlines to help. I like this so much better than flashcards. (mostly because it frees me up and they like it). :-) http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm Also, the iPhone/iPad apps, Stack the States and Stack the Countries have been a big hit around here. One day, my 8 year old daughter pointed at the clouds and commented that the shape looked like Greece. I thought that she meant grease. Picture gray clouds. ;) I didn't even know that she knew the shape of Greece. Thank you, Stack the Countries. :-) One other resource that we have used is the Geography Songs CD by Audio Memory. My kids really like it and now when they see a country on the map, they remember it from the songs and are more likely to remember its location. There are lots of bland things to trudge through in school. I always like when I find a way to make something more enjoyable. Less resistance from the kiddos=more of my energy to spend elsewhere, like grammar or supervising violin practice. :-) Angela Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I just blogged about Sheppard Software this morning! My 6 year old taught herself African countries in one morning, and several of the capitals. Also made a recent review on Stack the States/Countries. The Stack the States was the app that started the geography craze in our household, and we just had to learn US geography immediately. In our bathroom we have a shower curtain with a colorful map of the world. We can even write on it. We're also using the US Sticker Map book. I suggest hanging it up somewhere, ours got a bit ragged from opening/closing all the time. I've guess I've photo-blogged about several of the resources listed on this thread. What can I say, we're geo-crazy this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsrae Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 This isn't a curriculum, but it is helping my kids learn the location of the countries. My son has all of Europe learned and is working on South America. It has different levels from actually teaching the locations to placing the countries on a map without any outlines to help. I like this so much better than flashcards. (mostly because it frees me up and they like it). :-) http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm Angela WOW! How did I not know sheppard software existed?! Lots of great stuff there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanna Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 We're enjoying the Which Way puzzle books from Highlights--each month (or every other month--can't remember) you get two new state maps and two puzzle books to go with them. My 8 year old and my 5 year old work on them together. I "2nd" this recommendation. You can let Highlights know how often you'd like to receive the puzzle books (I think we get 2 at a time on a bi-monthly basis). I like to supplement w/videos from the library and websites like these: http://www.history.com/interactives/place-the-state-game http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/ http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/us_state_games/50_states/linematch_state_nicknames.html'>http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/us_state_games/50_states/linematch_state_nicknames.html'>http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/us_state_games/50_states/linematch_state_nicknames.html'>http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/us_state_games/50_states/linematch_state_nicknames.html http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/us_state_games/ and a couple from "Postcards from Buster" http://pbskids.org/go/games/?campaign=go_gamesarrow#/show/Postcards%20from%20Buster/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom@shiloh Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Sheppard Softward is amazing. So many fun games there. I can tell this is going to be a highlight today! Thanks, Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snipsnsnailsx5 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I love the website Confessions of a Homeschooler. She's made curricula for a US history/geography "road trip" and a world geography passport type "expedition". Here is the U.S. history/geography road trip: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/03/road-trip-usa-geography-and-history.html And the world geography curriculum: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/08/expedition-earth-journey-through-gods.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monk17 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Get in the car and go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewpeaceful Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Here's a game that might help: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm There are games to teach geography for all of the continents and some other stuff. I found it on www.satorismiles.com blog. She always knows cool stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 We love sheppardsoftware, too! I also recommend making maps from THIS SITE. They have free maps of all the continents, states, etc. and you can make them as huge as you want. We have a US map up now and each week we add two states. We're using Trail Guide to US as a spine and doing the mapping and worksheets. At the end of the week the kids map the states on the BIG MAP (our US map is 5 sheets by 5 sheets, our world map was HUGE). The kids love it and it's super reinforcing. We use the site enough that some friends of DH's came for dinner the other night and were all excited we had a new map up for them to check out. LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aconnolley Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I love the website Confessions of a Homeschooler. She's made curricula for a US history/geography "road trip" and a world geography passport type "expedition". Here is the U.S. history/geography road trip: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/03/road-trip-usa-geography-and-history.html And the world geography curriculum: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/08/expedition-earth-journey-through-gods.html This looks really neat. Thanks for posting it! Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthemLights Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I have not used any of the resources mentioned by the other posters so I am not sure how they would compare to "Seterra". It is a free download to learn anything from continents to state capitals to major cities to flags. My children love it. It is timed and they can compete against each other or their own best scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Thanks for posting that! I was using Seterra myself two years ago, and knew there was a geography software download that I loved, but forgot the name/link. Thanks again, this is a great resource. :) http://www.seterra.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIS0320 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I just got a flier for this in the mail and it looks interesting: http://shop.highlights.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=16151&productId=690724&catalogId=17603 Which Way USA by Highlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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