lindsrae Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 My first grader is working on states and capitals. I am using various Ipad apps to help her locate the states (which I feel is the most important skill at this point.) We've read The Man in the Map, which I also think really helps. But how to connect the capitals to the states? We listen to the Animaniacs song over and over :) But I don't see her making a connection to the state with the capital--in this case, the song does not aid in transfer of memorization at all, because she has to go through the whole song in order to retrieve the name of the capital city. She is also not a strong reader yet, so music seems the logical choice...just not that particular song. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Not finding the states (can't do that while I drive... lol) but naming as many as we can, alternating back and forth. It would be just as easy to add capitals... Sometimes I would give hints like "we've named everything in the southeast except a state known for growing peaches..." Not fancy, but it worked. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Audio Memory has a States and Capitals cd that we are using. The songs sing the name of the capital before the state, ie. Dover, Deleware. They are divided by regions (Eastern, Northern, Southern, borders and Middle). Then there are also songs teaching the geographical order of the states, going along the borders and in the middle again. We also do flashcards once in a while, but I agree that learning through a song is much less stressful and more engaging. Not that these are the most exciting songs in the world, but they work :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 My 5 year old learned and memorized an amazing amount by playing the Stack The States app game. I HIGHLY recommend it! In order to be less of a guessing game in the beginning, have your kiddo play while looking over a map of the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amselby81 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) Eh, right now we've just memorized a song, and we look at a map and I point to the states as we sing. But I don't expect her to master it. It's more like an introduction at this age. Granted, my daughter is only 5, but I wouldn't expect her to master it in 1st grade either. We also got the U.S. GeoPuzzle, and we put that together. And then we sing the song. We just sing the song over and over and over again. And we use the song from Classical Conversations, but I'm sure that any song about states and capitals will do. Edited to add, this is the Geopuzzle that we have. I got it from Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon for it. http://www.amazon.com/GeoToys-4102374-Geopuzzle-U-S-Canada/dp/B000LFUKV8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1332382827&sr=8-5 Edited March 22, 2012 by amselby81 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 The Audio Memory CD/DVD. I swear by it! The girls can sing all the states and capitals and both can label a blank map of the US. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeturn Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 My 5 year old learned and memorized an amazing amount by playing the Stack The States app game. I HIGHLY recommend it! In order to be less of a guessing game in the beginning, have your kiddo play while looking over a map of the US. Ditto this with my six year old. She knows many now. At first I played along with her but now she does pretty well by herself. I also wrote more here and here about first grade geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Troxel's Geography Songs are fantastic, we used them early on and never forgot them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 The card game "Scrambled States of America" is wonderful. That is how my 3yo learned the capitals. I also second (third?) the recommendation for Stack the States. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsrae Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I'll check out the Troxel CD, I hadn't heard of that. She plays the Stack the States game, but she can't do it independently because her reading isn't strong enough...and there are lots of questions that seem to require extra knowledge in order to get right. We have the Scrambled States of America board game...didnt know there was a card game. :) We definitely need to play that more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetted4 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Geoplunge (http://www.geoplunge.com/) provides a fun way to learn US Geography basic facts. The instructions for the various games you can play using the cards aren't written particularly clearly, but you can figure them out. We've had fun playing a variety of games to reinforce states/capitals as well as bordering states and population/size/statehood rankings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jessica* Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 We used something I bought at Currclick called Amazing American States and Capitals. It's comic-style and uses puns, which meant my son loved it! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missouri Okie Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 My son learned them easily playing Jax Sequence States and Capitals. It's a fun game even for me. I made him say the state and capital for every play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Heh, heh... well we tried something a little unconventional this year. We memorized them by learning . Everyone loved learning it and even my 6 yo can sing the whole song and point to all the states and capitals on a map. Now we're working on the countries of the world song! :001_smile: (My kids are 11, 10, 8 and 6) OOps, sorry... see you've used this. I guess I'm not too worried at this point if my 6 year old has to sing the song. As he gets older he'll be able to recall just the verse he would need. I think just being able to sing the song is GREAT for a 6 y/o.... Edited March 23, 2012 by robsiew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wearejenandkev Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I just posted several fun ways to memorize things on my blog. Funny voices, writing in crazy things, singing songs, etc. Maybe you could find something here? http://teachingboys.net/2012/03/24/memorization-made-fun-and-easy/ Also, take it slowly. My 4 yo memorized a lot of the states and capitals. But, I chose five per week. We worked on those all week. Then, we added five more. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I just posted several fun ways to memorize things on my blog. Funny voices, writing in crazy things, singing songs, etc. Maybe you could find something here? http://teachingboys.net/2012/03/24/memorization-made-fun-and-easy/ Also, take it slowly. My 4 yo memorized a lot of the states and capitals. But, I chose five per week. We worked on those all week. Then, we added five more. Jennifer Great ideas on your blog! Welcome to the board! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wearejenandkev Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Thanks for the encouraging words! Glad to be here! Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegirlwhopaintedtrees Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Audio Memory has a States and Capitals cd that we are using. The songs sing the name of the capital before the state, ie. Dover, Deleware. They are divided by regions (Eastern, Northern, Southern, borders and Middle). Then there are also songs teaching the geographical order of the states, going along the borders and in the middle again. We also do flashcards once in a while, but I agree that learning through a song is much less stressful and more engaging. Not that these are the most exciting songs in the world, but they work :001_smile:. I bought this CD and my DD3.5 at the time memorized it all in a week. I love how it categorized the states by region so it was easier to think about when trying to remember afterward while looking at a map. Now, a year later, she can still retain about 80 percent of them (that's without us working on it very often). I recommend the CD. It helps. There is also a "test" track after each song in which there is music, but no words, so that you can see if it has been memorized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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