States and Capitals......

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States and Capitals......
By States and Capitals......

In reply to just realizing that few of your students know their states and capitals, it's no surprise. A few years ago, children played with toys that taught these, but now the "playstations" etc. leave no room for that
extra "touch" of education. So keep in mind that in 4th grade they only learn about the state they live in (according to you State Standards). Therefore what I do, is teach the states first at the beginning of the year. This might be something you can consider doing next year...then do the capitals in January. Make the States a required test as according to CA standard it is, and they

can not understand US History without knowing where the states are located.
I do this game with the class.
1. Pull down the your large US Map
2. Make two teams
3. Have one student from each team go to the map...have them put their hands behind their back
4. Call out the name of a state and the first one to touch it wins.
5. Remind them hands must stay behind their back, as they will have a tendency to run their fingers around the map and mix up the other student.
6 If they are really stuck give them a hint by saying what color the state is...
7. If any team mate talks that team loses that point.
This game really gets the students to want to start studying so they will do better than their opponents.
Good luck and hope it works for you...as I have been teaching this for eight years and find it's a wonderful incentive.

Also I use the site www.teaching-tools.com for generating tons of maps and work sheets so you might take a look at that site to see if there are other resources you might want as it's a site with umlimited amount of generated worksheets.
Julia ; )