50 States, One by One

This semester, I added something new to our lessons. *J* was getting a little bored with some of the Social Studies assignments he had, so I thought this might add a little fun for him. We have gone over the 50 states in the past, but after a few of the bigger, more interesting ones, we moved on. This time I am taking it from the beginning, in ABC order! We have done Alabama and Alaska, and are now working on Arizona. I found this great little collection of books at our local library. They are full of enough information to tell you about all that state has to offer, but no so full and boring you feel like taking a nap! There are lots of photos and visual guides to keep the little ones interested. I go through the book beforehand and put random questions on post-it notes on each page. This gives J something to guide his reading and lets meknow he actually read! The post-it notes with his answers then go into his Social Studies notebook/journal. We have one for each subject so he can take notes, and so I can add fun little things for him to do. After he is done with the book, I have a page of "Fun Fast Facts" that I make for him. I leave space for his answers, and it is way more visually appealing than black and white print in a textbook! He is enjoying it so far, so we will see if we can make it through all 50 states! We are averaging about two each week!