Teaching State Capitals
Anyone have any secret magic wand tricks for teaching this?
I have a very visual learner, he needs to see what he's learning, ideally with words and language involved. I'm making flashcards and matching cards, labelling maps, as well as just doing fill-in-the-blanks so his brain "sees" the states in connection with their capital.
The urgency is so bizarre -- he's completely manic about going to this geography bee on Friday, and he's really not prepared, not even technically old enough (he's ahead a grade) and he will not give up on going. I'm all for him experiencing the bee and getting a feel for what it's like, if he wants to do it in the future (when we have more time to prepare!) but I feel like he should at least get these state capitals under his belt.
Any tips?
I have a very visual learner, he needs to see what he's learning, ideally with words and language involved. I'm making flashcards and matching cards, labelling maps, as well as just doing fill-in-the-blanks so his brain "sees" the states in connection with their capital.
The urgency is so bizarre -- he's completely manic about going to this geography bee on Friday, and he's really not prepared, not even technically old enough (he's ahead a grade) and he will not give up on going. I'm all for him experiencing the bee and getting a feel for what it's like, if he wants to do it in the future (when we have more time to prepare!) but I feel like he should at least get these state capitals under his belt.
Any tips?
Tags: geography
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on -
Do you have a large map? maybe "walking" his fingers or little toy from capital to capital would help.
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Permalink Reply by Angela on -
Our son is very visual as well. He learned all 50 states working a puzzle we purchased at 2-1/2 years old. My dad would visit and literally sit by the hour working it with him. When he entered K at a Montessori school, he informed the teacher that "Minnesota is missing in the puzzle." She was amused and told us soon after. He also read and asked for his own computer by age 3. I'm not sure how old your son is. Our son is now 6. I must say, your child also sounds gifted. It is a daily challenge to keep up with a visual "big picture" learner. Let us know how the geography bee goes for him!
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I'm using music that teaches the states & capitals together in song ~ as the song changes to each state we point at the capital in that state to give the visual/kinetic to the aural. :-) Hope he does well at the Bee.
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Permalink Reply by Lydia on -
Thanks everyone for the ideas!
He is nine.
I have to pass along a really great site I found: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com
The geography games are excellent, with different levels as you learn the material better. There's one game where you have to fit the states into a blank map by resizing them, rotating them, etc. Very challenging! I couldn't do it. :)
Liz, I will definitely try that.
Jacqueline, yes, that is a great idea. He loves Wikipedia. One of his "safe sites."
Angela, I think we had that puzzle! We lost Hawaii (I think it went down a vent, actually) and Benny won't look at it anymore. The truth is I never thought state capitals and nicknames and abbreviations were really valuable information -- I would not have taught him this stuff at all if he hadn't gotten interested in it himself. So, I wish I had that puzzle back! Hehehe. Fortunately he can do those puzzles online.
Sarah, singing often does work for him. Thanks for the good wishes!
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Permalink Reply by Peggy Alvarado on -
This is probably too late for you but here's the website that we used and loved it.
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm
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Permalink Reply by Johwey Redington on -
If you still need it ... I have a nice application in my site that my daugther uses to study the different states and their capitals. The link is http://johwey.com/homeschool/states.
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