US Geography

I am happy to report that I am finally getting around to updating everyone on Emma's study time routine. 

Better late than never right?

Anyway, Emma has enjoyed having something to work on most mornings. She really loves math. Like, really loves it. If we forget to set her up with something to work on in the morning, she will make up her own math worksheet. 

Jared is even getting into the morning routine. This was a worksheet he created for her on one of the nights I was to exhausted (from my new job) to come up with anything. 

His is a little harder to see, but you may be able to see it better if you click on it. 

The other day, Emma mentioned she was tired of math worksheets. I asked her what else she might want to work on. She mentioned that she would like to learn about the states. She suggested I have a map of all the states, and then have a separate paper with just the outline of a state and she had to figure out what state it was. 

I love when she has this much interested in learning, so of course I said yes. After getting her tucked into bed that night, I went to work. 

This site has great state maps. We printed up the map with the state names, then on the back of that page, printed up the map with the state capitals. Emma wanted a hint map, as in- I write a number on the blank map she has to identify and if she can't figure it out, she can look at the hint map and it will tell her the state she is looking for. 

Super Teacher Worksheets had exactly what I was looking for. Theirs was actually a worksheet for kids to fill in, but it works wonderfully for our purpose as well. This website does charge, but I believe it's $20 for the year. Well worth it in my opinion, as we have used a ton of their worksheets already. 

Anyway, the day Emma was going to start working on the states was my first day off (of 4 in a row!), so I got up with her so we could work on it together. 

Here is the blank page we are using. And here is what they look like filled in.

I probably should have scanned them for better viewing, but I am lazy like that. What I did was print out the blank pages (I printed double sided), then I searched the internet for images of the state flag, seal, bird, flower, seal and quarter. State Symbols USA was a fantastic website for all of that information. 

I do love one stop shopping :0)

Originally, Emma wanted to do 3 states at a time. After we finished Iowa, she decided that maybe one state at a time was better. Identifying the states was easy, but she hadn't accounted for all the extra work I was going to make her do like cutting, writing, thinking, and gluing. She did enjoy the activity though. 

This all happened yesterday morning. Emma enjoyed it so  much that as soon as Gramma was awake, Emma ran up to show her what she had accomplished.

Yesterday was also a day of celebration. Jared and I have been married for 8 years already. Wow. Our way of celebrating was to go to Rochester to the teacher store (it is actually called ABC Toy Zone, but we like our name better) and buy stuff for Emma. We were on the look out for any geography type things that might fit with what we are currently working on. Jared searched through all of the stickers to see if he could find state flag stickers. No luck, but what an awesome idea! What kid doesn't love stickers?

The other awesome idea he had involves this. 

The intended purpose of the My State Book is to find out lots of information about the state that you currently live in. Jared thought that this book might be a great way for Emma to get to know the state(s) that we will be moving too. We bought 3 so that if it works out, we can use it for our next 2 moves as well. 

This book is 30 pages worth of information to be filled in. Basics such as; State name, capital, land area, population, etc are on the first page. There are lots of places to draw maps of the state and town of residence, a place for tourist info, state government info, etc. Some may be more than Emma needs at the moment, but it will still be interesting to fill it all in. 

After Jared mentioned state flag stickers, I got smart and started printing out everything on the sticker paper I purchased a while ago and haven't used. 

 

We also got Emma a present for her 1/2 birthday (which is tomorrow). We love games and have gotten a lot better at playing them. So, we got Emma a new game called Lab Mice.

 

This game is all about strategy, which Emma really enjoys. The purpose is to match the colored mice to their colored cheese without crossing paths. 

Sometimes we all struggle to figure it out, but other times Emma can get them on her own. 

Anyway, that needs to be it for today as Emma and I have a date with Auntie Sara at the pool. 

Have a great day!