State Study: Vermont

Books we read:

I attempted to make butterfly pancakes. Butterflies are Vermont's state insect. We had them with maple syrup, of course.

We also had maple floats, which the kids loved.
3/4 cup milk, 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Sheets for binders

Colin

Molly

Caleigh

For more information about our state studies, see this post.

State Study: New Hampshire

Our second state to study was New Hampshire. We've only driven through it when going to Maine so we didn't know much about it.

Books we read

Pages for binders

Colin

Caleigh

Molly (she decided to change the flag a bit)

Colin made New Hampshire easy apple pie. He really liked it and ate almost the whole thing.

One thing we learned was that the first public library was in NH. We decided to get the girls their own library cards in honor of that. Molly was so excited all day. While the librarian was putting the information in the computer, she kept bouncing around asking how much longer until she got her card. She couldn't wait to scan her own card and check out books on her own. Caleigh didn't seem to think it was as exciting, but she has wanted to check out books on her card each time we've been to the library since.

Very excited girl picking out books

See this post for more information on resources we're using and the worksheets.

State Study: Maine

Since we visited Maine for the first time in August, I decided that was the state we would begin with. It's too bad we can't visit every state as we study it. It was really neat to see the things we read about in our books.

Books we read about Maine:

Counting Our Way to Maine
This is Maine
The Little Island
Surrounded by Sea
One Morning in Maine
Blueberries for Sal
Time of Wonder
Discovering Crabs and Lobsters
Miss Rumphius
Maine (From Sea to Shining Sea)
Moose- Lesley A. DuTemple
Maine - William Berchen
See list of books I'm using for all states here.


Sheets for state binders

Molly

Caleigh

Colin

While we were in Maine, Molly saw a lobster and sailboat cookie cutter set she wanted. We used them to make sugar cookies.

Rolling out dough

cutting a lobster shape

cutting out a sailboat shape

Some of the finished products

See my plans for our state studies here.

State Study Plans & Resources

I'm hoping we'll be able to do one state most weeks. Right now I'm planning to do them on Fridays.


These are the books we'll be using with all of the states.

 

Greeting from the 50 States: How They Got Their Names
Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America
Wish You Were Here: Emily's Guide to the 50 States
The Train of States
Go, Go America
Kids Learn America
Our Fifty States  (National Geographic)
The Little Man in the Map


I have this workbook. I bought it for the CD, which has some patriotic songs, facts, and songs to help learn the states and capitals. The book has some crossword puzzles, word searches, and matching.
I have this book of outline maps. I'm just taking these out of the book to use on our bulletin board.

The bottom of our bulletin board to let the kids know what we're learning about each week.

Here are some other things I have. I have several of the "Which Way USA?" books and maps from Highlights. I also have some workbooks, a package of blank maps, and the Scrambled States of America books. The other thing is a game. I'm not sure where or when I got it. It's called A Capital Game: To State it Simply It's a Capital Game. It's just some cards you cut apart that have cartoons and puns to help remember the states and capitals.

Puzzles

Games

The cards with the state and capital names in the picture above on the left came from the Dollar Tree. I use them on the bulletin board. As we get through more states, I plan to use them as a game to have the kids match the captials to the states.

We're collecting quarters for each state. I'm planning to get the kids some kind of map or folder to keep them all in. I also got them passports with state flag stickers.


The kids are each making a binder to hold their state information. We may use this for the cover, but I haven't looked around much yet and I'll have to see what the kids think. Links for all of these will be at the bottom. The first page is a map of the United States. I'm having them color each state as we study it so they can see their progress. We're going to study the states by regions so I have a map of each region at the beginning of that section. They also color the state on that map as we do it. Each section includes a map of the state and a coloring sheet that includes the state bird, flower, flag, etc. They may also put in pictures, drawings, postcards, or whatever else they have. They'll also have the sheet below to fill out for each state.

My husband put together things from this one and this one to get what I wanted onto one sheet.

 

Online Resources:

U.S. map
Regions maps
State maps
State coloring pages from Crayola
Book list for each state
List of books for each state
Discover America series guide
Recipes for each state

Games:
Geography Game
Place the State
State Quiz
Games for each state