Does anybody have any "fun" ideas for learning the states and presidents?

Thanks,

Stephanie

Hey Stephanie,

That's what I've been trying to find also.  About all I have come up with are the state coloring sheets at Crayola.  And I haven't found anything yet on presidents.  But if I do I'll post here! :-)

A really good book is "The Scrambled States of America". It's a really fun way to introduce states.  I plan to use it with my 6th and 7th grade special ed students later this month when we start working on mapping.

I have a cd that has the states and capitals listed as a song. I have students who can always tell me the capital of any state because of it. My brother learned the song about 30 years ago and can still sing it, LOL!

I also play state and president jeopardy with my students. I teach different facts about each president (nickname, years served, what number, personal facts and big accomplishment) and use those as the answers. Sometimes I have students make powerpoint presentations of a president or two rather than a big report.

My students make little powerpoint presentations of about 5 states and present them to the class. This includes when admitted, nickname, a bit of history, state flower, motto, song, etc as well as for what the state is best known. They are graded by their peers and myself and the grade is included in not only social studies but also language arts, research skills and computer skills.

I also have a class "race" in which I take a U.S. outline map for the overhead, number each state and give the kiddos a list of states with a line to write the number in front of the state name. They then have a set time to fill it out. All students who can do it under a set time receive a candy or other small prize. When all the  kiddos can do it in under 10 minutes, we have a class party to celebrate. This really encourages them to help one another.

Hope that helps.

Lorene