Look its a Deere!

Oh dear. Doh! Or is it doe? Don't worry, I do know how to spell "deer",  its not a mis-spelling, I'm referring to John Deere.

When we first moved into our current home in 2004, Lance was 18 months old and we were among the first homes finished in our area.  I used to set Lance up with a chair and a smoothie by the front window.  He would be entertained for a long time watching them build the homes across the street.

I sort of felt bad when all the construction ended.  Boys love big construction vehicles of any kind. 

Then it started again.  This time it was the roads that were under construction.

First on the list was the main road next to our house.  It was shut down from April to November 2010.  It was pure bliss!  During working hours, it provided entertainment and education for the boys.  They had all kinds of questions for me and the workers; about what they were doing and what they were using.

After hours it was peace and entertainment.  The road carries a large volume of cars when open, so to not have all that road noise was awesome and ironically the birds came back.  For the boys it meant their very own dirt biking track.  We were truly sad to see it re-open.

However, we recently had another opportunity to watch road construction for a week.  The alley across from our house swallowed up a Pest Control truck (well, just the front tires) and left a big hole about five feet deep.  It turns out the drainage under the road had never been joined properly, had been leaking for years, and finally gave way. Going to the front window to see what they were doing next was the boys favorite way to spend their breaks in school work.  Titus set up a regular vigil on the front couch watching while the boys worked at the back table.  Titus kindly and enthusiastically called out when their was any big change, i.e. the arrival of new equipment.

Its not the same as having a forest in my backyard with real deer running through, but living in the city you have to take what you can get. :-)

"The Plan" - Part 4: U.S. Geography

I have tried to make this subject as multi-sensory as possible.  I think it is important to know geography, so I am hitting it from a lot of different angles.  As a result, I may have gone a little overboard on this one.  The upside is you should have plenty of options to consider.

The information below is intended to help in the memorization of all 50 states and capitals of the United States.  For those in CC Cycle 3, this only covers the first 10 weeks.

Worksheets/Coloring Pages:

After searching for a while, I found the coloring sheets I preferred to use at this site:

http://www.nvo.com/ecnewletter/coloringpages/

On the site you will notice a list of websites for each state.  I used the NetState.com pages and copied the images with five states per page.

I have made two files full of worksheets.  They are linked below for your downloading pleasure.

The first file includes the states names, and copywork below each state regarding their capital and postal abbreviation.  Below each group of five states is also a little quiz which asks the children to identify the states postal abbreviation and draw a line to the appropriate capital. 

Here is the link to that file: States with Copywork

The second file is similar to the first but the state names are blocked out.  From memory the child must identify the state shape and write the capital and postal abbreviation below.  Again there is a quiz below each group of five.  I have reordered the quizzes for those kids that would remember a pattern in the previous day's matching exercise.

Here is the link to that file:  States without labels

As they complete "sections" of the United States (i.e. Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, etc.) I will interject these worksheets:

First is an unlabeled map of the "section", for labeling (they are at the bottom of the page below the states):

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/usa/ 

Second, is a Word Search simply because my boys like them.  I'll start by having them label the small section map in the corner with Postal abbreviation and then let them have fun.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/geographyworksheets.htm

Books:

One treasure of a book I found last year is "A Child's Geography of the World" by V. M. Hillyer.  This is an old living book, the only living book I've found on geography.  It was published in 1929, which adds a neat perspective of the world.  For instance, Alaska and Hawaii aren't states yet and WWII has not occurred.  As a result, it requires a little discernment and explanation in the reading but we've found it fun.  The applicable chapters of U.S. Geography are 5 to 16.

In addition, to add some visuals to the study we go to the library.  We go to the J947 area and grab a book for each state.  The books are grouped by "section" not state, so it takes a little looking around in that area.  Then I just let the boys flip through them on their own at home and tell me what they found interesting.

Games:

I've had this puzzle from Melissa & Doug for years and the boys still have fun with it.  I like it because most of the states are individual puzzle pieces.  We set a timer and see how quickly they can complete two tasks.  The first task is to put the puzzle together, but before they put a piece down they must identify it.  The second task is to take the puzzle apart.  Trick here is that I call out the pieces to be removed and they have to find it quickly.  The goal is to complete both tasks in under 15 minutes.

Free online learning games can be found all over.  One that many people seem to like is this one:  http://sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

Finally, if you have an iphone/ipad/ipod touch, "Stack the States" is a great app.  It teaches various facts about the states including:  name, postal abbreviation, capital, relative location and other geographic facts.  In addition, it adds a neat element of physics. In each level you have to stack the states up, literally, to achieve different heights and pass the level.  Great education and entertainment for only $0.99.