Can you guess my state?
That is the question of the month for the 3rd and 4th graders.
To get practice doing research with books and databases, the students are each learning about one of the 50 US states.
We started the unit by reading the book, The Little Man in the Map:with Clues to Remember all 50 States by E. Andrew Martonyi.
This book was written in rhymed verses to help people learn about how to identify each state on the map by its placement and shape.
The book begins by identifying the Little Man in the Map. If you look at the map, at almost the centerpoint you will see the Man in the Map. The man’s hat is in red (Minnesota), underneath is his face (Iowa), his blue shirt is Missouri, his red pants are Arkansas and his boots are brown (Louisiana).
After we read the book, everyone had to label all 50 states on a blank map! It’s kind of hard to remember the spelling of all 50 states, so we used the World Almanac for Kids as a reference tool.
Then during the next class, the students had to take notes using state books and Junior Achievement Resource Guides,
and the database Culture Grams: States Edition.
Everyone had to take notes about their state,
but the 3rd graders couldn’t use pencils!
The 3rd class classes are part of a district Netbook pilot,
so they could bring their Netbooks to class and use them for the assignment!
No pencils allowed!
Students use netbooks to find information in Culture Grams and take notes in Word.
After all the notes were taken, then it was time to write!
For the 4th graders (no netbooks) it was pencil and paper time, and for the 3rd graders, it was Netbook time again.
However, this assignment was no ordinary state report. Inspired by the biography reports by the students in Mrs. Yollis’s class, our students had to write their state report like they were that state. You can read about the biography reports here.
These were the assignment rules:
All reports are to be done in the form of a comment.
Facts are to come from the research you have done from the books and CultureGrams.
You have to write like you are that state!
You have to use your own words. No plagarizing or copying someone else’s words!
Include some unique facts about your state.
Here is an example by Mrs. Hembree.
Greetings from the Evergreen state! I am located in the upper far west corner of the US. I border Canada to the north, Idaho to the east, Oregon to the south, and the Pacific Ocean on my west coast.
I became the 42nd state in 1889. I am the only state named after a US president. Olympia is my capital, and Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma and Spokane are some of the other big cities in my state. More than a million visitors each year come to see the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. In 1980, the volcano Mount St. Helens erupted sending volcanic dust for hundreds of miles.
I am known as the Evergreen state because there are so many evergreen and fir trees on the west side of the state. There is even a temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula! On the east side of the Cascade Mountains, the landscape is very dry. You can see rolling wheatfields and dry grasslands for miles and miles. We also grow apples on this side of the state.
Technology and aerospace are big industries in my state, as well as lumber and farming. Starbucks, Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft are a few of the big and famous companies that call my state home.
I hope you can visit me in the summer!
Washington
(Mrs. Hembree)
Students, now it’s your turn!
Friends, family and visitors, feel free to join our comment conversation!
We would love to hear from you!
Many, many thanks to Mrs. Yollis for the inspiration for this blogging assignment!