Learning the 50 States and Captials

Every Friday we would spend part of the day learning about a new state and new state capitol. We would also do an activity that coordinated with the state. For example, We learned about Oklahoma (For all states we would learn the capitol, major cities, state bird, tree, and other interesting facts). For the activity, we watched the musical Oklahoma. For Indiana the activity was a mini Indy 500 between all three classes. For Alaska we made carvings.

To help us learn and memorize all 50 states and capitols, we would sing songs some times at our Friday review days or other times during the week when we had a transition moment between lesson or activities. The song was broken into parts so we could sing about 10 states and capitols in one song. Our favorite was the southern states because of the yee haw after Texas.

In our class we would play a game to help us feel the pressure of learning all the states and capitols. We would all stand up around the room and our teacher would point and say a state, we had about five seconds to name the capitol or we were out. I remember one game I was in the finally two, Hawaii got me out. I never forget the capital was Honolulu again.

Before and after we started the process of learning the states and capitals, we were given a blank map to label and draw all the states and capitals. Through the year as we learned about each state and add them to our notes, we learned about were they were. We took the test at the end of the year and compared them with our original test for some amazing results.

To this day, I whenever I hear someone trying to guess a state captial, I know all 50 States and Capitals. Guess What, the Capital of Nevada isn't Las Vegas like we think, its Carson City. I think that one gets people the most.

Learning the states and capitals is Semantic Memory.

playing the game or singing the song however is more perceptual representation.