5th Grade United States Geography Unit: Map Skills, States, and Capitals

As I have said in the overview page for my Social Studies units, I like to teach United States geography, map skills, and states and capitals even though they aren't a requirement by the standards and benchmarks. This unit includes teaching about basic world geography (the continents, major countries, etc.), United States geography, how to read a map, how to make a map, and the names of the states and capitals. So let's get down to business:

General Links

These links will guide instruction and provide as resources for pretty much the entire unit.

• Mega Maps: A neat service that I have previously posted about in a post titled Print Huge Wall Sized Maps for Your Class, you can print maps of any continent and many countries, as little as one page or as big as 8 x 8 pages.
• Google Earth: If you don't have Google Earth on your school computer(s), then stop reading this post and go download it. It's the standard for teaching geography, and its user interface is second to none. I previously posted about Google Earth in a post titled Earth & Space Science Technology Based Learning.

World Geography

I always begin my geography unit by discussing world geography. Many students don't seem to understand that China isn't a few hundred miles away or even that Mexico isn't a part of the United States (although it's only 35 miles away from the school I teach at). 

• Educated Guess, Fun Classroom Game: This idea, offered on the fantastic site MrDonn.org, is a great and simple idea for a classroom educational game. What I like the most is it can be a great time filler for students needing something to do (your fast workers).
• Traveler IQ Challenge: This is one of my favorite games on Facebook, but you can play it here without having to log in to the social network. It's great practice, and can go from easy to absurdly hard (yeah, I didn't know where Novi Afon was either). 
• CIA World Factbook: Great interactive map with features on many countries of the world. 
• I like to include a very simple project here that I like to call "small to large or large to small." Students make simple foldable "zoom maps." I have made a very crude example here in this pdf file, that I will hopefully replace with some awesome student work once school begins. I also did a post that includes an animated gif of the same project, the post is titled Zoom Maps. 

United States Geography / States and Capitals

The geography of the United States, in my instruction, is broken down mainly by states and regions. Students are expected to learn the names of all the states, their capitals, and be able to identify each state by its shape. 

• I previously did a big post on the 50 states and capitals titled Teaching the 50 States, and so this is a good starting point. I have some project ideas there, as well as some great resources (a few of which I'll list here as well). 
• The 50 States That Rhyme Song: You can reach the embedded YouTube clip for this song in the link to my posts in the previous bullet. I start with that song on the first day of school, and play it often during the year. 
• 50 States Printable Flash Cards: Good printables that can guide a project or studying the states.
• Interactive State Learning Map: A very nicely done interactive map, students can click on the states to learn their names, isolate states by region, and learn more that way. Each state is spoken aloud as its name is shown. 
• Interactive State Jigsaw: From the exact same site that did the interactive state learning map, this activity has students place the states correctly on the map. I linked to the harder (more 5th grade appropriate) version. 
• Printable Outline Maps of the States
• Worksheet Works States and Capitals Worksheet: I love this site, I previously wrote about it in a post titled Worksheet Works: A Great Worksheet Maker. 
• Quiz Hub Free Geography Games: A few of these are nice and help reinforce the names of states and capitals, as well as the shapes.