The California state study page is found in the Learn + PLAY USA resource.
You can find it here:
This week we found ourselves studying the most populated state in the whole US, California! While last week studying Arkansas I was scrapping up things to highlight, this week was completely different. Honestly, you could do 2 weeks in California! There is so much to this GIANT state! From beaches to mountains and so many national parks it’s full of so many things! It actually has 9(!) national parks- more than any other state! My guy found the redwood forests the most interesting. Those humongous trees are pretty impressive! To start, as usual we located the state (pretty easy for this one) and collected some basic facts.
Before we study a new state I go to our local library and pick up as many Non Fiction books about the state focus as I can. This has worked well giving my son the opportunity to do literal hands on research. The books are typically full of pictures and interesting facts which he really appreciates. We focus a lot on fiction in his literature study so this non-fiction exposure is great!
Every week we look on Nat Geo Kids for a state video + song and happily, there IS one for California. (Unfortunately, at this time there isn’t one for every state.) As always the catchy song and cute bird puns had my guy enchanted.
Not surprisingly, my sweet sports loving guy found his football map puzzle and confirmed what he knew, the California has a tie with Florida for most football teams. We subsequently looked up each stadium and the cities they were located in. Not necessarily in my lesson plan for the day but I appreciate a little enrichment as much as the next mama!
So far I have included a craft activity for each state we’ve “visited” to learn about. This week I wanted to do things a little different. We played a game instead!
I added construction paper to the back of the image cards because they were a little see-through and then we were ready to play! This set of memory cards has images of state symbols and it’s a fun way to review what we learned about California in our lesson.
I want to share this resource with you for FREE!
Our state study wouldn’t be complete without a few video “trips” to the sights around CA. We couldn’t do them all (because there’s so much!) but we did do a few. Here are a few places we thought were interesting in California:
Golden Gate Bridge
(PC: Encyclopedia Britannica)
Redwood National Forest
(PC: National Park Service)
Big Sur
(PC: Tetra Images)
Here are the online resources we used to support our state study on California:
Facts and Info Websites/Videos:
50 Birds, 50 States - California
Click here to find the resource we’re using as the spine for this study:
