STATE-GAME

STATE-ORAL PRESENTATION

We culminated our state studies with an oral presentation given by each student at the end of the year.  They could dress up, sing, dance, share food...whatever it took to SELL THEIR STATE.  The goal was to have their peers vote to visit their state.  This project took two days to complete.  What else are you doing the last few days of the year?  We divided the states in half and had the presentations done in ABC order.  The students had a blast.  The only rule: You cannot share your state project folder.  (Some students would tend to show their year's work, which didn't hold the attention of the classes.)

Student Voting Ticket.  This can be handed in the end of the presentations.  You need to encourage students to vote for the best they saw, not their friend's state!

STATE-NAME NICKNAME MOTTO

http://okscribbler.blogspot.com/2011/11/state-how-states-got-their-names.html
Several pages to help you differentiate with your class.  I would format pages yearly based on that year's students abilities to do the work.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html
http://www.infoplease.com/states.html
http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/StateNames.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_name_etymologies
http://www.shgresources.com/resources/symbols/names/

http://www.50states.com/nickname.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_mottos
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Lists/state_mottos.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0801718.html

STATE-SEAL

http://www.netstate.com/state_seals.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seals_of_the_U.S._states

STATE-SONG

http://www.50states.com/songs/
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Lists/state_songs.html

TEACH ALL 50 STATE NAMES TO YOUR CLASS WITH SONGS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_HeLofy7IE I learned this in high school chorus and have never forgotten it.  I taught all my 2nd-3rd graders this song.  Some years we used it for the Class Talent Show during our Annual School Talent Show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUFeVKeKRQc

STATE-NATURAL RESOURCES

We used encyclopedias for this project.  It gave maps and lists of natural resources.  Our diocese also had concepts that dealt with natural resources, so we did a power point that met all of our requirements.  Below are several formats to help you differentiate in your classroom.  One is a formatted paragraph and the others are more of a list format.

STATE-LICENSE PLATE

http://www.15q.net/usindex.html
http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/world/NA_USAX.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_license_plate_designs_and_serial_formats
This project can be done in two different ways: draw/trace and color the state license or have the students design their own state license.

STATE-REQUIREMENTS and ASSESSMENT

STATE-FOLKLORE

http://theshadowlands.net/places/
http://www.americanfolklore.net/ss.html

Give time for the students to choose a ghost/folklore story to write about.  Talk about summarization.

http://www.readingquest.org/strat/summarize.html
http://okscribbler.blogspot.com/2009/02/teaching-summarizing-story.html

Create a formatted writing sheet to help your students with their paragraph about their state folklore.  Some ideas are to answer the questions what happened, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened....

STATE-FLAG

http://www.50states.com/flag/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_U.S._states
http://www.netstate.com/state_flags.htm

Make sure you give your students plenty of time to get material to draw or trace their flag on the State Flag Page.  You may need to resize some of the flags they bring in or give them the dimensions that are needed to fit in your flag.
Have your students bring in a page telling about the symbols on their state's flag.  They should have chosen three or more symbols they want to write about.  Create a formatted paragraph that helps your students write a nice paragraph about the flag.
Format paragraph could include the date the flag was adopted, interesting facts, and three symbols to write about.