Classical Conversation’s Cycle 3 Geography is all about USA Geography! The first 10 weeks we will learn all of the states and capitals. During weeks 11-24 we learn about the physical features of the USA. Here is how we will be learning about USA Geography this year:

Books

My girls love the book How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World so when I heard there is also a book called How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA, I knew reading that book was how I wanted to start our USA Geography studies! We will also use our Usborne favorites to learn geography.

Puzzles & Activities

I came across this States and Capitals Flipbook printable for $5.50 and decided to purchase it so the girls can have an ongoing project to work on every week as they are learning the states and capitals.

At their ages, play is still so critical to learning so I wanted to provide them with multiple ways to play while learning the states and capitals. I already had the Melissa & Doug puzzles and added the magnetic puzzle, Sequence States and Capitals and the dry erase map from Target this year. With four young children, I know all of these items are going to be used many times and for multiple years throughout the Foundations stage of CC!

I found this USA States and Capitals coloring pages that I printed to do with the girls as review after we complete Weeks 1-10 of USA Geography!

Maps

My mom went to Hobby Lobby and found this material and hand-crafted it into this beautiful blanket for my children to enjoy this year! We will cherish this blanket for many years to come!

I bought this USA peel & stick wall map ages ago in preparation for Cycle 3! It’s on Little Bug’s wall in her bedroom.

For the Littles

Let’s be honest. Did I need to buy this? No, but for $10 I couldn’t pass it up when it went on sale and then I had an extra discount I could take advantage of! My vision with this Learning Resources US Map Puzzle is to hand it to Sarge with a cookie sheet so he can play with the states while I am doing school with his sisters. The states are magnetic. Then, my ultimate goal is to see the girls be able to put the map together minus the cheat sheet! It is then I will know they have mastered their USA geography!

Map Tracing

I really want to see the girls get in to map tracing this year. We have dappled with it in the past, but I haven’t ever really scheduled it into our school days, so that means it rarely happens! This year, we are going to try Map Mondays! Every Monday, they will get the Map Tracing basket and trace the USA map during Independent Work time.

- Elaine