| How much do you know about the United States? Did you know that there's a palace somewhere in the USA that gets a new face lift every year by decorating the outer walls with murals of corn? It's also known as the "World's Largest Bird Feeder". Can you guess which state? Do you know which state has the nickname "The Child of the Mississippi"? Can you name which state can boast of a chicken as its official state bird? Do you know which state quarter has a 16th-century Spanish galleon on it?
Let's find out how exciting this country of yours is. Today you are going to create a web of one of the fifty United States using the computer program Kidspiration. This type of concept map is also known as a web, which will help you to organize your ideas. You will need to use linking words in between each concept (or symbol) to explain how they are related to each other.
Remember, when it's time to print, you must have a white background. If you will be presenting your web to the class, you can have a colored background, but you must change it back to white before you print.
Follow these steps:
- Find out which state you are assigned
- Look on your computer and find the computer number that is taped to it. This will be your assigned number.
- Next you will need to look on a table to see which state corresponds to your assigned number. This will be your assigned state.
- Click here to find your assigned state
- Open Kidspiration
- Choose "Picture" to begin a new web
- Change the label of "Main Idea" to your assigned state name
- You will find 10 facts about your assigned state. Each fact will be a new category to add to your web.
- Research and find the answer to each category of the web by clicking on the following links:
- Add images of each category to the web. Don't just add words, but use the images from the websites and from the clipart in Kidspiration. Remember to copy and paste.
- When you add pictures of flowers, birds, etc., copy and paste the name under the image on your web. For example, I would have a picture of a pelican as the Louisiana state bird and the name, "Eastern Brown Pelican" under the picture itself.
- Put your name on your completed web.
- Save as State Your Initials. For example, I would name my web as "StateMah" or "LouisianaMah".
- Before printing make sure your background is white
|
| Student Assignments |
| Computer # |
State |
|
Computer # |
State |
| 1 |
Delaware |
|
16 |
Tennessee |
| 2 |
Pennsylvania |
|
17 |
Ohio |
| 3 |
New Jersey |
|
18 |
Massachusetts |
| 4 |
Georgia |
|
19 |
Indiana |
| 5 |
Connecticut |
|
20 |
Mississippi |
| 6 |
Louisiana (demo) |
|
21 |
Illinois |
| 7 |
Maryland |
|
22 |
Alabama |
| 8 |
South Carolina |
|
23 |
Maine |
| 9 |
South Dakota |
|
24 |
Missouri |
| 10 |
Virginia |
|
25 |
Arkansas |
| 11 |
New York |
|
26 |
Michigan |
| 12 |
North Carolina |
|
27 |
Florida |
| 13 |
Rhode Island |
|
28 |
Texas |
| 14 |
Vermont |
|
29 |
Iowa |
| 15 |
Kentucky |
|
30 |
Wisconsin |
Note: Clicking on the image at the top will display a larger image. Clicking on the credit at the bottom of the image will bring you to its source (where it can be found on the web).
Categories To Include On Concept Map (Web)
- Image of state as center of web
- State Capital
- Image of state flag
- Image of state quarter
- State Nicknames
- State Bird
- State Flower
- State Motto (you may find more than one)
- Items that drive the economy. How do the majority of the people in your assigned state make money? Is it agricultural (meaning they sell cows, chickens, pigs, wheat, etc.)? Is it a mining or fuel economy, such as when people mine for gold or drill for oil? Maybe your assigned state has a tourist industry such as Louisiana which depends on visitors traveling there for Mardi Gras.
- Include 1 or 2 interesting facts
Teachers, for a copy of the concept map (web) lesson plan click here.
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