🗺️ Where I Live
I hope you enjoy the Where I Live Lesson Plan, here are some highlights:
Where I Live Printable Book
Songs: 7 Continents, United States of America, State Songs
Find the Treasure: Letter Sounds Matching Game
Number Line Rainbow Race
Map Skills
Story Map
Needle and Cork Compass
Magnet Car
Don’t feel like you need to do everything, pick and choose the best activities for your student(s).
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Enjoy! - Tiff
Where I Live Theme - Geography and Maps
Where I Live Printable Book - FREEBIE
Have fun learning about where you live with this 8 page + cover printable geography book. This week’s freebie includes a color version and a black and white version. Print the B&W version on colored paper for a fun pop of color with less printing costs.
I recommend completing the corresponding pages based on the schedule below.
When it makes sense, I break up each weekly theme into a daily theme to help organize my lesson plan and build on previous days. This is the schedule I followed for the themed activities:
Monday - 7 Continents
7 Continents Song
By: ABC Mouse
I like to start each day with a fun song so my girls can dance and be silly. It doesn’t always match the theme, but it’s super fun when it does!
Sing along and learn about the 7 different continents and 5 different oceans. This video is very well done and is only three and a half minutes long.
Explore a Globe
I know this seems pretty obvious, but we use our globe a ton. If you don’t already have a globe in your homeschool classroom, I highly recommend one. It’s a timeless, visual reference of concepts that are hard to grasp. With a globe it’s easy to point out land masses and water, the North and South poles, where the continents are and show the scale of how big the earth is.
I looked at a ton of globes and finally settled on this Vintage Desktop Globe by Refinery & Co. with black oceans. I like that it’s not huge (only 9”), but it’s still very easy to read. And I don’t mind having it in my living room!
My second choice is this very cool Learning Resources Puzzle Globe. Keeping this on the list for when we have room for more than one globe.
Tuesday - My Country (United States of America)
Fifty States in America Song
Warning! This song is super catchy and you will find yourself singing this the entire week. But being catchy is actually a good thing, right?!
I really like that it teaches the states in alphabetical order and reinforces the monthly ELA Alphabet theme.
Fifty States Puzzle
I really enjoyed teaching the 50 States with a puzzle. It gave me an opportunity to point out the East and West coasts, general regions and which states are near each other.
I’m not sure what brand the puzzle we used was, I borrowed it. But it was a bit small, I would look for something a bit bigger. If you are looking for something more modern I recommend this Mudpuppy USA Puzzle with beautiful art. If you want something more classic, then it has to be this Melissa and Doug USA Puzzle.
But if your kids like magnets, Learning Resources has a Magnetic USA Puzzle that they sell as a bundle with the puzzle globe above.
Wednesday - My State (Hawaii)
State Songs - Hawaii
Another day, another fun song. Kids Learning Tube has a ton of great videos (their Solar System one is our favorite). They actually have an individual video for each state. They are all catchy and very informative.
State Coloring Pages
Love these fun, FREE state coloring pages! Each page features state symbols such as the flag, state flower and state animals.
Whenever my daughter does a coloring activity, I like to read to her about what she is coloring. For this activity I read the Hawaii page from The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps!
Thursday - My Community
Find Your House on Google Earth
Google Earth is simply an amazing FREE teaching tool. It really helps children develop a worldview as they start off viewing the planet, then select their continent, find their country, state, city, then house. My daughter was so excited about seeing our house, she then wanted to see her Grandma’s House and her cousin’s house, then we looked at famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Colosseum.
Neighborhood Map Walk
Print a map of your neighborhood using Google Maps. Then walk around the neighborhood and use stickers to mark key landmarks like your house, a park, school, bus stop, etc.
Also a great P.E. activity!
Friday - Maps and Cardinal Directions
North, South, East or West
By: Mr. R’s Songs For Teaching
Great song to teach the four cardinal directions. It rhymes and uses the word “we” to remember where West and East are.
Map Skills Worksheets
By: Kathryn Watts
I found this great FREEBIE on Teachers Pay Teachers. It teaches them about globes, cardinal directions, map symbols and has pages to make their own maps.
English Language Arts - Alphabet Focus
Find The Treasure - Letter Sounds Matching Game
Practice your letter sounds on your journey to find the treasure! This is a sample of a larger game pack that includes 5 game boards, a giant version and table top version (137 pages). Perfect for a literacy center!
X marks the spot!
Story Map
From Games For Writing by Peggy Kaye
A story map is a great way to explore your student’s imagination and practice writing skills. Basically you create the setting of your story as a map and then write a story based on traveling to all the places on the map.
All you need is a large poster board or cardboard and some markers. Decide what type of map you want to create and then work together to draw and name different locations on the map.
You can then use that map to have your child write independently or I like to have my daughter dictate to me so that she is not limited by the words she can spell. We easily typed up 1.5 pages in just 20 minutes! We did a dragon themed story, anyone else’s kid loves Rescue Riders?
Alphabet Dab A Dot
My daughter loves Alphabet Dab A Dot pages, but I noticed that she just randomly stamped the dots to fill in the letter. So I though this was a great opportunity to make this activity not only fun, but instructional. These pages include not only directional arrows for each stroke, but color coded and numbered dots. This makes it easy for a child to do this independently and it’s a fun activity for when we are learning about maps, following directions and symbols.
Reading Lessons
It’s easy to see why so many people recommend this book to teach reading. I love that I can just turn to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons and I don’t need to think about it. We are 25 lessons in and I can already see a difference, my daughter actually sounds out the words instead of guessing.
The lessons are short (15-20min), easy to grasp and sequential. The entire lesson is scripted and color coded so it’s fool proof, just read the words in pink. It also is designed for kids that don’t know their alphabet or letter sounds yet, so you can start right away. Their claim is that after completing all 100 lessons your child will be able to read at a 2nd grade level!
Math - Numbers Focus
Snap Cube Opposites
Lately my daughter has been struggling with transposition errors with numbers 12-19. This is when you mix up say 13 and 31. This is incredibly common, and is often based on assuming that if the number starts with “thir” there must be a 3 in front.
So we’ve been working on a better understanding of place value during math time. This week we played with Snap Cubes and practiced making teen numbers out of cubes and then making the opposite. If you don’t already have a set of Snap Cubes, I can easily say this is a must for any homeschool classroom. The applications are literally endless.
Number Line - Rainbow Race
Get the Number Line Bookmark and Game Bundle to make the number line come alive!
No Prep Rainbow Race to 30 Board Game + Giant Interactive Number Line . Easy print your own giant number line! Roll a dice and jump the number line in the Rainbow Race!
If you don’t want to cut and laminate, but want to jump the number line, another great option is to get these cool carpet dots, I just recommend crafting your own number 0.
Science
What Makes a Magnet?
I love using books as guides for lessons. This book is an excellent resource to learn about magnets. We spent an entire afternoon reading the book and playing with magnets.
We tested the strength of different magnets by seeing how many magnetic counters each magnet could pick up. My daughter got to practice counting, we even grouped them in 5s or 10s to practice skip counting. We chose the Super Magnet Lab for our lesson since it had a lot of different types of magnets.
Needle and Cork Compass
I love low-prep STEAM activities! This took me 5 minutes to gather the supplies and it was an excellent way to learn about Earth’s magnetism.
We referred to two books for our lesson., they both had variations of the same activity. The What Makes A Magnet Book above and Awesome Engineering Activities for Kids.
Basically you turn a sewing needle into a magnet by rubbing a magnet on the needle in one direction. Then you place it in a shallow bowl of water with two pieces of cork on each end. Find north on the compass and mark the corresponding side of the needle with an N and the other cork with an S. And that’s it, you just made your own compass!
Additional Supplies: sewing needle, two pieces cork sliced in 1/4 in pieces, compass (you can use your phone app), bowl of shallow water & sharpies.
Magnet Car
This was a super fun way to “travel” our own map. Draw a map on a sturdy large poster board or cardboard. Glue a magnet to a toy car, then use a magnetic wand under the board to drive the car around your map!
Supplies needed: toy car, hot glue gun, poster board, strong small magnets, magnet wands.
Art and Music
United States Wall Art
Create your own United States wall art with beautiful wood block. The possibilities are endless, make a collage out of Mod Podge, paint it with acrylic paints, use stickers, glitter or do a mixed media project.
Prodigies Music - Best Music Curriculum Ever!
Prodigies Music is simply an incredible curriculum for teaching music. Ages 2-5 is the critical time to develop a life-long sense of pitch. Their curriculum is designed to develop a sense of pitch with easy to use desk bells that don’t require any tuning. They also teach piano, recorder and ukulele. Their subscription includes everything you can think of 450+ videos, worksheets, free bell mats, sheet music all color coded so it’s super easy to learn. If you don’t have an instrument they have a bunch of rhythm focused content that doesn’t require an instrument.
They have a free trial and discounts for annual memberships! Great deal!
Sensory Bins
Neighborhood Sensory Bin
This neighborhood sensory bin was super easy to put together. I actually had the green rice “grass” on hand from a previous bin. But it’s really easy to make using ingredients you can usually find in the kitchen. See the recipe here.
The wood blocks and rocks I actually found at a thrift store, but Melissa and Doug has a great set of blocks too. The compass we already had from this great Explorer Set.
Filler: Jasmine rice dyed green
Recommended Supplies: Melissa and Doug Wooden Town Playset, compass, rocks
Physical Education
Pokemon Go
In the past few months, my daughter has become obsessed with Pokemon. She trains her Pokemon everyday and carries around her Bulbasaur stuffed animal everywhere.
I was hesitant to show her the Pokemon Go app because I don’t like her to use my phone, but it was a great opportunity to get some exercise while learning about maps. By far, this was her absolute favorite activity! We just walked around the block and she easily caught a dozen Pokemon, visited two Poke Stops and took a photo with her Charmander. This may have been our best P.E. class yet!
Around the World Dance Class
This was a great find. This dance class video reinforces the cardinal directions and has simple movements designed for early elementary.
Book List
Books We Love!
- The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps! (this book is incredibly beautiful, love the art)
- Children’s Illustrated Atlas
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the World
- There’s a Map on My Lap - Dr. Seuss Learning Library (we absolutely love these, trying to collect the whole set)
We also borrowed the complete set of Rebecca Hirsch’s continent books from the library. They are short and engaging non-fiction books about each continent. Don’t have the budget or space to get more books? The library has been pretty great for us so far, but they are sometimes out of the more popular books. One place that you can always count on to find great books is Epic Books! Try Epic Basic for FREE! You can find awesome read to me books for free, Unlimited plan includes access to 40,000+ books!
Know of any other awesome geography resources? Please comment below!
Do you know anyone else that would enjoy these free weekly lesson plans? Get them on the list!
