U.S. State Activities for First and Second Grade

Social studies is among my favorite things to teach in the primary classroom! In the early years of elementary school, we get to dive into some interesting topics that engage and excite students. One topic that is particularly fun is when we get to take a deep dive into U.S. States. In first and second grade, we focus on learning about the state we live in and learn all kinds of interesting facts about our home state. Told you it was fun! Come along to see the U.S. State activities we use and how they adapt to be used with any state in the United States.

Setting the Stage to Learn About U.S. States 

As you prepare to engage your first and second graders in learning about their own home state, you'll want to first give some overview information. You may or may not have already covered U.S. symbols in your classroom by this time, so your students might have some understanding about the United States of America. In any case, a recap is always a good idea! 

In my room, we use a small informational reader from my U.S. States Activities resource that provides some foundational information about the USA and how it's split up into states. The reader we use covers things like what a state is, how states all look different, and how they each have different landforms and landscapes. 

The book helps illustrate that the country is divided into states, and states are divided into cities. The cities have communities and neighborhoods, and we are citizens of those. This helps students understand the order of areas and how Earth is broken down. The last page of the book includes a section where students can fill in information on their country, state, city, or town. They also get to circle if they have always lived in the same place or moved. 

Pull Out the Map for More Learning 

After reading the books, we love to pull out the map and take a closer look! I project an image of the United States on the board or use a large poster that everyone can see. Using a pointer, I'll show the kids where we're at. This is when it gets fun because once they can see it, the kids are excited to learn more about where they live!

During this point, I also like to ask the kids who have lived in another place before and see if they can name that state. I will point out those states, if there are any, just for fun. Remember, in first grade, the goal is not to learn all the states. The goal is to understand the bigger picture of how we are all connected and expand on the previously learned concepts of self and community. 

With these lessons, we're focused on expanding from community, city, state, country, continent, and ultimately, the world. Helping students grasp the breakdown is the goal of these lessons, so stay focused on facilitating that! 

Practice What You've Learned So Far

At this point, it's time for some practice and application of what we've covered so far. In my room, I like to use some engaging worksheets that touch on a few important things. First, we use one that focuses on where we live. This activity helps students understand the breakdown of the Earth into countries, states, and cities. Students will cut and paste pictures that represent each thing and paste them under the correct heading. Next up is another worksheet that focuses on this same concept. Except this time, kiddos write in the correct word in order of smallest (community) to largest (world). 

The next few pages in this resource are fun to help students gain a deeper understanding of some important related concepts. I included one that's all about local government and includes a kid-friendly reading passage to cover these topics. After completing that worksheet, there is one for checking in on student understanding. 

I've also included a page that focuses on American Symbols, which is a great review if you've already covered this topic. There are examples provided of American Symbols and a section where students can fill in their state symbols. I have provided a reference sheet with all of this information to make it super simple for you and your kids! 

And last, a page on landforms and things that are not landforms is included. Students will cut and paste the pictures in the appropriate section. I've also made sure to include answer keys so that you can easily pass off grading to a parent helper! These worksheets make it fun and easy to cover these important social studies concepts in your classroom. 

Use Lapbooks for Exploring U.S. States 

Alright, friends, are you ready for the BEST part of this whole lesson? This is everyone's favorite and the time when we really get into the nitty gritty of exploring our own U.S. State. In my room, we use lapbooks that are filled with sections all about our state. The great thing about this resource is that it can be used with ANY state! Yes, really! No matter where you live in the USA, this lapbook will work for you.

These are so much fun to work on as a class. We complete an activity or two per day and add each section to our lapbooks. It's fun to walk through the activities with the kids, and aside from learning so many great facts about their own state, they also get lots of practice with cutting, coloring, writing, gluing, and following directions! 

The lapbooks include state nameplates and license plates, an informational lift-the-flap section, a place for state symbols, landforms for the state, maps with state names, notable places to visit, and more! This is so much fun to complete in the classroom, and the kids love showing these off to their parents when they are done. 

More U.S. States Activities 

When working through the lapbooks, I like to use some supplemental resources to make this lesson more fun. You'll have to do some poking around to find resources for your specific state, but just as an example - there are a lot of great books out there that have fun facts about specific states. For example, this one about California is really neat to use in your studies! This book is absolutely jam-packed with fun facts and information about California, including native trees and flowers, why L.A. became the place for film production, how the Golden Gate Bridge was constructed, and more. There are all kinds of great books out there for other states, so consider a quick search on Amazon or at your local library to find some!

Educational videos are another great resource for learning more about specific states. In keeping with our example of California, here is a great video on YouTube. It covers the history of California, famous places there, state symbols, and fun facts. The channel that posted it also appears to have a video for each of the other states that you can use in your lessons. Just search for your state to watch! 

Have Fun with These U.S. State Activities 

I hope seeing how we approach this topic in my room has been helpful to you as you begin planning your lessons. This is one of my all-time favorite lessons to teach, and the kids love it, too! I hope you enjoy it just as much as we do. 

Don't forget, if you want to simplify your planning without having to go searching for resources to use, be sure to check out my U.S. States Activities resource. It works with any U.S. state and has everything you need in one convenient place. This will save you so much time and make it fun and easy to cover this topic in your room! 

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Make sure to pin this post on your favorite classroom Pinterest board so that you can revisit it when you're ready to start planning your U.S. State Activities!