Builds computation and research skills
Create addition and subtraction problems using ZIP codes. The two-factor
ZIP codes should result in an answer that is another ZIP code. For example:
60601 (Chicago, Illinois) + 10469 (Bronx, New York) = 71070. Challenge
students to calculate the answers and use a ZIP code directory to determine
the name of the place that corresponds to the answer. (Answer: 71070 is
Saline, Louisiana.)
Resource: City,
State, ZIP Code Look-Up
Builds geography skills
Create a set of bingo cards with the name of a state or country in each
square. Keep the cards handy and use them to play Capital Bingo. Call
out the names of capital cities, and students mark the corresponding countries
or states. Be sure to check the winner's card.
Variation: If you aren't studying capitals, adapt the
bingo format to something you are studying -- math facts or vocabulary,
for example.
Builds geography and abbreviation skills
Pose the following question to students to start a lively
discussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writing
activity:
What if you could predict what your life would be like in 20
years? Where will you be, what will you be doing, and who might
you be doing it with? |
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Count out index cards equal to the number of students in your class. Write
the full name of a state on the first card and the abbreviation of that
state on the next card. Continue until you have written a state name or
abbreviation on each card. Place a card face down on each student's desk.
Then instruct students to turn over their cards. Give students two minutes
to find the person who has the state name or abbreviation that goes with
the card they hold.
Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students
to think critically. Write the four phrases below on a board or chart.
The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. The words
all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four
words and what the words have in common.
Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity
easier, tell students what the words have in common or arrange students
in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.
- RAPTOR
- NO CALF
- CARL AND I
- BRING HIM MUD
Answers: parrot, falcon, cardinal, and hummingbird are all birds
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2003 Education World
09/12/2003
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