Well, thanks to all for the suggestions on learning the states and capitals. The suggestions helped her retain some. On her test at school though ,my child filled in 16 capitals for the states and got 15 correct out of a possible 50. I thought she would have done better. I thought from all the practice she would have gotten at least 30. I think she was overwhelmed by the amount and it was 2 pages (first page had states, second had the capitals). She had to look at second page find the capital and then look at the letter next to it then go to the first page and put that letter next to the state. She said she had extended time which ran into recess.I know she had some trouble reading the states and capitals. She kept messing up Denver and Dover during our practices. She did get Denver right on the test and didn’t even do Dover. I am not sure exactly what her troubles were, so I am not sure what I should suggest to the teacher for future tests.
Beth in FL
My fourth grade son learned them this year and retained them, which amazed me. They did it by regions of the country though, starting with the southeast where we live. The tests didn’t just have states and capitals on them either. The test also used a word bank so they didn’t have to write the name of the capital just recognize the right one. I think that would have helped your daughter a lot. The only thing they had to completely retrieve was the abbreviation for the state.
Then, much to my horror, they had two comprehensive exams. The first was all the states and abbreviations and the second was the capitals. But again there was a word bank and my son did very well.
What to ask for? I would start with a word bank. My son has some retrieval issues and I am sure that helped him do much better.
Beth
It can be overwhelming.
Will they ever have to know this stuff again? Will it be on a “final” or somethign?
I taught my class to label all the countries in N & S America (not their capitals, tho’) by gradually building their mastery and unabashedly including a word bank with the country names (with a few ringers tossed in). It’s one of those 10-minutes-max exercises where you identify 15 today, 16 tomorrow… 16 the next day if you’re not sure of yourself… but every one you add is a bonus.
I know if I’d assigned them all at once it would have been a lost cause :(