Geography Travels: Arizona

My parents, sister, and I vacationed in Arizona back in 1996.  We fit a lot into one week, and Arizona is definitely unforgettable.  One reason we chose Arizona to study is that Isaac’s grandpa lives there.  We’ve never been there as a family, but a trip to Arizona is in our plans this year!

UPDATE: Click HERE if you want to see what we did in Arizona in 2012.

Here’s where our geography travels took us:

Week 1

Located Arizona on our US map and colored it in; discussed capital and major cities.

Began reading Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry

Listened to “Southern Border of the United States Song” (Geography Songs)

Notebook page (Homeschool Creations)

Discussed the Five C’s (copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, climate) of Arizona’s economy

Geography from A to Z: desert, plateau, forest, gorge, river, canyon, butte, mesa, badlands

Map page (Enchanted Learning)

Flag page (Apples 4 the Teacher)

State songs:  “Arizona” and “Arizona March Song”

Discussed turquoise and other minerals found in AZ

YouTube videos

I Love You, Arizona (YouTube video with beautiful photos—the song is actually titled “Arizona” and is one of the state songs)

Turquoise Mining (YouTube)

Turquoise Buffalo Indian Jewelry (YouTube)

Began Famous People chart (see THIS webpage): We discussed Cochise, Geronimo, Sandra Day O’Connor, and John McCain

Desert study and books:  Deserts by Gail Gibbons, All About Deserts, and A Living Desert

Desert Museum Kids page (webpage about Sonoran Desert)

Sonoran Desert Fact Sheets for Sonoran Desert animals (Desert Museum Kids Page)

YouTube videos

Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert Wildlife

Draw-Write-Now Book 3, pages 42-43

Week 2

Discussed these natural wonders of Arizona: Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Monument Valley, Meteor Crater, Glen Canyon, Superstition Mountains, and Canyon de Chelly

YouTube videos

Petrified Forest National Park

The Majesty of Monument Valley

Meteor Crater Arizona

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Canyon de Chelly

Links

Grand Canyon Skywalk page

Grand Canyon facts

Wonders of the World: Grand Canyon

Painted a picture of the Grand Canyon (idea from Deep Space Sparkle via Montessori Tidbits)

Discussed plants & animals of Arizona and labeled pictures for notebook: cactus wren, ringtail, Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake, Gila monster, prairie dog, coyote, javelina (peccary), horned lizard, jaguar, desert bighorn sheep, black-tailed jackrabbit, roadrunner, saguaro cactus, cholla, prickly pear, yucca, ocotillo bush, mesquite, Palo Verdo tree

Read Story of Echo the Bat (from NASA)

Read: The Three Javelinas and Alejandro’s Gift

Javelina (YouTube video)

Discussed Native Americans in AZ: Hopi, Navajo, Apache

Draw-Write-Now Book 3, pages 24-25

Played some Apache Games (Arizona pdf from Musings of Me—I can’t seem to find the link to the pdf…hopefully it’s there somewhere)

Other attractions: Tombstone, London Bridge, Hoover Dam, Wigwam Motel

YouTube videos

Around London Bridge in Lake Havasu City

Hoover Dam & Lake Mead

We also made Navajo Fry Bread (American Grub, p. 15)

Other blogs with Arizona studies

Musings of Me

Get Down and Get Your Hands Dirty

Montessori Tidbits

Links to websites about Arizona

Arizona Kids Page (Arizona Governor)

Arizona Secretary of State Kids Page

Enchanted Learning

How to make a bolo tie (from TLC Family--we never got around to this one)

I’m linking this post to “History and Geography” at All Things Beautiful.