Sheppard Software's website offers a suite of free games that can be played on the Smartboard to help students learn and practice the state capitals. The intermediate game, for example, displays a map of the United States, names a capital, and directs students to click the matching state. The beginner level functions in the same way except that all states from a particular region are quizzed in a row. The expert level displays a flashing state and asks students to check off the capital city from a list of 50 cities displayed on the left side of the screen. By working their way through the various levels on the Smartboard, a class of students will acquire increasing levels of mastery as they memorize the state capitals.
The Quia website offers a set of Java games that allow students to practice state-capital skills. There are flashcards, matching, word search, and concentration activities available. The variety of activities means that a class could spend half an hour practicing capitals on the Smartboard and not become bored. A helpful learning tool available on this site is the ability to print out a list of all the terms used in the games. This is an easy way to produce a list of each state and its capital city.
Learning Planet offers a state abbreviations game that can be projected on to a Smartboard and played by the whole class. The game presents the names of states in random order and supplies four possible abbreviations for each one. Students who get an answer wrong receive no feedback other than a red mark. However, students who answer correctly are also told the name of the capital city for that state. This allows the game to be used creatively in the classroom. Teachers can call on people to predict the state capital before the game announces it. This will encourage students at the board to answer correctly on the abbreviation since only that will make the game supply confirmation about the state capital.
A good culminating activity is the multiple-choice state capitals game at Vector Kids. This game displays a large, colorful map of the United States. When students tap the Smartboard to indicate a state, the game tells them the name of that state and provides three choices of state capitals. Students who choose wrong answers receive the opportunity to try again; this equals a form of reteaching. A tally at the top keeps track of the number of right and wrong answers submitted. This game is excellent because it allows students to review the capitals as well as assess their own level of mastery.