What Makes Virginia Amazing?

Are you looking for fun worksheets and lapbook pages, children's books, and YouTube video clips for teaching and/or learning about Virginia? Whether you're a school teacher, homeschooling parent, involved parent, librarian, lifelong learner, or a student searching for ideas and books on Virginia, look no further! This is part of a series of pages I created while teaching about the fifty states. You can find the links for my pages for each of the 50 states at Teaching the 50 States of America .

Filled with plenty of historical reenactors and both reconstructed and original buildings from the Colonial period, Colonial Williamsburg is the place to visit for anyone wishing to learn about life during the Colonial period. It is one of the most popular attractions in the state.

Starting during the American Civil War, the Arlington National Cemetery has been a prominent place for military burial. It was built on the site of Robert E. Lee's home as he presided over the Confederate army. Today the cemetery has over 3 million visitors each year.

One of the world's largest office buildings is the Pentagon, which is located in Arlington. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense and has over 26,000 employees.

Virginia has been called "the Mother of America" and "the Mother of Presidents" because America's 1st permanent English settlement was Jamestown, America's 1st democratically elected legislature was the House of Burgesses, and 8 of the Presidents were born in Virginia.

The Norfolk Naval Base is that largest Naval Base in America. Its pier is seven miles long and it takes up four miles of waterfront space. It supports 75 ships and 134 aircraft and has the largest concentration of U.S. Navy forces. In addition to having the largest naval base, Virginia is a major shipbuilding center.

Assateague Island is a popular tourist destination at which visitors can view its many wild horses. The island is co-owned by Maryland, which owns 2/3 of the island, and Virginia, which owns the 1/3 of the island that makes up Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Once a year some of the horses are rounded up and auctioned off on Pony Penning Day. This was described in the chapter book Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.

Spanning 23 miles, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex. It crosses the Chesapeake Bay from Virginia Beach to the Hampton Roads area.

Virginia's state flag was adopted to look nothing like the British flag. Because of their admiration of the Ancient Roman Republic, they chose a design that included a figure from Roman mythology, Virtus, a sign of peace. She is stepping on Tyranny, whose crown has fallen off, which represents Great Britain.

Virginia's state quarter features the 3 English Virginia Company ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, which delivered colonists to America's first successful colony, Jamestown in 1607.

Are you looking for picture books related to Virginia's history? I have posted our absolute favorite picture books related to the history of Jamestown at my Jamestown History Lesson and our favorite picture books related to Virginia during its colonial period at my lessons on the American War for Independence .

Celebrating Virginia and Washington, D.C.: 50 States to Celebrate (Green Light Readers Level 3) by Marion Dane Bauer is an easy reader book about a teacher who takes his students on a trip to Virginia and Washington, D.C. to discover the geographic highlights of the area including Harborfest, Virginia Beach, and Assateague Island.

Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds by Cynthia Rylant does not specifically take place in Virginia, but it does a wonderful job of showing what life would be like for the Blue Ridge Mountain area of Virginia as it describes Appalachian living.

Hello, Virginia! (Hello, America!) Board book by Candice Ransom shows a young girl visiting the highlights of Virginia from the horse country to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown to Blue Ridge Mountains and more.

Virginia Geography (Chester the Crab) (Chester the Crab's Comix With Content) by Bentley Boyd is a neat comic-book style picture book that covers the geography of Virginia from the viewpoint of a fun crab. My boys LOVE these types of books and learn so much from them!

Virginia's Sights and Symbols (A Kid's Guide to Drawing America) by Melody S. Mis is part of a wonderful series that combines state geography with art. Even my 6 year old could follow the drawing directions and my 9 year old created some impressive drawings while learning more about Virginia.

Tanya's Reunion by Valerie Flournoy is about a girl who goes with her grandmother to the farm in Virginia where she (the girl's grandmother) grew up.

Virginia: An Alphabetical Journey Through History by Betty B. Shepard covers the history and geography of Virginia. It includes Presidents who came from Virginia, wars that took place there, and more.

One Christmas Dawn by Candice F. Ransom is another book that takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountain area and is about a young girl waiting for her father to return on a snowy Christmas Eve evening.

The Virginia Night Before Christmas by E.J. Sullivan is a cute Virginia-style version of this Christmas story. It highlights some of the main areas of the state including the Virginia beaches, Monticello, Richmond, and more.

The Twelve Days of Christmas in Virginia (The Twelve Days of Christmas in America) by Sue Corbett is about a brother who gives his sister gifts related to the history and points of interest of the state of Virginia. It is of course written to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song.

Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White (224 pages) is a Newbery Honor Winner about a twelve year old girl and her cousin who live in Coal Station, Virginia in the early 1950s. The boy's mother disappeared one summer, and the his cousin is determined to find out what happened to her. The book includes bullies, humor, friendship, a mystery, and more.

With Lee in Virginia by G. A. Henty (336 pages) is about a teenage boy from the South who fights for the Confederacy along with General Lee. I love how it teaches true character training as it shows how important courage and honor are in the boy's life.

Virginia Bound by Amy Butler (188 pages) is about a young boy who is kidnapped and taken to the Jamestown colony where he is forced to work as an indentured servants on a tobacco farm. He has to decide if he should accept the help of a local Native American girl.

Moonshiner's Son by Carolyn Reeder (208 pages) is about a twelve-year-old boy who learns the art of moonshining from his father during the Prohibition era and does a good job of showing what life was like during this period.

A Little Maid of Virginia by Alice Curtis (196 pages) is about an eleven-year-old girl and her cousin living together in Yorktown in 1781 (during the American War for Independence). They meet Thomas Jefferson and General Lafayette and witness Cornwallis's surrender.

All About Virginia and Virginia for Teachers offer links to lots of free worksheets covering Virginia. Also included are book suggestions and general information.

Pocahontas Lapbook offers free lapbook pages and activity ideas for Pocahontas by Ingri & Edward d'Aulaire. This is a good option since Pocahontas lived in the Virginia area during the time of the Jamestown settlement and helped the settlers to survive. She helped spare the life of John Smith and later married John Rolfe.

Virginia State Facts & Trivia lists numerous points of interest about Virginia. At the site, you'll also find helpful worksheets, links, & information.

When searching out YouTube video clips that provided helpful information about Virginia and were completely child-friendly, these were our favorites.