This is the first week of the Student Blogging Challenge.
One of the tasks is to introduce yourself to the other bloggers participating in the challenge.
As luck would have it, it is also the week our school rolled out our National Geographic's Giant Map of North America! Let's use the giant map to tell you about ourselves!
Here are some geographic facts about
Mrs. Yollis' third-grade students.
1. We live on the CONTINENT of North America.
2. Our COUNTRY is the United States of America.
3. Out of the fifty STATES, we live in California.
4. We live in a SUBURB of Los Angeles.
Did you know that North America is the third-largest continent?
It is! Asia is the largest, then Africa, and then North America.
North America is more than 9, 300, 000 square miles (24, 100, 000 square kilometers). North America is made up of 23 countries, and the largest ones are Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
We live in the United States.
According to Countries of the World,
here are North America's 23 countries.
The giant map is just that...GIANT! We took off our shoes and walked around and explored our continent! Let's tell you about North America!
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| Photo by Mrs. Yollis |
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| Photo by Mrs. Yollis |
Emily F., Tali, Elijah: We used blue chains to follow the flow of rivers. Rivers follow gravity and flow downhill. The often flow out to large bodies of water.
Cade and Evan: The blue cones show where the river starts (headwaters) and where the river ends (mouth or another river.)
We used Britannica, classroom maps, and an atlas (a book of maps) to gather facts about North America and our country, the United States.
Emily E. and Mia: We live in a suburb (a community outside of a city) of Los Angeles, so we are very close to the Pacific Ocean. In fact, we could drive to the beach in about 30 minutes. To the east of North America is the Atlantic Ocean. It would take us about 42 hours to drive to the Atlantic Ocean from where we live.
Eden and Emma: Did you know that there are 24 time zones. The earth spins around every 24 hours. We are in the Pacific Time Zone.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Yollis visited the Grand Canyon during winter. This photo was taken in December. |
Daniel: The Grand Canyon is found in the United States in Arizona. There are bobcats, rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks who live in the Grand Canyon. Many tourists visit the Grand Canyon every year.
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| Diagram by Aashi |
Ivy, Archie, and Ben: The Great Lakes are very large and they are found between the United States and Canada. They are freshwater, not saltwater, and take up the largest area of freshwater in the world. To remember the Great Lakes, think HOMES: Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Superior.
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| A geyser in Yellowstone National Park. (Photo by Mrs. Yollis) |
Emily F.: Yellowstone National Park is in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. There you can see Old Faithful and other geysers!
Isla: Central America is also part of North America. It is in the southern part of North America. The Central American countries are: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Kevin, Tali, and Kasra: Canada is the country exactly north of the United States. The national capital of Canada is Ottawa. Canada is the second-largest country in the world.
Sammy: The United States has mountains, prairies, rain forests, and deserts. We are the fourth largest country in the world.
Paul: North America has a population of more than 490 million people!
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Tell us about you! What's your continent, country, state/province, and city?
Do you have any questions for us? We are happy to research and comment back to you!
Posts
Dear Mrs. Yollis' students,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great first post for the Student Blogging Challenge! As your blogging mentors, we think your post is amazing! :-)
We have some questions for you. Veronica wants to know about rivers. What is the fastest flowing river in the United States?
Dr. Hagle is curious about North American countries. Other than Canada and Mexico, which other country would you like to visit? Tell us a fact about that country using Britannica.
Jodie Bloom wants to know which STATE you would most like to visit and why? She ♥ Texas because it is the largest state of the contiguous (kon - tig-yoo- us) 48. Contiguous means the states that are connect, not counting Alaska or Hawaii.
Dr. Hagle was in Montreal, Canada this summer. It is in the province of Quebec and many people were speaking French. Do you know why?
Your blogging mentors,
Veronica Pink, Dr. Hagle, and Jodie Bloom
@Veronica, Jodie and Dr. Hagle
DeleteThis is Casey Cherry, and I cant wait to answer your questions! Veronica, I don't know what the fastest flowing river in the United States, but I looked on Britannica and found that the Mississippi River is the second longest river in North America.
Dr. Hagle, to answer you question, the country I would like to visit is Guatemala. Here is a fact about Guatemala. The capital of Guatemala is Guatemala City.
Jodie, I would also like to visit Texas! The reason I would like to visit Texas is because I know it is large and I would like to explore the whole state.
Your blogging buddy,
Casey Cherry
@Jodie Bloom,
DeleteI want to say this to Jodie Bloom. My favorite state is Florida because it is so beautiful. I went to Walt Disney World in Orlando. The rides were fun and very different than Disneyland. The Slinky Roller Coaster was so much fun. After I went on it, I wanted to go on it again. Unfortunately, the line was too long.
Have you ever been to Walt Disney World?
Your blogging buddy,
Emily E.
@Jodie Bloom
DeleteGood choice- Florida does have a lot to offer. I went there for Spring Break as a kid many times. I did to go to Walt Disney World 2 times as a kid, and had a blast. If I can remember- it seems like I enjoyed Disney World better than our local, Disneyland. For my family- I'd have to say we like Hawaii the best. I've been to 3 of the islands, and enjoy the North Shore of Oahu the most. Has anyone else been to Hawaii? If so- do you have a favorite island or activity in Hawaii?
@ Mrs. Yollis and class,
ReplyDeleteThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States. The Mississippi River can’t go over the Rocky Mountains. The water can only flow down the mountain and not up!
Your river-loving student,
Cade
@ Cade,
DeleteThank you for your fabulous comment!
There is another river that flows into the Mississippi River. It meets the Mississippi in St. Louis, Missouri. Can you discover the name of the river?
What do you call a river that flows into another river? Hint: It starts with the letter t.
Your geography-loving teacher,
Mrs. Y♥llis
The Ohio River meets the Mississippi River at St. Luis, Missouri.
DeleteA river that flows into another river is called a tributary.
Does anyone know what are the major tributaries?
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWow! I am Thomas,a Grade 4 teacher in Kenya,in Kisumu city. I teacher geography and these were quite educational to me and my learners. There are such varied scenery in your country, I love reading and left imaging the reality there. Kenya is found in the African continent.Look to more such quite presentations.
@ Mr. Thomas,
ReplyDeleteWow! We were excited to read your quality comment and it is from Kenya! Mrs. Yollis helped us research Kenya using Britannica, an online encyclopedia. We learned that you border the Indian Ocean, and we learned that many people from Kenya speak English and Swahili. How do you say hello and goodbye in Swahili? What do you call a person from Kenya? We are from California, so we call ourselves Californians.
We will have more questions for you later today!
From,
Emily E., Eden, Elijah, and Evan
Hello Mrs. Yollis!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amy, and I’m from Canada.
What do you know about Canada?
This was a very good post. I loved how you showed your students group/partner work. It really shows how your class can compromise, collaborate, include ideas, and end up with a fantastic finished product.
I live on the West Coast of Canada, so on the same side as Los Angeles.
What was your favourite part of the project?
Were you surprised by the number of countries in North America?
Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the fantastic post!
Check out my blog!
http://www.blog44.ca/amys/
Hi Mrs. Yollis!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amy, and I am from Canada.
What do you know about Canada?
This was such a great post. You showed the really cool activity that your students did, and the work they produced. This post really showed how good your students are at collaboration, comprising, including others, and researching to find information.
Other than the United States, what is your favourite North American country?
What is a North American country you want to visit?
Were you surprised about some of the facts you discovered? If so, which ones?
Thanks for the great post!
Check out my blog!
http://www.blog44.ca/amys/
@ Amy,
DeleteThank you for such a great comment!
We were on the map today and were looking at countries. The biggest countries are Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We could fit twenty-seven students plus Mrs. Yollis in each. We even all got inside Greenland.
It was fun finding the Panama Canal on the map. Did you know that you can get through the canal on a boat? You will get from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Sea.
What province do you live in, and what is it like?
How do you like Canada?
From,
Emily F and Archie