California Facts For Our Blogging Friends

 We were ecstatic when we got a comment from a class in Foxton, New Zealand. They left a comment for us on the Fall into Autumn blog post. Here's their comment: 

First, our current season in the northern hemisphere is fall. Fall is very mild here in southern California. In fact, the weather has been quite warm lately. 

Our New Zealand friends also asked us to tell them about California, our state. Well, we have many facts to share about the state of California. Here are some fun facts! (All photos provided by Pixabay.)

1. California is divided into four geographic regions: the mountain region, the central valley, the desert region, and the coast.

2. California has the highest population out of all fifty states. There are 39 million Californians. Texas has the second greatest population with 30 million, and Florida ranks third with 22 million. 

3. The capital of the state of California is Sacramento. The building where California government takes place is featured below. The city is called the capital and the building is called the capitol. (Notice the spelling!) 

4. The California state bird is the quail. Quails are part of the pheasant family along with turkeys and peacocks. They have strong bodies. Their strong beak helps them break open seeds and gather berries. 

5. Our currency is the dollar. Other common values for paper bills are: $2, $5, 10, 20, $50, and $100. 

6. Every state has a flag and here is the California flag. The white represents purity. The red stand for courage. the grizzly bear represents strength and independence.

7. Many mountain lions live in California. They are also known as puma or cougar. 

8. One of the many national parks in California is the beautiful Joshua Tree National Park.  Mrs. Yollis and many other students have camped, bouldered, and hiked in this desert spot. 

9. Another famous national park is Yosemite! Unlike Joshua Tree National Park, Yosemite is known for its many beautiful waterfalls. 

10. Tourists enjoy seeing and driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. This suspension bridge is not really painted gold. Instead, it is painted international red so that it is more visible in the frequent San Francisco fog. 

11. Finally, many tourists love to go to Disneyland when they come to our state. This park is located in Anaheim, California, and was opened for the first time in the summer of 1955.

We would love comments from New Zealand and any other classrooms from around the world. 

What are you still wondering about California?

Tell us about your state or location! 

Vegemite: An Australian Tradition

Mrs. Yollis and her students live in Los Angeles, California. Through blogging, they have connected with a class that is 8,000 miles away in Australia! 

Here are the flags for each nation. 

How are they alike? What do the symbols and colors mean? 

  American Flag

                                                 

  Australian Flag

   

The Australian blogging buddies first connected on International Dot Day. Each class made a Connect the Dots at our School presentation. 

Mrs. Yollis Skyped into Miss Jordan's class at Barwon Heads Primary School. A topic of discussion was Vegemite. 

After the  International Dot Day  post was published, comments started rolling in. Here are some blog comments between the Australian and American classes. The topic of vegemite came up again! 

Will, Jake S., and Mila Replied to Daisy: 

Daisy, From Australia, Replied to Mila and Jake: 

As luck would have it, one of our parents is from the Land Down Under! Sam's father was born in Victoria, Australia, and came to the class to share about Australia and give everyone a sample of Vegemite!

Photo by Mrs. Yollis 

First, our Aussie friend talked about his native country. Students looked at a map of Australia. Why do people in the northern hemisphere call Australia the Land Down Under?

Photo by Mrs. Yollis




What did you learn about Australia? 

Next, it was time to have some Vegemite! Sam's father brought in bread, a toaster, butter, and Vegemite.  

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

After tasting the Vegemite, students were surveyed. 

Do you like Vegemite, yes or no?

20 yes

 3  no

Students lined up for seconds! Vegemite was a hit!

A big THANK YOU to Sam and his family for providing this special treat of Vegemite! 

What did you learn about Australia?

Please thank Sam's father for his contribution. (Do not used last names. Always limit personal information on the internet!) 

What would you like to know about Australia?

We're Going to Europe!

Well, we're not really going to Europe. However, we will be taking our shoes off and walking through Europe next week. How will we be exploring Europe in our socks? We have National Geographic's Giant Traveling Map of Europe for the week! 

We've had several Giant Maps over the past seven years. Here is some information about how we've used maps in the past. There are even some videos we made!

This 26' x 26' map will be available for touring in our Multi-Purpose room.

To make the most of our European visit, we are investigating Europe in many ways. First, we tried to name as many countries as we could. We did not do very well with that! 

Next, we looked at our Visitor Count ClustrMap on our blog. 

What do you notice about our visitors and the CONTINENTS they visit from?

CONTINENTS: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia/Oceania. (We know that Antarctica exists and is the seventh continent. However, no visitors exist from Antarctica, so we left it off.) 

Next, Mrs. Yollis clicked on our ClustrMap of Europe. 

What do you notice about our European visitors? Where are they mostly from? Do you know any of these bloggers?

We noticed that we have numerous visitors from the United Kingdom. 

What countries make up the United Kingdom (U.K.)?Which United Kingdom country visits us the most? 

Below are some screenshots of the visiting countries from the world. 

Which European countries visit us the most? 

Pick one of our European visitors and research the country using World Book Online. 

What are some important bodies of water or land features?

What are some important landmarks? What makes the landmark special? 

We want  to "visit" some of our blogging buddies next week.  

We'll see Mrs. Monaghan and her English students in Middleham, England. 

What are some important places to visit in England?

What are some important water or land features?

We've also connected with some Irish students.

What are some important places to visit in Ireland?

What are some important water or land features?

Are you from Europe? Please drop us a comment.

 Where do you live in Europe? You do not need to give too much personal information. You can just tell us the closest urban center to your school.  We look forward to "visiting" you next week in Europe!

What do you want to see in Europe? 

Add some informational text about a European country!