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! 

Share & Compare: California • Nebraska • New York

Today we had a wonderful Share & Compare session with two classes. One class lived in Nebraska, and one class lived in New York. We went from the west coast, across the plains, to the east coast of the United States! These teachers first connected at the Google Teacher Academy! 

Yesterday, @MsJennyKirsch tweeted out a photo of her fifth grade New Yorkers preparing for the HangOut. 

This morning, @catlett1 Brent Catlett tweeted out this picture so we could get a sense of what the day looked like in Nebraska. It was cold out on the plains today! Freezing is 32˚F! How many degrees above freezing was it in Nebraska? 

What do you call people from Nebraska?

He also tweeted out this picture and asked, "How many snowmen do you see on the playground?" Look carefully! 

In the spirit of sharing, we went outside with our thermometers and measured the temperature.  It was quite a bit hotter here in sunny California.  It was 81˚F at 10:00! As you can see, the Californians are wearing shorts and tank tops!

Here are some photos from the informative Google HangOut!

Share & Compare GoogleHangout on PhotoPeach

During the Share & Compare, students entered state data on a Google doc. The chart made it very easy to compare the three states, the three communities, and the three schools. It was also fun to watch everyone entering data from across the United States at the same time!

Here is a link to the state data!

Thank you, Shayna, for being our class photographer!

What did you learn?

If it was 11:00 A.M. in Los Angeles (Pacific Standard Time), 

what time was it in Nebraska and New York?

What are their time zones?

Please include any questions you have for our friends so we can answer them in a follow-up session!

Winter in Southern California

Mrs. Yollis saw a tweet from Mrs. Moore about Michigan weather. The post looked very interesting. 

We will be looking at the Techie Kids' post tomorrow and leaving comments, but we thought we'd share a few current photos from California. Here in southern California the winter temperatures are mild. February is the rainiest month, but as you can see from the clothing students are wearing, it is not very cold today!

Although the deciduous (də • sid • u • us ) trees are still bare, some are starting to sprout and shows signs of spring. Because the air temperatures are so mild, many people play outside and go for hikes on the weekends.

According to the National Weather Service (NOAA), the current temperature for Thursday, February 21, is: 

 Here is the forecast for the week. (Click to enlarge.) 

Head over to the Techie Kids blog and leave them a comment about your weather! 

Michigan's winter climate is very different than ours!

What is Plagiarism?

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary:

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Now that Mrs. Yollis' class is learning to research using the World Book Encyclopedia Online, it is important for everyone to understand how to share learning without just copying.

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How to share learning without becoming a plagiarist is tricky.

Step 1:   Read the passage completely.

Step 2:   Take notes on the interesting parts.
                  (IMPORTANT - Only write facts. Do not copy sentences.)

Example:

• California
• largest population
• 33,871,648 people

Step 3:    Use the facts to compose your own sentences.
                    Now is a good time to add your opinion as you share.


Example:

I was surprised to learn that my state, California, has the largest population of all fifty states. There are approximately  34 million California citizens. 

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 How do you research?

How would you feel if someone took your writing and tried to pass it off as their own?

Please leave a comment with something that YOU researched. Remember, put it in your own words!

(If your comment gets published, you will earn five minutes of free time on Mrs. Yollis' website!)