Landmarks and Symbols of the US

We have been studying symbols of the United States, along with a few important landmarks.

Here's just a taste of what we've learned about:

The Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem, was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, during the War of 1812. He wrote it while on a British boat, watching to see whether the British would overtake the Fort or whether the US would win that battle. He was overjoyed to see the flag still waving the next morning and to know the US had won the battle.


Our flag is made of 13 red and white stripes. These represent the 13 original colonies. The fifty stars represent the 50 states. We also talked a little bit about how to care for the flag and that it reminds us of the freedoms we enjoy.

The pledge was originally written by Francis Bellamy to celebrate Columbus Day. Several changes have been made to the original pledge (the original pledge said: I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.) The pledge is a promise to stay true to our country. We talked about how to say the pledge correctly.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are an important document that explains the government. They give laws and explain who has power within the government. They also explain the rights that we have as citizens.


The Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is a symbol of freedom. In the past it was used to announce important meetings and also to help bring the North and South back together again after the Civil War.

The Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is our national bird. It isn't really bald, but because most of its feathers are black and its head is white, it looks bald from a distance. The bald eagle was chosen as our national bird because it is strong, lives a long time and looks so regal. It reminds us of the strength of our nation.

Some of the landmarks we have learned about are:

The Statue of Liberty: a gift to the US from France



US Capitol in Washington D.C.: This is where the Senate and House of Representatives meet to make the laws for our nation.


The White House: This is where the President lives.



The Lincoln Monument: A beautiful monument created to remember our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, and his Emancipation Proclamation which ended slavery. He was the President during the Civil War.


Washington Monument: To remember our first President, George Washington.


Mount Rushmore: Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Four of our presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) are carved into the mountain.



The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world. It was the largest when it was built in 1937. It is a beautiful bridge and a symbol of San Francisco and the US.



Take this quiz about Landmarks

Check out this tour of Famous US Landmarks.

Productive Thinking

In ELD, our wonderful ELP (gifted/talented) teacher comes in once each week to work with my group. We have been learning about productive thinking: coming up with many, varied, and unusual ideas. Our ELP teacher has done a number of fun things to get students working on being creative and using productive thinking. Today's activity was no exception.

First, she had students brainstorm a list of things that are circular. Then she showed how 2 or more circles can be combined to make a snowman, a stoplight and so on. Then she gave them the productive thinking task. She gave them a paper with four shapes. They were to add to these shapes to create pictures. They were to try to come up with several ideas and then choose the idea that they thought would be the most unusual and different. Many of them had some similarities, but there were so many creative ideas. Here are just a few examples of what they came up with:

The four original shapes:



The students' creations:

A toothbrush with toothpaste, a fish, a slingshot and a crayon


the flag (this was a very popular choice) and bowtie



I thought this was so clever. This student used two of the shapes to create a creature or robot. Sorry it is upside down.



cake (also upside down. Sorry!) door, bow and arrow



barbell, rainbow


German flag, dinosaur, design, and a girl looking at herself in the mirror

What clever children!

Spooky Reads

Here are a few Halloween reads that your child might enjoy:

Boris and Bella by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by Gris Grimly... cute, clever story, creepy/fun illustrations

The Little Green Witch by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, illustrated by Martha Alexander... a Halloween remake of The Little Red Hen...with a fun twist at the end.

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler... a witch keeps making room on her broom for friends...until the broom snaps in two. Then they have to come up with a plan for the best broom of all.

A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee and illustrated by Harry Bliss... A little witch and little girl both show their bravery.

The Halloween House by Erica Silverman and illustrated by Jon Agee...A counting back book (from 10 to 1) with rhyming and all your favorite Halloween creatures.

CinderHazel... The Cinderella of Halloween... by Deborah Nourse Lattimore... I love clever remakes of fairy tales... and this Halloween Cinderella is sure to delight... Cinder Hazel is the messiest Cinderella of all.

The Witch Next Door by Norman Bridwell (author of Clifford)... Some neighbors don't want a witch living next to them... so the witch casts a (kind) spell on them.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything... Lovely repetitive book with a great ending.

The Benefits of Picture Books

I'm part of a children's literature group on Goodreads (which I love!) and links to a NY Times Article were posted there. The article talks about how and supposedly why picture book sales have been declining. I say supposedly because while I think there is some truth in what the article says, I think the article was very slanted and only considered one possible reason for the decline. Anyway,if you want to read the article here's the link: NY Times Article

I want to point out a few things. First, the parent who was quoted in the article was misquoted and has written a response explaining her position and telling more about her children's reading lives. Second, I think the article was written in an alarmist method. I don't know that looking at one year of sales is enough to say that picture books are no longer popular. And even if sales are declining, I don't think they can necessarily use that to draw the conclusions that they did. But it did make me think that I would like to share why I think picture books are valuable.

After reading the article as well as two responses to it, I wanted to share my thoughts. You might also want to read this link for someone else's views on why picture books are valuable...as well as to find information about many great children's books: Book Moot

Here's what I said about the article on Goodreads:
"While I still find the article a little sad, I guess I like to focus on what I can control. I certainly can't control how other people choose to spend their money (and I can't afford to buy enough picture books to personally make much of a dent in picture book sales! :)) but I can read aloud great picture books to my students and my children. I sometimes blog about my favorites and review them here on Goodreads. I also sometimes pass especially good ones on to other teachers. And if those of us who love picture books do those things then we'll raise a generation of kids who love picture books and see the value in them."

So, in no way am I trying to get kids or parents to stop reading chapter books. I love chapter books, and my daughter is thrilled to be reading chapter books now. But I would discourage pushing kindergartners and first graders to read chapter books...if they are ready and they choose them, that's okay, but I would keep a big emphasis on picture books. And I would have my kids keep reading picture books as long as they are willing and I would read picture books aloud to them until they are at least 8-10 years old. Here is why:

**Picture books cover a wide range of genres. Often once kids begin reading chapter books, they get hooked on a series or specific genre of book. This is not bad...in fact in many ways it is good. But you can often get children to read a picture book from a genre that they might not take the time to read in a chapter book. This exposes them to many new ideas and ways of seeing the world.

**Picture books contain amazing illustrations. Exposing children to great artwork engages their brains in a different way and is enriching.

**Picture books contain beautiful language. Few children reread chapter books over and over, but kids fall in love with the language, rhythm and cadence of well-written picture books and these books are read over and over. Repeated reading of well loved books increases vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, understanding of text structure, etc. OH and perhaps most importantly, it leads to engagement and enjoyment!

**Many picture books actually contain more difficult vocabulary and concepts than early chapter books and beginning reader books.

** Reading picture books aloud builds family togetherness, bonding, etc. It leads to great discussions and strengthens love and builds an eagerness for reading. Honestly, as a teacher (and a parent) if I could get every parent to do one thing it would be to read to their kids.

**Picture books come in a wide range of levels. Some are aimed at very young children but some are truly aimed at preteens, teens and even adults. I can literally say that many picture books have brought me to tears.

A few examples are Thank You, Mr. Falker and Junkyard Wonders, both by Patricia Polacco as well as She Taught Me To Eat Artichokes by Mary Kay Shanley and illustrated by Paul Micich.

Not only have picture books caused me to cry, they often make me laugh. I love rewritten fairy tales with a modern twist or fun new perspective. I'm writing a post on my other blog with some of my favorites listed.

And want to get in a holiday mood? NO matter whether the approaching holiday is Halloween, Christmas or the Fourth of July, there are darling picture books to get you in the mood. I fill my classroom and home with holiday books and it adds to the excitement.

I know that reading chapter books feels like a rite of passage for many kids. So, here in my home, what I do is let my second grader read aloud to me from her chapter book and then she and her sisters each pick a picture book for me to read to them. When we go to the library, they can each check out one chapter book but up to 8 or 10 picture books. I certainly don't think you should make a child read picture books, but every child loves to be read to. As a teacher, I have read aloud picture books to kids in first grade up to sixth grade. And in fact, I've seen a junior high teacher read aloud picture books to kids...and that teacher had them enthralled, on the edge of their seat and eager for more! So what I'm hoping is that as parents, we keep reading and buying and checking out picture books. We are the models for our children. If we fill our homes and our lives with great books...both picture books and chapter books, our lives will be richer and so will our children's lives.

Bird Refuge, Part 2

As part of our field trip to the Salt Lake Nature Center, we went into their education room and learned about some of the birds that stop here as they migrate south for the winter. The wonderful teacher explained how the birds beaks are specially adapted to help them get the food they need/like as well as telling them other interesting facts about the birds. Then the kids got to pretend to be birds with different beaks. She spread a variety of types of "food" (plastic bugs, fish, plants, etc.) on the table and each child got a different type of beak to show that different beaks work better for some foods than others.







The education room also had quite a few birds stuffed so the kids could see them up closer.

More about Birds

After our wonderful visit to the Salt Lake Nature Center to see birds, we returned and did some fun projects about birds. We wrote about what we saw and learned and painted pictures of the birds. I also stole this idea from a good friend, Aly, and had the students make pages that show the different parts of a bird and we talked about how birds have different adaptations to help them survive and find food.

Basically the kids used various art supplies to show their beaks, their nests, their eggs, and their feathers.

Farmington Bay Nature Center

We took our field trip today to the Farmington Bay Nature Center to see the birds and learn about their adaptations. It was such a neat field trip! The kids (and I!) loved it. Although it was definitely warm outside. But we got to see many birds and learn so many great things.... this is the first post of 2 or 3 to talk about the field trip. Some of the birds we saw include cormorants, yellow winged blackbirds, grebes, several types of ducks, Canada goose, pelican, great blue heron, California gull and possibly swans. Here are some photos of the nature walk part of the field trip:

The moon's craters

On Thursday we did an experiment to show why some craters are big and some are smaller and why some craters have lines stretching out from them (it is the dirt that was scattered when a meteorite hit). We had flour in a bucket and then I sprinkled cocoa on the top...the flour represents the rocks on the moon, the cocoa the layer of dust. Then students dropped a rock from different heights and at different speeds. If the rock was dropped close to the ground (a rock traveling slowly) then it just made a small dent in the flour. But if it was dropped from up higher and especially if it was thrown with force, then the dent/crater was much larger and often flour was scattered all around the crater. This is what has happened on the moon. It is covered with craters of various sizes. And because there is no air, no wind, no weather, and no water, the dirt/dust settles after the meteorite hits and stays there for thousands or even millions of years.

The students were very interested to hear that Buzz Aldrin's and Neil Armstrong's footprints on the moon will be there for more than a million years. They are very interested in the moon and have great questions.