Almost 70 miles west of Key West lies Dry Tortugas National Park. This 100-square mile park is mostly open water with seven small islands. You can only get there by boat or seaplane! The park is known all over the world as the home of magnificent Fort Jefferson, beautiful blue waters, lots of coral reefs and marine life, and the tons of bird life that visit the area!
Click the link below to go on a virtual field trip to this amazing place!
Once there, click the “Play” button. Make sure you have headphones so you can listen to the narrator! Click and drag to explore! Dive the Windjammer Shipwreck! Swim through a coral reef!
Comment below: What was your favorite part of this field trip?
Next week is Thanksgiving! As we get ready, let’s take a look at some fun facts about the holiday:
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three-day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians. It is believed by historians that only five women were present.
Turkey wasn’t on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. Venison, duck, goose, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish were likely served, alongside pumpkins and cranberries (but not pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce!).
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3rd, 1863. Sarah Joseph Hale, the woman who wrote “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, convinced him to make Thanksgiving a national holiday after writing him letters for 17 years!
There are 4 towns in the United States named “Turkey”. They can be found in Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and Louisiana.
The average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving is 4, 500!
The tradition of football on Thanksgiving began in 1876 with a game between Yale and Princeton. The first NFL games were played on Thanksgiving in 1920.
Thanksgiving is a time to be THANKFUL! Watch a video below to see what Kid President is thankful for!
Comment below to let us know what YOU’RE thankful for!!
Click on the image above to watch a video about the differences and similarities of Fables and Fairy Tales.
Fables are stories that are passed down, with a good lesson or moral to be learned, and are about animals, plants, or forces of nature that are humanlike. Fairy tales are stories that often involve magical characters, have good and evil characters, and generally start with “once upon a time.”
Click on the video below to hear a story. After you’ve listened to the story, scroll down to answer a couple of questions.
Answer the following questions in the comments below (don’t forget to include your first name and last initial and your school):
February is Black History Month, and it’s also the month for the 2022 Winter Olympics. To combine the two, we’re going to learn today about a great African-American Olympian, Jesse Owens.
Who was Jesse Owens?
Track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. His achievements were important for himself and for many other people at the time. The Games were held in Berlin, Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was in power there. Nazi banners draped the sports field. The Nazis believed white athletes were best. But Owens proved that they were wrong.
James Cleveland Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama, on September 12, 1913. His family later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in search of better opportunities.
Jesse became a track star at a young age. In 1928 he set track records in the high jump and the running broad jump (long jump). In 1933, while he was in high school, he broke three other records. He then went to Ohio State University.
In the Olympics Owens won gold medals for the running broad jump, the 100- and 200-meter races, and the 4 × 100-meter team relay. He also set new Olympic and world records.
Owens graduated from college in 1937 and worked for the Illinois Athletic Commission. He later got involved in guidance activities for young boys. He also made goodwill visits to countries in Asia for the U.S. government. Owens died in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 31, 1980.
To learn more about Jesse Owens, watch the video below.
What is the most important thing you learned about Jesse Owens? Comment below.
Did you know that there are awards for funny photographs of wildlife?
Born from a passion for wildlife, The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards began modestly in 2015 as a photographic competition.
Since then, it has grown into a worldwide competition seen by millions of people every year, and always with wildlife conservation at its heart.
The free competition, open to wildlife photography experts and beginners, celebrates the funniness of our natural world and highlights what we need to do to protect it. From a surprised otter to an angry turtle, Comedy Wildlife’s photographs bring a smile to everyone’s face.
Below is a link to a google slides presentation with some of the finalists for the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography awards.
Your job is to write something funny to go along with each photo!
Directions:
Click the link below.
Make a copy of the slides. Now they are yours!
Write something funny on each slide to go along with each picture.
When you are finished, click on the yellow share button.
Pictured above is one of my favorite poets – Amanda Gorman. In the picture, she is reading a poem at the inauguration of President Joe Biden! And, she is just 22 years old!!
Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer! She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. Now her words have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others.
In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest. board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.
Click on the link below to watch Amanda Gorman read her poem “Talking Gets Us There”.
We will celebrate National Unicorn Day on April 9th. Check out these fun unicorn topics to stretch your knowledge about this mythical beast to get ready!
Martin Luther King Jr’s father was the pastor of the Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America.
Martin was a gifted student. He was awarded several university degrees.
He decided he wanted to become a minister and delivered his first sermon at his father’s church at the age of 18.
In December 1955, in Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested for failing to give up her bus seat to a white man.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was appointed president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which led the boycott of the Montgomery bus services. (A boycott is where you stop using goods or services to bring about a change.)
The bus boycott lasted 381 days at the end of which the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very brave man who believed in non-violent protest. During the course of his campaign his house was bombed, he was arrested on numerous occasions, and he was stabbed. Finally, he was shot and killed at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr King was a very powerful orator (speech maker). His most famous speech, “I Have A Dream”, was delivered to an audience of 250,000 people.
Following Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder, a national day of mourning was declared in the USA.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, held on the third Monday of January, is now a public holiday in the USA.
Have you heard of Kid President? Click on the video below to watch him tell the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, in the comments, tell us how will you celebrate and honor Dr. King on his special day.
