Our visit to the State of Washington

Some fun facts we learned about Washington:

• The most rain any place in Washington ever got in one day was 14.26 inches at Mt. Mitchell in 1986.



• The highest place in Washington is Mt. Rainier, which is 14,410 feet above sea level.



• Washington is the only state to be named after a president.



• The state flower is the Coast Rhododendron.



• The state tree is the Western Hemlock.



• The state bird is the Willow Goldfinch.



• The state fish is the steelhead trout.



• The state dance is the square dance.



• The state fruit is the apple.



• The state fossil is the Columbian Mammoth (and a group of fourth-graders from Windsor Elementary in Cheney worked with the state Legislature to make this happen!).



• The state marine mammal is the Orca (and a group of students from Crescent Harbor Elementary in Oak Harbor worked with the state Legislature to make this happen!).



• The state vegetable is the Walla Walla sweet onion.



• The state capitol is Olympia. Native Americans who lived here for generations called it “The Black Bear Place.”



• The Space Needle in Seattle is 605 feet tall.



• Washington has five major volcanoes as part of the Cascade Range: Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens.



• The Centennial Trail that goes from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene is 69 miles long.

 We were going to make apple pie, but ended up making hot buttered apple juice with cinnamon.

 Finding Washington on our File folder game.

 Caty loves this part of school.  She is coloring her Willow GoldFinch.

We also watched videos of events that happened at Peace Arch International Park.



And learned more about the World's Largest Concrete Power Dam, Grand Coulee Dam.  Lydia argued with me that it really isn't a dam...because only wooden dams built by beavers could be called a dam.  Too funny, she was on the side of the beavers!!!



Did you know that Washington is the home of temperate rainforests?  What a great way to add some science to Geography!!  Great discussions had about this topic.

We didn't get a chance to do a major project this week.  But we learned some cool things about Washington!

Next week....Ohio!