Japanese Culture

This week we are reading a story called How My Parents Learned to Eat. This story is all about an American sailor who married a young Japanese girl. Now here are a few things we have noticed:

1. They seem to always sit on the floor.
2. They sleep on the floor.
3. They eat with chopsticks all the time!
4. They also eat sukiyaki and tofu.
5. They drink their soup instead of eating it.
6. They wear kimonos.

Now these are a few things we just discovered through our reading and the pictures. Here is our question for you.....WHY? Why do they always sit on the floor? Why do they sleep on the floor? Why do they drink their soup instead of eating it? We are just very curious as to WHY!!!!??? We hope that you have some cool culture facts to share with us all about the Japanese culture!

 

Sukiyaki

Tofu

California Drought

We have recently discovered that California is in some big trouble! They are currently experiencing one of the worse droughts they have seen in over a hundred years. Lakes, reservoirs, and rivers are all dried up! Farmers are suffering from lack of water, produce, and income! So here are some of our discoveries...

Problems:
*crops die
* fewer vegetables and fruits
* higher prices
* little to NO water
* long time without water
* wildfires
* Seems to look a lot like the desert

Ideas to help: *Take vacations to California and carry water along for others!
* Run a pipe to transport water
*store water in containers and bottles for transportation
* Use airplanes to drop water
* plant large gardens here in Arkansas to donate vegetables
* Transport water to the lakes
* Use freezer trucks to transport excess snow and ice to California 

Creatures....

We have been taking time to create our very own polar species using Google! Here are a few...

We had to come up with diet, predators, habitat, and specific characteristics. 

We are back...

It has been a little while since we have been on our blog. We are so sorry but we have been very very busy! As you know, we worked so hard last time we blogged learning all about penguins! Well you would be completely amazed at what all we really did discover! (Don't worry pictures will hopefully be coming soon!) Now it is a new week and a new idea...so here we go!

This Sunday is Dr. Seuss' birthday! One of the greatest children's author ever...well in Ms. Race's opinion. In honor of a Dr. Seuss we would like to know.....

1. What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? What is your favorite part in that story?

2. When did Dr. Seuss begin his writing?

3. Do you like any of the Dr. Seuss' movies?

4. Can you give me a detail from your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

5. Have you ever tried.......green eggs and ham????

Penguins...

This week we are diving into the cold waters to find a very interesting animal! We are learning all about penguins this week. Penguins are actually pretty cool animals. Here are a few facts...

1. The daddy penguin carries the egg on his feet to keep it warm! 

2. Some penguins live in the South Polar region. 

3. An enemy of the penguin....is a sea lion! 

4. Penguins are cold-blooded animals. 

5. One penguin always keeps guard to assure it safe to enjoy lunch! 

Now it is your turn to tell us what you know! 

1. How fast can a penguin swim?

2. Why do they live in cold places? Where all do they live?

3. Do they have trouble with land animals or only sea animals?

4. What kind of food do they eat? Just fish?

5. How many species of penguins exist today?

Happy penguins! Please be sure to send us some cool websites! 

Sea Horses

This week we are diving back into the shallow waters of the ocean! We are learning all about sea horses. We have so far discovered sea horses are very interesting animals....they definitely have some unique things about them.
Here is just a tid bit of what we are have learned today:

1. The dad sea horse actually carries all the eggs! There can be hundreds of eggs at ONE TIME!!!
2. Each morning the sea horses dance first thing. 
3. The mom sea horse still makes the eggs but she passes them on to daddy! 
4. Once the babies are born, the mom and dad both leave the animals to survive on their own! 
5. Sea horses can camouflage themselves in the water!

These are a few of the things we have learned. Now it is your turn!

1.  What part of the ocean do they actually lay their eggs?
2. What are the enemies of the sea horse?
3. What types of food do sea horses eat?
4. Do sea horses migrate? Or do they live in one spot forever?
5. Why in the world are sea horses so small? 

Signs of Winter...(Part 2)

The last several months many people here in Dover have been shocked by our winter weather....NOT US!!! If you look back to October 2nd, we blogged about the persimmons we opened during the fall. Many of us opened several at home and connected with family members that had cut open persimmons. We had mostly spoons and a few knives. Remember...those spoons are all about the snow! Here is just a little tidbit of information that will help show the accuracy of our persimmons...

November 2013: Over Thanksgiving break we had 2 days with sleet falling from the sky. 

December 6th-December 10th- Dover was out of school due to several inches of snow in our area.

January 6th- THE COLDEST TEMPERATURES WE HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN DOVER!!!  

January 8th- January 11th Sleet and freezing rain started falling fast so we went home early...we were out of school for the rest of the week due to lots of ice! 

Old Man Winter sure is bringing us some cold weather...what more will we face? Can you help us try to predict our weather for the upcoming months of February and March...we can have a little fun and see who is right!