podcast interview

Michigan’s State Symbols

State Bird: robin

State Fish: brook trout (what a coincidence, just like New Jersey!)

State Flower: apple blossom

State Tree: eastern white pine

State Motto: If you seek a peninsula, look about you

State’s General Population: 10,120,860

Michigan Facts (Both Fun and Normal)

You just learned Michigan’s state motto, which is If you seek a peninsula, look about you. If you are wondering what a peninsula is; it’s land that is surrounded by water on 3 sides. Michigan is actually split up into TWO peninsulas, because of the four great lakes that surround it.

The great lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and of course, Lake Michigan. They are what keeps Michigan from being an ordinary, fully connected piece of land.

Michigan’s capitol is Lansing but their biggest city would be Detroit. And speaking of Detroit, Michigan, you might want to know that one of Dalton’s librarians, by the name of Joe Quain, is FROM Detroit, Michigan. Most people at Dalton know him.

Battle Creek, Michigan is somtimes called ‘Cereal City’ because it homes the Kellog cereal brand. If you eat Kellog cereal, this is probably an interesting thing to know.

Sometimes people call Michigan the Wolverine State, but it’s believed that there are NO wild wolverines in Michigan. It’s a strange nickname, if you ask me.

Then Mrs. Edinger put it up in the hall so everyone could see it. (The only other ones there are c17ar and c17ds’s, and c17am and c17sp’s.)

Yesterday we had our Tea Party (based on the one the Mad Hatter and March Hare had in Alice in Wonderland) and I brought the jam. There were cookies and tarts and butter and strawberries & cream and fruit and cupcakes (mini ones) and Kool-aid and hot chocolate and tea.

There was also entertainment (where people would recite poetry from Alice in Wonderland like You are old, Father William and the Walrus and the Carpenter) and c17db recited Jabberwocky from memory and he didn’t make any mistakes. He didn’t have to use the book either, like every other group did. He was the best entertainment.

Then we played Pin the Smile on the Cheshire Cat. People got really close (one person, I forget who, put the smile right next to the real smile!) but no one got it exactly. I almost put it on the door (according to someone) but then I ended up putting it on the wall.

This was a really fun project!!!!!

It starts out with a description of what her village, which is shadowed by Fruitless Mountain, a mountain where nothing grows. Minli’s family works hard, like everyone else in the village, but they are still poor. Her life changes when a man, selling goldfish, comes by. According to him, the goldfish will bring fortune to the house that it lives in.

So Minli gives him some copper coins, and the goldfish is hers. When she brings it home, though, her mother is mad. “Another mouth to feed!” she complains. So that night, Minli sneaks out of the house with the goldfish, and sets her free. And then the goldfish speaks to her, and gives her directions to Never-Ending Mountain, where she will find the Old Man of the Moon.

I would tell you more, but you should read it instead.

Ever eaten Campbell Soup? It’s based on Camden. The company has it’s own MUSEUM there! The Campbell Museum has soup bowls dating back 2,500 years.

In 1982 the New Jersey State Aquarium (in Camden) opened. Children all over New Jersey loved it. 

If you want to learn more about Camden and New Jersey read the book From Sea to Shining Sea: New Jersey. 

Sometimes people come to see wildlife. They will visit Cape May’s Whale Watch and Research Center, then take the boat tour. On the tour you can check the water for whales and/or dolphins. 

Some people take the tour for other reasons. In the fall, tons of bird-watchers hit the boats and try to spot the most types of birds to win the contest. They’re 700, so it could take a while to spot them all! 

If you plan on visiting this place for a vacation, or maybe just a day trip, try staying at the Abbey, a seaside inn at Cape May. 

To look Cape May up some more, you can read the book From Sea to Shining Sea: New Jersey. It will have info about New Jersey in general, not just Cape May. 

• It’s name origin was from the Channel Isle of Jersey
• The capitol is Trenton, New Jersey. This is also where the first professional basketball game was played.
• The governer is Jon Corzine
• New Jersey has 13 U.S representatives.
• It entered the Union on Dec. 18, 1787
• New Jersey’s motto: “Liberty and Prosperity.”
• Their nickname is the “Garden State”
• Their number of counties is 21
• They have 11 state forests and 42 state parks.

These are not all of the facts of New Jersey, and if you want to know more click on the link at the beginning of this post.

This is a really good, really mysterious book. It’s written by Rebecca Stead (google Rebecca Stead when you reach me) and it takes place in 1979. The main character is a girl named Miranda, and there is a lo going on in her life. First, her mom is going on the show $20,000 Pyramid,then Richard, Miranda’s mom’s friend who is quizzing her so she can win $20,000 Pyramid, asks her to marry him, then her best friend Sal stops being her best friend. So Miranda becomes friends with Collin and Anne Marie. Then, one day, Miranda starts getting notes from a mysterious, unidentified person. The person tells Miranda that he needs her to write a letter, so he can ’save her friends life and possibly his own.’

Some parts are a little confusing (personally, I think only a genius would get it) like when Marcus (if you’ve read the book, Miranda first calls him ‘The Kid Who Punched Sal’) talks to her about the book she’s reading, A Wrinkle in Time, and Marcus is saying that if they came back 5 minutes before they left they would see themselves leave.

It’s really mystifying and not as obvious as some ‘mystery’ books. In fact, I don’t think you would ever know who it was just by guessing. Unfortunately, if you do not have an advanced readers copy, you won’t be able to actually read the book until July.

When it comes out though, I suggest you read it right away.

Most of the drawings take place in the courtroom, except for the last scene, where Alice wakes up from her dream. So far, most of the really good drawings are by c17jl. He made the Duchess’s cook look like a ball of dough (aka, really fat.)

We are also watching a movie during lunch called Dream Child. It’s about Alice as a old woman, and she is being haunted by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carrol.) She has a imaginary  companion named Lucy and they are going to America from England. As soon as they get there they get mobbed by reporters who want to have Alice be in their newspaper. Then one of the news reporters fall in love with Lucy (I think.) So he takes her to this dance while Alice is sleeping, but during her dream she gets haunted by Lewis Carrol. Then, when she wakes up, she gets haunted by the Mad Hatter and the March Hare and the Dormouse. They all got really old along with Alice so they are really wrinkly and scary and ugly. That’s about how far we got.

If you want to see c17jl’s post about this, click here.

The most recent hurricane was called hurricane Ike.

This post was written by my buddy.

This is a picture of me and my buddy.