Showing posts with label North America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North America. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2017

Klamath-Siskyou Mountains


We just learned about the Calapooya Mountains.

Another group of mountain ranges in the Pacific Coast Belt of the North American Cordillera are the Klamath-Siskyou Mountains in Oregon and California.

In this group there are the Klamath, Siskiyou, Trinity Alps, Salmon and Yolla Bolly mountains.
The Yolla Bolly mountains get their name from the Wintu Native American words for "snowy peak" since it's one of the only mountain areas that gets snow.

There are a lot of protected forests in this area, over 7 million acres, including a 400 mile trail called the "Bigfoot Trail".

(from: wikipedia - klamath mountains (ecoregion))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Winnipeg

Monday, January 16, 2017

Calapooya Mountains


We just learned about the Oregon Coast Range.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt of the North American Cordillera is the Calapooya Mountains in Oregon.

These mountains have a lot of forests, and long ago they acted like a wall that people had trouble getting around, so they built the Applegate Trail to help travelers get to the gold mines that were in Northern California.


(from: wikipedia - calapooya mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Erie

Monday, January 9, 2017

Oregon Coast Range


We just learned about the Cascade Range.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt in the North American Cordillera is the Oregon Coast Range.

There are many forests in this mountain range, and many people use this area to get trees to be used for houses and buildings.


(from: wikipedia - oregon coast range)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Great Slave Lake

Monday, January 2, 2017

Cascade Range


We just learned about the Olympic Mountains in the Pacific Coast Belt of the North American Cordillera.

Another mountain range in the belt is the Cascade Range which goes from British Columbia Canada, through Washington, Oregon and Northern California.

There are a lot of volcanoes in this mountain range, and for the last 200 years all of the volcanoes that have erupted in the lower US states were in the Cascades.

The most famous eruption was Mount St. Helens in 1980.

The famous people Lewis and Clark came through the Cascades mapping their way across the US.




(from: wikipedia - cascade range)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Malawi

Monday, December 26, 2016

Olympic Mountains


Remember we're learning about the moutain ranges in the Pacific Coast Belt on the North American Cordillera.

We just learned about the Insular Mountains.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt is the Olympic Mountains.

These mountains have water on three sides, with the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Seattle to the east.
Because they are surrounded by so much water, the western slopes are the wettest place in the lower 48 states, which doesn't include Alaska and Hawaii.

The tallest mountain in this range is Mount Olympus, which is different from the famous mountain in Greece.


(from: wikipedia - olympic mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Great Bear Lake

Monday, December 19, 2016

Insular Mountains


We just learned about the Coast Mountains in the Pacific Coast Belt, in the North American Cordillera.

Another mountain range in that belt is the Insular Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

These mountains were made from lava, and created the Vancouver Islands and the Haida Gwaii Islands.
The bottom of these mountains goes below the sea level, which is called not fully exposed.

There are still many earthquakes in this area.


(from: wikipedia - insular mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Baikal

Monday, December 12, 2016

Coast Mountains


We just learned about the Yukon Ranges in the Pacific Coast Belt of the North American Cordillera.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt is the Coast Mountains.
On the west side of these ranges is a temperate rainforest, which then leads to ice fields and glaciers in the middle, and on the east side is plateaus and forests.

This mountain range has the largest bunch of ice fields in the world.


(from: wikipedia - coast mountains)


(from: wikipedia - coast mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Tanganyika

Monday, December 5, 2016

Yukon Ranges


We just learned about the Talkeetna Mountains in the Pacific Coast Belt of the North American Cordillera.

Another famous mountain range is the Yukon Ranges in Alaska and Canada.

There are a bunch of other smaller "sub ranges" inside the Yukon ranges, called the Anvil Range, Dawson Range, Miners Range, Nisling Range, Ogilvie Mountains, Nahoni Range, Pelly Mountains, Big Salmon Range, Glenlyon Range, Saint Cyr Range, Ruby Range, Russel Range and Wrangell Mountains.

The Wrangell Mountains are mostly from volcanoes, and are some of the largest shield volcanoes in the US.


(from: wikipedia - yukon ranges)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Michigan

Monday, November 28, 2016

Talkeetna Mountains


We just learned about the Chugach Mountains.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coastal Belt is the Talkeetna Mountains.

There is a glacier on this mountain called the Mint Glacier, and there is a Mint Valley, and even mountain peaks called the Troublemint and Doublemint peaks.


(from: wikipedia - talkeetna mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Huron

Monday, November 21, 2016

Chugach Mountains


We just learned about the Kenai Mountains.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt in Alaska is the Chugach Mountains.

These mountains are right by the Gulf of Alaska, and because of that they get more snowfall than anywhere else in the world, usually getting over 600 inches (50 feet!) of snow per year.


(from: wikipedia - chugach mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Victoria

Monday, November 14, 2016

Kenai Mountains


We just learned about the Pacific Coast Belt group of mountain ranges that are part of the North American Cordillera group of mountain belts.

There are many mountain ranges in the Pacific Coast Belt, like the Kenai Mountains.

The Kenai mountains are in Alaska, and are between 3,000 to 5,000 feet tall.
There have many glaciers on these mountains, as well as rivers that are very popular for fishing.

The mountains were named after the Kenai natives who lived in the area.





(from: wikipedia - kenai mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Superior

Monday, November 7, 2016

Pacific Coast Belt


We just learned that the North American Cordillera is a group of five different mountainous areas in North America.

The first area is called the Pacific Coast Belt.

This belt contains four mountain ranges: The Southern Alaska ranges, the Western System of Canada, the Pacific Border Province in contiguous U.S. and the Western mountain ranges of Mexico.



(from: wikipedia - Pacific Coast Ranges)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Caspian Sea

Monday, October 31, 2016

North American Cordillera


We just learned about the Saint Elias Mountains in Alaska.

Most of the mountain ranges we've learned about have been in Asia, as those are the highest mountains in the world.

In North America, there are mountain ranges that are part of a group of mountain ranges.
The word cordillera means a group of different mountain ranges.

The North American Cordillera is a group of five different areas called belts that all have mountain ranges in them.


(from: wikipedia - north american cordillera)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: US Virgin Islands

Monday, October 24, 2016

Saint Elias Mountains


We just learned about the Alaska Range mountains.

The next highest mountain range is the Saint Elias Mountains.

These mountains are on the southern coast of Alaska, right on the pacific ocean.
Because they are on the coast, they are called coastal mountains.
They are the highest coastal mountains on earth.


(from: wikipedia - saint elias mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Puerto Rico

Monday, October 17, 2016

Alaska Range


We just learned about the Andes Mountains.

The next highest mountain range is the Alaska Range.

These mountains are like a big wall blocking warm air from the Gulf of Alaska, so the weather on these mountains is very rough.

There are also earthquakes and volcanoes on this range, even though it is way up north in Alaska.


(from: wikipedia - alaska range)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Northern Mariana Islands

Monday, November 2, 2015

US Virgin Islands


We just learned about the US territory of Puerto Rico.

Another US territory is the US Virgin Islands, which is in the Atlantic Ocean to the south east of Florida.

There are three main islands, and about 50 other very small islands.


(from: wikipedia - united states virgin islands)

The flag of the US Virgin Islands is white with an eagle between the letters V and I.
In one talon the eagle holds an olive branch, and in the other it holds three arrows for the three major islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix.

(from: wikipedia - flag of the united states virgin islands)

There is an old fort on one of the islands named Fort Willoughby that is over 200 years old.

(from: wikipedia - hassel island, u.s. virgin islands)

Trunk Bay on the island of St. John has a white sand beach and snorkeling.

(from: wikipedia - virgin islands national park)

In all of the rest of the US and its territories, people drive cars on the right side of the road. In the US Virgin Islands, they drive on the left side of the road. place

(from: wikipedia - right- and left-hand traffic)

Across the US are 10 very large satellite dishes, over 10 feet tall each.
They make up something called the Very Long Baseline Array, that can be used to look into outer space.
One of them is on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.

(from: wikipedia - very long baseline array)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Arkansas

Monday, October 26, 2015

Puerto Rico



We just learned about the US Territory of Northern Mariana Islands.

Another US territory is the island of Puerto Rico, which is just east of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.


(from: wikipedia - puerto rico)

The flag of Puerto Rico has a blue triangle with a star in it, three red stripes and two white stripes.


(from: wikipedia - flag of puerto rico)

On Flamenco Beach, there are some old rusting tanks that were left there over 30 years ago, and people have painted graffiti on them.

(from: wikipedia - flamenco beach)

There is a fancy old fire station called Parque de Bombas that was designed over 100 years ago to show off at the world's fair.

(from: wikipedia - parque de bombas)

There is a giant telescope called Arecibo Observatory that is over 1000 feet wide.

(from: wikipedia - arecibo observatory)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Arizona

Monday, October 19, 2015

Northern Mariana Islands


We just learned about the US Territory of Guam.

Another US territory is the Northern Mariana Islands, which are north of Australia.


(from: wikipedia - northern mariana islands)

Their flag has a blue background, with a white star, a latte stone and a decorative wreath.

(from: wikipedia - flag of northern mariana islands)

Latte stones are large cut stone pillars that are from very old times.
Many people believe they were used to hold up large houses for the important people on the island.

(from: wikipedia - latte stone)

Pagan island is one of the islands in the territory, and people used to live there until the volcano erupted.
Now it is an empty island with a volcano.

(from: wikipedia - pagan island)

Anatahan is another island in the territory that is empty because of the volcanic eruptions.

(from: wikipedia - anatahan)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Alaska

Monday, October 12, 2015

Guam


We just learned about the territory of American Samoa.

Another American territory is Guam.
Guam is in the Pacific ocean, north of Australia.


(from: wikipedia - guam)

The flag of Guam has a blue background, a red border, and the seal in the middle.
The seal is shaped like a type of stone called a Chamorro sling stone, which was used for hunting.
On the seal are a coconut, a boat called a proa, a palm tree, a river and the Agana Bay.

(from: wikipedia - flag of guam)

There is a high place on the island overlooking the ocean called Puntan Dos Amantes.

(from: wikipedia - guam)

There is a peninsula on the island that sticks out and makes an area called Apra Harbor that is very nice for ships to travel in and out of.

(from: wikipedia - apra harbor)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Alabama

Monday, October 5, 2015

American Samoa


We've looked at the 50 states in the US, and Washington D.C..

There are also places called US territories, that are kind of like states except some of them can't do things like vote for president or some other laws.

One of the territories is called American Samoa.
It is out in the Pacific ocean, between Hawaii and Australia.

Their motto is "Samoa, Muamua Le Atua" which means Samoa, Let God Be First.


(from: wikipedia - american samoa)

The flag of American Samoa is red white and blue with a bald eagle on it.
The bald eagle is holding a Samoan uatogi war club for the power of the government, and a Samoan fue fly-whisk for the wisdom of the Samoan leaders.

(from: wikipedia - flag of american samoa)

The seal of American Samoa has the fue fly switch, the To'oto'o staff for the chiefs, and the Tanoa bowl for service to the chief.

(from: wikipedia - seal of american samoa)

There are tattoos there called pe'a for boys and malu for girls.
The boys get tattoos all the way from their back down to their knees.
The girls get tattoos from their thighs to their knees.


(from: wikipedia - pe'a)

There is a special fire dance in American Samoa called the siva afi, or fire knife.

(from: wikipedia - fire knife)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Liberia