Booking Across the USA, Alaska

I'm excited to be participating in "Booking Across the USA", a collaborative blogging project hosted by Jodie at Growing Book by Book today (Jodie has a couple of great give aways going on with this event...go check them out and enter to win).  50+ bloggers have come together to pick a picture book that represents their state and have done go along projects with their kids.  While we live in the south, we chose Alaska to fill in a gap and I'm so glad we did!

Geography has been something I've been a little slack in teaching my kids. So, I felt like we needed to start from square one when talking about Alaska. We pulled out Little J's globe and found Alaska and traced our way back to our state.  Wow, that's a long way!

Our assignment was to pick a picture book about Alaska, but as you can see...I had a little trouble.  I also had a little trouble with doing just one project with our assignment too...so, please join us for a week long journey to Alaska.

Our chosen picture book is 

Mama Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joose

This book is about an Inuit child that repeatedly asks her mother will she love her if... (It's along the lines of The Runaway Bunny).  The story weaves in many Alaskan animals. I was appreciative of the glossary that defined some of the Inuit words and described arctic life and animals further.  My kids, like many kids, love animals and enjoyed this story.

After reading the book, we looked up the animals mentioned in it.  We used some of our nonfiction books to find out more about the Alaskan tundra and the animals that live there.  We talked about what life must be like in someplace so cold and remote.  The kids were most fascinated by the wood frog that freezes and stops its heart in winter and comes alive and thaws in the spring.

I found some some pictures that we printed and the kids glued on a poster.  We're going to add facts about Alaska as the week goes along.

We're starting an Alaskan tundra diorama this afternoon.  I'll share our progress tomorrow.

Here are some of our other posts from the week...
Alaska, Aurora Borealis
Alaska, Totem Pole Snack
Alaska, Salmon Life Cycle

Enjoy the other 49 states at these links....

Alabama: Everyday Snapshots
Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days
Arizona: Simply Kinder
Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas
California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom
Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now
Connecticut: The Teacher Park
Delaware: Mama Miss
Florida: Teaching Stars
Georgia: Fabulously First
Hawaii: Teaching With Style
Idaho: True Aim Education
Illinois: Growing Book by Book
Indiana: Teach Preschool
Iowa: Surviving a Teacher's Salary
Kansas: KCEdventures
Kentucky: Chicken Babies
Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog
Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care
Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes
Massachusetts: Mama Smiles
Michigan: Play DrMom
Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory
Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk
Missouri- Ready. Set. Read!
Montana: The Honey Bunch
Nebraska: The Good Long Road
Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts
New Hampshire: Elementary Matters
New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing
New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom
New York: What Do We Do All Day
North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog
North Dakota: ND HealthWorks
Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog
Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten
Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher
Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time
Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade
South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom
South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory
Tennessee: No Monkey Business
Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen
Utah: Teach Beside Me
Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog
Virgina: Once Upon a Story, and The Freckled Homeschooler
Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama
West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me
Wisconsin: Reading Confetti
Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle
USA: The Corner on Character


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