Showing posts with label Road Journey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road Journey. Show all posts

2023/01/22

Did You Ever Find a Special Rock?


The first rock in my rock collection was a gift from my grandmother. It had a small black crystal sticking out from the mostly light brown rock. I've wondered about that crystal forever. Did you ever find a special rock?

After my crystal rock, I found rocks of different colors and shapes on my own. The easiest rocks to find were in my garden, or on the way to parks in my neighborhood. When I went to the school library, I checked out a book about rocks. Later, I bought a laminated, fold-out guide to basic rocks to carry with me. Oceans and rivers have smooth rocks. Mountains, deserts, and valleys have all kinds of rocks.

Rocks are one or more minerals in many different combinations. As a rock collector, I learned that only twelve minerals make up most rocks. There are three main kinds of rocks: sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous. An important fact to know about rocks is how they were made. Every rock has a story. Sometimes how one finds a rock is also a story.

To learn more, check out one of the many books about rocks at your library.

To show how big a rock is, put a penny nearby.
copyright 2023 Linnea Heaney

Here is a book title to take to the library and start your rock explorations:

ALL ABOUT ROCKS: Discovering the World Beneath Your Feet by Alessandra Potenza, illustrated by Gary Lacoste (2021, Scholastic).


2018/01/28

Bubbles Everywhere

Bubbles Everywhere

Did you know that the sound of waves crashing onto the land is the sound of bubbles crashing? Take a road journey to a beach on an ocean. See the color of the water, and the color of the waves. Walk along the water and wiggle your toes in the bubbles as the tide comes in. Feel softness. Listen. Smell the air. If the salty ocean is too far, consider a water park trip when the temperatures warm. For now, think about garden water features that bubble up. Can you find a water feature in your town?


Your Own Bubble Liquid
   Dishwashing detergent
   Water
Gently add about 1/2 cup water into about 1 cup of dishwashing detergent. Find an old or new wand, or have an older person help you make a wand out of wire. Slide wand in and out of a pie pan filled with your bubble making liquid. Blow bubbles outside, at a nearby park, or playground.

Draw a bubble picture with you inside. Write words describing your journey with bubbles. Can you make up a story with bubbles in it?


2016/05/13

Find Your Park

2016 is a year of celebration in our over 400 national park units. The National Park Service is 100 years old. The NPS takes care of these special places. Some are nature wonderlands and others are about our country's heritage. All tell a story. Fourth graders can visit all of the NPS unit parks free, see Every Kid in a Park. Find your park, whether national, state, or city and tell your own story!

Every Kid in a Park

National Park Service Centennial

Find Your Park

National Park Maps


2014/02/14

Journey into the Past

Students, parents, and teachers wanting to learn about American history through all kinds of activities and books can visit the Our White House website from The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance.


OUR WHITE HOUSE

Road trip guides are on the website, too!
FAMILY FIELD GUIDE

More info:
THE NATIONAL CHILDREN'S BOOK AND LITERACY ALLIANCE
  

2013/02/13

Blue Marker Mystery

Have you ever seen the blue markers stuck to the city streets around your home or school? They are near the center of the street. The blue markers are usually square and often made of a plastic. The plastic reflects light from vehicle headlights at night. 

How do the markers get there? Why are the markers on the roads? What is the purpose of the blue markers? Can you think of a reason for the blue markers? 

When you go outside, find a blue marker and look around. What do you see? Solve the mystery of the blue marker. 

▪▪▪ 

Okay, ready? Read on to learn about the blue markers. 

The blue markers show where fire trucks need to stop, so firemen can connect their hoses to the nearby fire hydrants for water. Blue markers are always close to a fire hydrant in the United States. Fire hydrants provide water for fighting fires. 

Did you get the correct answer? Different names for the markers are blue dots, raised pavement markers, or reflective hydrant markers. And now you’ve solved the blue marker mystery. 

2012/12/12

CLOUD KEY



How Do We Get There?
copyright 2008 Linnea Heaney
Click label on each post to see archive.


Around the Home: activities for fun 

Book Questions: interesting questions

Book Journey: books to read 

Linnea's Stories: about Linnea’s stories

Pencil Journey: art and writing activities 

Picture Book Shelf: picture books to read aloud 

Road Journey: on the road ideas 

Trail Journey: on the trail ideas


Linnea's Website 
http://www.linneaheaney.com/

Linnea's Illuminated Notes 

Linnea's Illustrated Stories 



2012/10/13

Page Turned: Sendak

Artist and writer Maurice Sendak died this year. His art and papers are in the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There are always some of his pictures and books on exhibit at the museum for people on a road journey to see. 

Here is a short list of his books to find at a library or bookstore:
THE SIGN ON ROSIE’S DOOR, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1960). 

NUTSHELL LIBRARY, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1962). 

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1963). 

HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP! OR THERE MUST BE MORE TO LIFE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1967). 

IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1970). 

SOME SWELL PUP OR ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT A DOG? story by Maurice Sendak and Matthew Margolis, pictures by Maurice Sendak (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976).
 

Pencil Journey
Read the book, The Sign on Rosie’s Door. Find markers or crayons. And construction paper plus string and tape. Make a sign for a door using words and drawings. When friends come over, dress-up and put together a musical show. Invite an audience to enter the door with the sign to see the musical show. 

2012/07/28

Happy Birthday Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is most famous for illustrating her own story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. July 28th is Miss Potter’s birth date. She was born in 1866. That long ago it was hard for a young girl to find any encouragement to follow her dreams and be an artist, even by her own family.

Miss Potter was lucky to meet a publisher and a supportive editor. They found her drawings delightful. Her stories about the little animals around the English countryside farms in the Lake District became very popular. She earned enough money to start saving that countryside land and farming way of life. Miss Potter bought many farms and gave the land away to be set aside and conserved.

Today this land is the heart of the Lake District National Park. I found this a wonderful road journey in the country of Great Britain. I'm so glad to have had the chance to visit Miss Potter’s special places and spot a duck family in a glimmering mountain lake. 

Books to read again and don't miss the 21 other illustrated stories by Beatrix Potter:
THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT, story and pictures by Beatrix Potter (Frederick Warne, 1902).

THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK, story and pictures by Beatrix Potter (Frederick Warne, 1908).

A place to see Miss Potter’s original art:

Information for planning a dream journey to Lake District National Park:
 

2012/06/28

Road Trip Games

Twenty Questions (check on rules with teacher or family member)

I Spy (check on rules with teacher or family member)
 
Travel or Car Bingo (make cards ahead of time)
 
Mad Libs (buy or borrow book ahead of time)
 
Putt Putt Golf courses on the road
 
Junior Ranger activities in parks