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Fourth and Fifth Graders |
Third Graders |
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Hello, from Mrs. Cress's class
Kyrene del Norte Elementary School.
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Fourth and Fifth Graders |
Third Graders |
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Our school is located on
1331 E. Redfield Road in Tempe, Arizona.
Tempe
is a part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, which has about 2.5 million people.
We are surrounded by the cities of Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler and
Phoenix. Small rocky mountains are within and around the area.
Our School has pre-school through fifth grade students.
We have two computer labs: one is a Dell lab and the other is an iMac
lab. Our classroom has 9 computers.
Most of them are iMacs and we have one Dell computer. The cougar is our
school mascot. All of the schools
in our district have an animal mascot. Our
school district is called Kyrene. Our
school name, Kyrene del Norte, means Kyrene of the north. We have about 434 students at our school.
Our Classes
Our third grade reading
class has 13 students. We type on
the computer, make Power Point presentations, read lots of books, and write many
different kinds of stories, paragraphs, and poems. Recently we finished the
book, The Indian in the Cupboard. We
have reading class every morning for 90 minutes.
In our fourth and fifth grade reading class we have
twenty-two students. We read books and do assignments on the computer. This
reading class is gifted resource. Right now we are reading The Big Wave
by Pearl S. Buck. It is a story about people in Japan and there is a tsunami
(pronounced sue-Na-Me) and it wipes out a lot of homes. We use the computer a
lot; in fact we're using it right now. The book, we've just finished reading, is
Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry. We do different activities including: I am
poems, acrostic poems, Push Cart War skit, and discussing the books that
we read. This year we have read the books: The Pushcart War, Something
Upstairs, Sing Down The Moon, Because of Winn-Dixie, Roll
of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Read
more about each of us on our web
page.
Weather
Weather around Arizona in the summer is
very hot. It goes above 100 toward the end of May
and stays in the low to mid-100's until sometime
in September. Around the middle of the summer is the monsoon weather. At that
time it rains almost every day for about a week and then would stop. It would
come back again and rain for about another week. Except for the rain, the rest
of the summer there isn't that much of cool weather, unless youíre in the
higher mountains around Prescott and Flagstaff. During the winter it gets cooler
with a high of about 60-73 degrees and a low of about 40 degrees in the
Tempe/Phoenix metropolitan area. Since January 1, 2003, we have had 3 1/2 inches
of rain. That is more rain than we
had all of last year. We are in an
extreme drought, so any rain is pretty exciting. In fact, rain is so rare that
when we hear it raining while weíre in school, we run out to take a look. Mrs.
Cress was taking a hike. near her home in Phoenix, on Thursday, February 27, and
heard coyotes calling to each other on South Mountain, a city park in Phoenix.
She also saw a Jack rabbit run onto her path out of the desert as the
coyotes called. As she walked on
further, she spotted a coyote about the size of a medium dog.
Coyotes are prevalent around the outskirts of the city and in parks.
Pet cats and small dogs are known to disappear frequently, due to the
coyotes. Gulp, gulp!
Clothing
In Arizona there are many different
temperatures. They range from warm to hot to hotter. There are only three
seasons winter, summer, and spring. In the spring and summer we wear tee shirts
and shorts. In the morning, though, we might wear very light jackets or
sweatshirts, because itís cool. The
temperatures right now go down into the 40's at night and rise to the 60's and
70's during the day. We have many
visitors who come to Arizona in the winter to stay warm.
We call them snow birds. If you donít like the cold weather come down
here in the winter and early spring, yet may I make you aware that the summers
are BURNING HOT! I already gave you a warning. Still swimming always helps. The
summer is our favorite season. It's warm enough to go outside (if you can find
shade) and play. The temperature is usually around 100
F- 115 F. Be sure and bring sunscreen if you visit in the summer.
Temperatures in the winter get a little
cold, but not TOO cold in the central Arizona desert. Sometimes it snows a
little in the northern part of Arizona. (Flagstaff) So, in the winter we wear
some partially thin coats and jackets. Plus, we usually wear pants, jeans, and
long sleeved shirts. Long socks are a good choice, too. That is what we wear for
winter in Arizona.
Rivers
There are
many rivers in Arizona, but most of them are dried out. About four years ago we
started getting less rain. Now many of the rivers are just little streams with
dead bushes next to them. Even some of the lakes, where we get drinking water
from, have dried out half way. At Lake Powel we can walk where we used to swim.
What
happened to the dry riverbeds? Most of the dry riverbeds are what we call
washes. When there is rain, gallons and gallons of water go through the washes
and pick up trees, bushes, trash, or any other thing that can get into a wash or
arroyo. There are still some rivers that are flowing like the Colorado River,
the biggest river in Arizona. Our farmers get their water from a canal system
that was built in the 1970's. We
have a canal right next to our school. We have a feeling that if this drought
keeps going, soon our lakes will be dried up. We hope that doesnít happen.
Read more
about water in Arizona: http://www.water.az.gov/adwr/
See map of
the major rivers of Arizona http://www.asu.edu/lib/hayden/govdocs/maps/azrivers.htm
Some
of our Natural Attractions
November 1974 two cavers,
Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts, were exploring the limestone hills at Whetstone
Mountains. In the bottom of a sinkhole they found a narrow crack leading into
the hillside. Moist air was all over, signaling the existence of a cave. After
several hours of crawling, they entered a pristine cavern. It has now been
opened for visitors as Kartchner
Caverns in Benson, Arizona.
In the picture next to the writing probably took thousands of years to make. The
caverns are very interesting, there are old rocks and lots of fun things to do
for all ages.
The Grand
Canyon is probably the most popular attraction in Arizona. This is a Map
of Grand Canyon and it
is huge. It is six thousand two
hundred fifty feet deep and 18 miles wide.
The tour guides said that it is the 15-second tour if you fall. A tribal Indian clan, named the Hopi, lives in the canyon
also. It was nominated the hall of
fame award for community service. For
more information go to desertusa.com
An
iron-nickel meteor coming down as strong as 20 tons of TNT made the Meteor
Crater in Northern Arizona. This happened approximately 50,000 years ago. This
meteor is 700 feet deep and 4000 feet across. Today the crater is 550 feet deep
and 2.4 miles in circumference. The meteor was caused because of a meteorite
impact. Also the meteorite went through total disintegration during impact
through vaporization, melting and fragmentation. For more information go to meteorcrater.com
On
February 14, 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the United
States. This was the beginning of a wonderful state. Our stateís motto is
Ditat Deus (God Enriches). We also have a lot of history that has helped the
world. In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh (at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona)
discovered the planet Pluto. Indians were the first citizens of Arizona.
Arizonaís first public school was opened in Tucson in 1871. The Name of
Arizona came from the Indian word "Arizonac," meaning "little
spring" or "young spring". It is estimated that people have lived
in Arizona since 25,000 BC. Thatís a long time ago! In 1821 Arizona became
Mexican territory. Arizona remained a territory of the United States for 49
years. Arizona has a blend of the Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American
cultures.
http://www.bellre.com/sun_cities_arizona_history.htm
The Barrel Cactus is helpful to desert wanderers because it leans to the
south. It blooms from July through September. It is not filled with water, as
many people believe. Deer and rodents eat fruits from it. It has spines that are
hooked like fishhooks.
The Catclaw Acacia has short curved spines and they are the bane of
hikers and riders. It is also called a wait-a-minute. Its branches have short,
sharp, º inch- long spines that resemble catís claws. It has wax covered
seeds witch can delay germination for several years. It is a member of the pea
family.
The Chain Fruit Cholla's spines seem to jump when only slightly touched. It has green oval
fruit that hangs in chains. Its fruit never ripens. Next years fruit will grow
from this years and so on. It blooms from May to August.
The Ironwood is named for the strength of its wood.
It is one of the worlds heaviest at 66 pounds per cubic foot. It can grow
30 feet high. Birds eat the seeds. It was used for firewood. It never loses its
leaves.
For a look
at our state symbols go to: http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/az_symb.htm
Plant and
Animal gallery
http://www.jp29.org/ceag.htm#plants
Picture atlas of Arizona
http://www.geo-images.com/atlas.html#CENT
Find out a more about our
state by viewing our web page.
http://www.kyrene.org/schools/Norte/cress/stateweb/arizonaindex.htm
We look forward to
learning about all of you and spring in your part of the world.