Mount Rushmore

Do you recognize that famous memorial? It's Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota. It memorializes four of America's past presidents. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Ms. Lipsky's parents (and Rowdy) are on a cross-country road trip and Mr. Lipsky snapped this picture of UF's mascot Albert with the memorial. The Gator Nation is everywhere. CHOMP!

Flat Joe- Seattle, Washington

Hello from Seattle, class!

Flat Joe and I got to Seattle yesterday after a very long flight. After checking into our hotel, Flat Joe wanted to see what Seattle was all about.

Seattle is in the state of Washington, can you find it on a map? Seattle is a very cool city, and we are having fun exploring it! First we went to the Space Needle, which as you can see is very tall. There’s a restaurant at the top that spins very slowly so you can see all of Seattle!

Then we wandered down to the Pike Place fish market. It’s where they bring the fish in straight from the ocean and sell them right there! There are also shops and restaurants with great views of the harbor. Flat Joe really likes fish and seafood!

Do you know what famous coffee company started in Seattle? It’s Starbucks, where I went to get some coffee. Flat Joe is too young for coffee, but when I wasn’t looking, he drank some! Then he was bouncing off the walls of the hotel room—coffee makes you hyper!

The next day, I had to do some work, and Flat Joe stayed at the hotel. He made himself very comfortable, lying around in a robe watching TV—it was a real vacation for Flat Joe! Seattle is known for being a very rainy city, but it only rained on one day while we were there. Still, you can see from the pictures how gray and dreary the weather is.


Seattle is a great city, and we have both had a lot of fun, but we have to go back to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. Who knows where our next adventure will take us?

--Joe and Flat Joe

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Comment with your thoughts.

Main Idea and Supporting Details

Read the "Flat Joe Goes to Washington, DC" post below. When you have finished come back to this post and keep reading.

The main idea of that post is that Flat Joe enjoyed visiting Washington, DC. Comment with TWO supporting details that show the reader that Flat Joe enjoyed visiting Washington, DC.

Flat Joe Goes to Washington, D.C.

Hey class, this is Joe! First of all, thank you all for your letters, they were very nice! My new buddy, Flat Joe, told me he wanted to keep in touch with you guys, so I’ll be using your class blog to tell you about our adventures!

When Flat Joe got to my apartment, he was eager to stretch his legs, so we went walking around Washington, D.C. First, we went to the Executive Office Building, where a lot of President Obama’s workers work. Flat Joe said it looks like a castle!

Flat Joe said he wanted to see where President Obama lived, so we walked next door to the White House. Did you know the White House has 132 rooms? And 35 bathrooms! That’s a big house…

Then, Flat Joe saw a big pointy thing, so we walked to it. It was the Washington Monument, which is 125 years old! It is also 555 feet tall, which is bigger than 3 of the UF Century Towers stacked on top of each other! Can you guess who the Washington Monument is named after?

After seeing a few more sights, we had to get to bed before our big trip to Seattle. Flat Joe was so tired from our adventure, I had to wake him up in the morning so we didn’t miss our airplane!

Flat Joe slid into my folder for the trip, he said it was nice and cozy. Even though he really liked Washington, D.C., Flat Joe and I were both looking forward to our next adventure in Seattle!

Flat Joe and I will send our next post from Seattle, Washington. Talk to you guys later!

-Joe and Flat Joe

Flat Joe

Our class is reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Flat Stanley is the story of a boy who is flattened by his bulletin board in his sleep. Fortunately, Stanley is fine, but is now completely flat! He soon discovers that being flat has its advantages. He can slide under closed doors and be mailed in envelopes to visit friends who live faraway.

Our class made a "Flat Joe" who is on an airplane right now headed to Washington, D.C. to stay with my friend Joe for the school year. Joe's job requires him to travel A LOT and he has offered to act as Flat Joe's chaperone and take him all over the country. We will be able to follow Flat Joe's adventures through this blog.

I took some pictures of Flat Joe before he left. He enjoyed spending time in our classroom reading a book from the Flat Stanley series on our comfortable bean bag chair. Then he spent some time looking at our wall map and contemplating where he might like to visit. At the post office he wanted a picture in front of the sign and I took one more before I helped him slide into his Overnight Envelope. You can tell he was a little nervous at this point, but he had sweet letters written by the students to accompany him.

Oh and I did laminate him before he left. He said he didn't mind since he was already flat and that he actually preferred it because now he's waterproof and didn't need to pack his raincoat!