1. Hi, my name is Joe and I am a 5 th grader at Maria Montessori Charter Academy. I am presenting the state of California to you. By the time I am done, you will be booking your flight out here!

2. California’s Flag The California state flag has a lone star in the upper corner, taken from the Lone Star flag of California. The bear on the flag represents the many bears that were seen in the wild her. Symbolically it represents strength. The red strip at the bottom is a remembrance of the blood shed during the fight for independence in the Bear Flag Revolt. California Republic is below the bear.

3. State Symbols State Tree: California Redwood. Did you know that California has a tree called the Colonel Armstrong? It’s over 1,400 years old, 300+ feet tall and over 16 feet in diameter! State Animal: California Grizzly Bear. These bears are now extinct. State Bird: California Valley Quail. State Flower: California Golden Poppy. They grow in the wild and are very pretty. Don’t pick any of them, or else you could go to jail!

4. More State Symbols State seal. Our state seal has a grizzly bear, the Greek Goddess Minerva (for wisdom), ships, a gold miner and the word Eureka. State Motto: Eureka! This means, “I’ve found it!” State license plate. California state quarter from the 50 states mint program

5. Famous People! Walt Disney. Yes, the man who came up with Mickey Mouse and Disneyland is from California! The “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, we have a governor who is also a movie star!

6. California is a great place to visit if you love the outdoors! Lake Tahoe has some of the coldest and bluest water there is. It’s also a great place to go skiing. Yosemite has some breath taking views and John Muir helped preserve this land for everyone! Lake Shasta is a great place to go boating and water skiing! They have houseboats you can rent.

7. Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth! It’s open 365 days a year and has all things Disney! You can eat with Disney character and ride many amazing rides! Have a love of sea life? Then you need to go to Sea World! The home of Shamu the Killer Whale. They even have a roller coaster or two!

8. California’s History California’s history dates back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. (500+ years ago) England didn’t want Spain getting more land. 200 years later, the Spanish sent priests to California to build the missions as trading posts and to also convert the Indians to Christianity. After the time of the missions, we came into the ranchos period of our state. This was a time where the Mexican government gave land grants to people to build little “cities” and be loyal to Mexico, not the US. People were called Californios.

9. History continued… After the ranchos, came the westward movement and settlers were coming out to California. People could travel to California one of two ways: –By Land - in a wagon over the difficult Sierra Nevada mountain range. –By Sea – in a boat trip that would take months and travel around the southern tip of South America. These settlers ended up having the Bear Flag Revolt, and waged a war against the Mexican rule of California. Gold was discovered in 1848 in the hills of Coloma by John Marshall. California became a state on September 9, 1850

10. California’s resources are broken into three main categories: –Minerals: oil, gold, copper, iron, clay and borax. –Natural resources: forests, farms, minerals –Human resources: people are resources too! Everyone who can do a job or service is a human resource.

11. Economy California’s economy has four main areas: –Computers and technology (Silicon Valley) –Entertainment and Tourism (Hollywood) –Agriculture (Central California Valley) –Wine producing (Napa/Sonoma Valleys)

12. What makes California unique? Did you know that California has a HUGE population of the grunion fish? The grunion are only found along the coast of Southern California. They come completely out of the water to lay their eggs! On high tides and just after a full moon you can see 100s – 1,000s of these fish lining the sandy beaches to lay their eggs.

13. Sources Much of my information came from the following websites: –www.50states.comwww.50states.com –http://www.netstate.comhttp://www.netstate.com –www.californiahistory.orgwww.californiahistory.org –www.wikipedia.orgwww.wikipedia.org Many of pictures came from either Microsoft Office Clip Art or the above websites and following their external hyperlinks.

14. Required Elements Animation Slide 3: Title and bullets Slide 6: Title & photo captions Slide 11: photos move onto page Drawn Objects Slide 1: Word Art Slide 5: Shapes (sun) Slide 6: Arrows Slide 7: Arrows Slide 10: Word Art Added Objects Clipart or photos: Slides: 1-7, 11, 12