New Jersey: Facts & Fun

New Jersey is a small state, but there are a lot of fun things to see and do there. New Jersey is home to 127 miles of white sand beaches, including famous Atlantic City, Ocean City, Cape May, and Seaside Heights. Many beaches have boardwalks…. wooden sidewalks where you’ll find businesses, carnivals, rides, and lots of food!

Facts About New Jersey:

• Capital: Trenton
• Nickname: Garden State
• Statehood: Dec. 18,1787 (3rd State)
• Motto: Liberty and Prosperity
• Bird: Goldfinch
• Highest Point: High Point in Montague (they named their highest point High Point!)
• Flower: Purple Violet

Children’s Books About New Jersey that We Read:

• Welcome to the U.S.A.: New Jersey by Ann Heinrichs. This book is full of fun facts about New Jersey. Did you know that they have a Giant Elephant statue named Lucy. Lucy has been in Margate City, New Jersey, for 120 years. You can climb up inside her and look out the windows in her eyes! She weighs as much as 10 real elephants! In 1902, a family lived in Lucy as their summer home. We also learned that Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, was from New Jersey. He invented 1,093 inventions… even the lightbulb! The book also included New Jersey history, like George Washington’s famous crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Eve to surprise British Troops during the American Revolution.

Lucy the Elephant of New Jersey

• G is for Garden State by Eileen Cameron. This New Jersey alphabet book is full of interesting facts about New Jersey. Seeing Eye Dogs are dogs who are trained to help people who cannot see. Morris Frank, of New Jersey, had the idea to start a Seeing Eye Dog organization in New Jersey in 1929. Now, people still use Seeing Eye Dogs. I was so interested in this, we watched videos about Seeing Eye Dogs including:Seeing Eye: Morris Frank in his own words,  The Seeing Eye: New Beginning and Seeing Eye: Puppy’s Playroom.  New Jersey is famous for the Boardwalk along beaches and people eat cotton candy and salt water taffy there. Campbell’s Soup, M&Ms, and other products are from New Jersey. Many inventors are from New Jersey. The band-aid, Morse code, phonograph, light bulb, electric power plant, and many many other inventions were invented in New Jersey. New Jersey grows many berries, especially cranberries and blueberries
• How to Draw New Jersey’s Sights and Symbolsby Melody S. Mis. This book tells about New Jersey’s famous symbols and landmarks. Then, they give you instructions to draw the pictures. I learned to draw purple violets, my favorite New Jersey symbol.
  

  Purple Violets of New Jersey by Emily

• New Jersey: The Garden Stateby Tika Downey. This book showed great photographs of New Jersey and told the story of the state.
• Meadowlands by Thomas F. Yezerski. This is the story of the Wetlands of New Jersey…. how they were once the home to the Lenape people, then industry took over, and there was a cycle of pollution and now an effort to clean up the area and preserve it for wildlife.
• The Girl on the High-Diving Horse: An Adventure in Atlantic City by Linda Oatman High. This book was a true story about a girl who rode a horse while it dived off a diving board into the water for people to watch in Atlantic City. I even watched videos of high-diving on a horse. I think this would be very dangerous and scary! I was amazed to learn that the girl survived diving on a horse.

Fun Things I Learned about New Jersey:

• The state fruit is the Blueberry! I go blueberry picking with my family every year.
• The Ah-Choo Sneezing Powder Co. is in New Jersey. They manufacture many pranks! They are the largest supplier of hand-buzzers, disappearing ink, whoopee cushions, and sneezing powder.
• Campbell’s Soup is headquartered in New Jersey! We ate Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup & Grilled Cheese for lunch. Then, I learned about artist Andy Warhol who made many pictures of Campbell’s Soup Cans. I even made my own Campbell’s Soup Can Artwork (see below).
• The New Jersey Devil is a legendary creature (like the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot). He is a shy ape-like animal that lives in New Jersey Pine Barrens. He is so famous, the New Jersey NHL Hockey team named their team the N.J. Devils!
• Albert Einstein lived in New Jersey.
• Thomas Edison operated his lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He patented over 1000 inventions and many of them were invented in Menlo Park. He is most famous for inventing the lightbulb, phonograph, first power plant so electricity was available in homes, and his version of a movie projector. He is a very famous American and one of the first to make a career of being an inventor. He was even homeschooled. We read many books about Thomas Edison including, Who Was Thomas Edison?by Margaret Frith, Thomas Edison: Inventor with a Lot of Bright Ideas by Mike Venezia, and Thomas Edison: Inventor, Scientist & Genius by Lori Mortensen. We also watched a DVD Biography: Thomas A. Edison., Father of Invention. I think the lightbulb was his best invention. I am glad I do not have to use candles to do my school now because of it!
• Salt Water Taffy is a New Jersey treat.

Campbell’s Soup by Emily Light (inspired by Andy Warhol)

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