United States--Louisiana

What do you think of when you think of Louisiana?  I thought of swamps and gumbo and Mardi Gras and hurricane Katrina. 

Louisiana has swamps but they also have bayous.  Swamps are more of a low-lying, marshy wetland while a bayou is a slow moving stream that feeds into a swamp.  The swamps and bayous are homes to many different types of animals, and they also attract fishermen to the area.  Louisiana makes more money from fishing than any other state. 

I also learned that there is a difference between Cajun and Creole.  Cajuns are people of French ancestry while Creoles are from Spain, Portugal and France.  There was a little more to it than that, but I already returned the book to the library. 

We decided to celebrate Mardi Gras.  We learned a little more about the festival.  Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French.  It is celebrated the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  This year it was February 21st.  We talked about some of the traditions and looked at other places it is celebrated (only under a different name in different places).  Then we made masks.  I printed off a template, and we decorated them using the colors of Mardi Gras (green, purple and gold).