The Twelve Days of Christmas in Arizona
Here are some fun activities to go along with the book!
All About Arizona Crossword Puzzle
PERFECT PECAN PIE (serves 6-8)
I'm nuts about pecan pie. Be sure to use fresh pecans!
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 deep dish pie shell
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pie shell in a nine inch pie pan.
In a medium sized bowl, stir the eggs together. Mix in the sugar and the flour, then add the corn syrup, butter, and vanilla extract. Fold in the pecans.
Pour it into the pie shell, then bake for 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness by sticking a knife in the center. If it comes out clean, your pie is done.
ALL ABOUT ARIZONA CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ACROSS
1. Marguerite Henry wrote a children's book about a burro named _______, who lived in the Grand Canyon.
3. The state bird is the cactus ____.
4. The ____ _______ is one of only two venomous lizards in the world, and it lives in Arizona.
7. The tallest cactus in the world is the _______.
9. The largest city in Arizona is _______, also the state capital.
11. Astronauts trained at ______ Crater in the 1960s, to prepare for the Apollo moon missions.
13. During World War II, the U.S. Government employed ______ code talkers to transmit secret battlefield plans.
14. A famous Arizona landmark used to span the Thames River in ______. Now it's in Lake Havasu City.
15. Clyde ________ discovered Pluto in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory.
16. The ____ _____ is Arizona's state tree.
17. The tallest mountain in Arizona is _________ Peak. It is 12,633 feet tall.
DOWN
2. A _________ is a large fuzzy spider.
5. Arizona has sometimes been called the _________ state, because it became part of the U.S. on February 14, 1912.
6. Petrified ____ is the state fossil, found at Petrified Forest National Park.
8. Arizona's neighbor to the south is ______.
10. These tiny birds are famous for their acrobatics.
12. The state neckwear is the ____ tie.
Created by Jennifer J. Stewart, author of The Twelve Days of Christmas in Arizona, illustrated by Lynne Avril
Open and print the Word Search pdf file. Here's the answer key.
Louis Tewanima, Sandra Day O'Connor, Rex Allen, Geronimo, Joan Ganz Cooney, Helen Hull Jacobs, Pluto, Sharlot Hall, Charles Mingus, Michael Lacapa, Coronado, Ettore Ted DeGrazia, Lori Piestewa, Linda Ronstadt, Cesar Chavez, Kerri Strug, Ira Hayes, Sean Elliot, and Percival Lowell can all be found in this word search puzzle.
You can find biographies of some of these Arizonans on the facts page at the end of the book. Others are depicted on the bulletin board right before it. Some show up earlier in the book. And others didn't fit into the book, but they are still worth researching! Can you figure out why they are famous? P.S. Pluto's there just for fun.
A mnemonic is a way of remembering the planets, in order from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Alas for poor Pluto! Those of us who are old enough knew Pluto well. In those olden days, we had:
My very easy method just speeds up naming planets.
Challenge your students to make some new mnemonics up, using eight planets. The first letter of each word must be the first letter of the planet's name. Here are some examples:
Many very elderly men just snooze under newspapers.
My very easy method just seems useless now.
My vampire eats munchy juicy sticky unhealthy newts.
Many very eerie monsters just sneak under noses. (from D.G. at Ventana Vista Elementary School—so clever!)
Please email me your favorites at jennifer@jenniferjstewart.com—I'd love to see what you come up with! And I'll post it, too!
SONG SHEET—Click to enlarge and print.
