California People and Places Author:California Performance Products Inc Dear Students, — You are about to take a trip around the vast and varied state of California. The trip will be with the help of photographs. The black and white photographs are included so you can see what California was like in the the earlier days. The color photographs show California as it is today. As you study these ... more »photographs, you will begin to see where and how people live, work, and play in this wonderful state. You will also have the systems, and the efforts to ensure that water reaches the places where it is needed.
As you will see, California has features second to no other place in the world...from the Pacific Ocean to the Mojave Desert, from the Coast Ranges to the mighty Sierra Nevada, from sagebrush to the majestic Redwoods, and from the ski lifts on the snow capped mountains to the surfboards on the sunny beaches. No wonder so many people come to California each year. There is something in California for everyone!
This book is one source of information to assist you in your studies of California. People that live and work in California can also provide information. Remember there are textbooks, the encyclopedia, the California and World Almanacs, the classroom maps, globes, and atlas, and newspapers that you can also use.
Before you begin, you need to know about the lines of latitude and longitude on the maps and globes that you will use. These are imaginary lines; some run north and south, others east and west. You could compare these lines to the streets in your home town.
Lines of latitude run east and west and are measured either north or south of the Equator. Longitude lines run north and south (from the north pole to the south pole) and are measured east or west of the Prime Meridian.
The Earth, being like a huge, round ball has a circumference of 360 degrees. Each degree is made up of 60 minutes (60').
With the help of your teacher, locate where you live on the map in your classroom.