Slappy‟s Adventures

Across

the

U.S.A.

Author and Illustrator

Marissa Vogel

Slappy was trying to eat his breakfast, when his human, Rob, came

rushing into the room. “Guess what today is?” shouted Rob.

Slappy looked at Rob for a moment and then started eating his

breakfast again.

“Whatever today is, it can‟t be more important than my breakfast!”

thought Slappy.

You see, Slappy was a chubby dog and nothing was going to come

between him and his meals… unless it was a snack, of course.

“Today is the first day of our trip across the country!” said Rob.

Well, that made Slappy‟s ears perk up as he continued to eat. He

had forgotten all about this trip. What were they going to see and

learn along the way? This made Slappy very excited. He actually

stopped eating and barked excitedly at Rob.

“When do we leave?” barked Slappy.

“Don‟t worry, you still have time to finish your breakfast. I will finish

packing the car, and then we can leave,” said Rob.

Slappy gobbled down the rest of his food and then ran off to find

Rob.

In no time at all, Slappy and Rob were driving along with the

windows rolled down. They had the radio turned on to

their favorite station.

“Do you want to see where we are going?” asked Rob as he

unfolded a large piece of paper.

“How?” wondered Slappy while looking curiously at the

paper.

“This paper is called a map. It shows a certain area of the

earth by shrinking it down to a smaller size and having a

drawing of it. It also uses symbols to represent things from

that area. For example, our map shows us the entire U.S.A.

These thin red lines show the roads, and the black lines

show the states,” said Rob.

Slappy noticed many other symbols on their map and

asked, “How do you know what the rest of these

mean?”

“Every map has a small box called a key or a legend on

it. The key tells us what each symbols represents,”

explained Rob. “It also has a compass that shows

what direction places are, North, South, East, and

West. We are heading South.”

“That‟s neat!” barked Slappy.

Car rides always made Slappy tired and it did not

take long for his eyes to start drooping. The last

thing he heard was Rob saying, “We are leaving our

beautiful state of New York!” and he fell asleep.

After what felt like only a few moments later, Slappy woke

up to Rob stopping the car.

“Where are we? Why are we stopping?” wondered Slappy.

“Hello, sleepy head!” laughed Rob. “We have made it to

Alexandria, Virginia. You‟ve been sleeping for seven hours!”

Slappy simply nodded his head and watched as Rob went

into the truck stop to use the restroom and get them

something to eat. It wasn‟t long before Rob was getting

back in the car, and buckling up.

“Did you know that we are not far from Mount Vernon?”

asked Rob.

Slappy tilted his head in curiosity.

“That‟s where George Washington lived. He was our very

first president, and his face is on both our quarter and our

dollar!” explained Rob.

“That‟s neat!” thought Slappy as his eyes started drifting

closed again.

“Wake up Slappy!” shouted Rob “We have arrived in the

state of North Carolina! Do you want to see the ocean?”

Slappy slowly raised his head and peered out the window.

“What‟s the ocean?” he thought. “All I see is sand and

water!”

They both got out of the car and walked on the hot sand

down to the water‟s edge.

“The ocean is a very large body of water that covers about

three fourths of the earth‟s surface,” explained Rob.

Slappy tilted his head to one side.

“What do you mean when you say „three fourths of the

earth‟s surface‟?” he barked.

“It means that there are four equal parts of the earth, and

those parts are called fourths. The ocean covers three of

those parts,” said Rob.

Slappy started pushing sand into little round hills with his

paw.

“So, if I make four hills of sand of the same size, and then

squish three of them, I squished three fourths of the sand

hills?” barked Slappy.

“Correct!” hooted Rob while scratching behind Slappy‟s ear.

“There are five different parts of the whole ocean and

each has their own name. This one is called the Atlantic,”

said Rob. “There are many types of fish that live in the

ocean. Some are teeny tiny, like the zebra fish. Others, like

the Great White shark, are bigger than you!”

Slappy wagged his tail in amazement.

“Well, it‟s time to go!” said Rob and he opened the door so

Slappy could hop in.

It was not long before Slappy‟s eyes started to close again.

Rob looked over at him and smiled.

“It‟s ok Slappy. I‟ll wake you up when we get to our next

stop. We are heading south again!” said Rob as Slappy

drifted off to sleep.

“Why do I feel hot and sticky?” wondered Slappy as his eyes

fluttered open. Slappy felt like a warm, wet blanket was

draped over him.

“Rob, where are we? Why is it hot and sticky?” barked

Slappy.

“We are in the Florida Everglades!” replied Rob.

“What‟s an everglade?” barked Slappy.

“The everglades are a large marsh, which is another way to

say very wet land. Since the ground is very wet, only certain

types of plants, like tall grasses and cattails, can grow

here,” explained Rob.

“Do any animals live here?” barked Slappy.

“Well, some fish live in the water, some frogs and turtles

live on the surface of the water, and bigger animals like the

alligator live in and out of the water,” replied Rob. “There is

an alligator now! Watch out! He has very sharp teeth!”

Slappy and Rob sat quietly in the car and watched as a long,

scaly alligator swam silently by.

“Did you see how long that alligator was?” Slappy barked

excitedly.

“Yes!” said Rob. “It had to be seven feet or eighty-four

inches long!”

“How could it be seven feet or eighty-four inches long?”

wondered Slappy.

“Each foot has twelve inches in it. If you add twelve seven

times, or multiply twelve by seven, you will see that seven

feet also equals eighty-four inches.”

“Huh?” barked Slappy. “I don‟t think I understand.” Slappy

scratched his ear in confusion.

“We know that one foot has twelve inches in it, right?”

asked Rob.

“Right!” barked Slappy.

“The alligator was seven feet long. This means he is how

many groups of twelve inches?” asked Rob.

“Seven!” barked Slappy.

“Good! Now, if you add the seven groups of twelve inches

together, how many inches do you have?” asked Rob.

Slappy started counting, “Twelve plus twelve is twenty-four,

plus a third twelve is thirty-six…”

When he reached the seventh group of twelve he barked,

“Eighty-four! Seven groups of twelve, or seven times twelve,

equals eighty-four!”

“Very good!” exclaimed Rob. “Now let‟s find a hotel and get

some sleep. I‟m tired from all of this traveling!”

Of course Slappy was always ready for more sleeping, so the

two of them found a hotel and got a good night‟s rest.

During breakfast the next morning, Rob asked Slappy if he

would like to head west. Eagerly nodding his head, Slappy

ran out to the car and hopped in. After only two hours of

driving, he fell fast asleep again. Over the next two days,

Rob stopped in each state along the way. Slappy enjoyed

seeing parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and

New Mexico. Then one day…

“Why is it so HOT?” wondered Slappy as he started opening

his eyes.

“Hello there sleepy head! Welcome to the state of Arizona!”

said Rob.

Slappy peered out his window and saw… nothing. The land

was as flat as a pancake!

“Why is everything so brown?” asked Slappy.

“It‟s because we are in a desert. It is very hot and does not

rain very often, so not many green plants can grow,” replied

Rob.

“Oh,” barked Slappy. “What are those tall, funny-looking

things with arms?” he asked while hopping out of the car.

Rob laughed and said, “Those are called saguaro cactus!

They can live out here, because they are able to store what

little bit of rain falls in their skin.”

Slappy wandered over to a cactus and, being careful to stay

away from its needles, was startled to see a long line of

spiders running out of the cactus.

Slappy barked and jumped back. Rob came running over and

asked, “What‟s wrong?”

“That is a lot of spiders!” barked Slappy. “I wish they

weren‟t moving so fast. I would like to count them!”

“Well, it seems that they are running in groups of 25 so let‟s

count by 25. It will be quicker!”suggested Rob.

“Ok! 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225! Wow! 225 spiders!”

barked Slappy.

Slappy was ready to see more of the desert.

“Let‟s drive some more!” he barked to Rob.

The two of them raced back to the car and hopped in.

Slappy poked his head out of the open window and

watched as the flat land went speeding by. They drove

North for a few hours before Rob was stopping the car

again.

“Why are we stopping?” barked Slappy.

“I want to show you something amazing!” replied Rob as he

walked over to a metal railing. Slappy trotted behind him

and asked, “What am I looking at?”

“Look down,” Rob said with a smile.

Slappy looked down beyond the railing and barked in

surprise.

“Where did the ground go?” barked Slappy.

“Why are we stopping?” barked Slappy.

“I want to show you something amazing!” replied Rob as he

walked over to a metal railing. Slappy trotted behind him

and asked, “What am I looking at?”

“Look down,” Rob said with a smile.

Slappy looked down beyond the railing and barked in

surprise.

“Where did the ground go?” barked Slappy.

Rob laughed and answered, “This is a canyon, Slappy! A

canyon is like a very deep valley that has steep, high cliffs

as its sides. Canyons are usually made by a river. Over many

years the river cuts away at the ground and leaves a

canyon. That river way down there is called the Colorado

River.”

“Wow! Does this canyon have a name?” asked Slappy.

“This one is called the Grand Canyon, because it is the

largest canyon in the U.S.A!” replied Rob.

“We are only seeing a small portion of the canyon, because

it is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and about a mile deep.”

Slappy sat down and stared at the beautiful canyon in

amazement and wondered, “I wonder how deep it would be

if it was three times as deep…”

“Let‟s figure it out!” said Rob. He grabbed a stick and

started writing in the dirt. “We know that the canyon is 1

mile deep, right?”

Slappy nodded and watched as Rob drew a picture of a

block with a 1 in it.

“That block represents our canyon,” said Rob. He then

drew another two blocks on top of the first block, and put

a 1 in those too.

“Now, we have three times the amount of canyons, right?”

asked Rob and Slappy nodded.

“Then let‟s count how many miles deep it would be!” said

Rob. He and Slappy touched each block and counted the 1

in them. “1 + 1 + 1= 3!” they shouted together.

“Wow, three miles would be a long way down!” barked

Slappy. “Let‟s head home, I‟m getting dizzy looking down so

far.”

Rob laughed and opened the car door for Slappy. They got

back on the road and headed North West.

Rob had been driving for two days and Slappy had been

sleeping for most of it… except when he was hungry! The

two of them stopped in many new places and learned many

new things. On the last day Slappy opened his eyes and said,

“Hey! This smells like New York! How close are we?” He

hung his head out of the window and sniffed the air.

“We only have a quarter of an hour left to go!” replied Rob

with a laugh.

Slappy tilted his head and scratched behind his ear. “A

quarter of an hour? I don‟t understand!” he barked.

“Do you remember our talk about fourths in North

Carolina?” asked Rob.

“Sure do! A fourth means that there are four equal pieces

of something that make a whole,” barked Slappy.

“Good memory! I‟m going to let you in on a little secret…

another name for a fourth is a quarter! You can remember

this by thinking about money,” said Rob.

Slappy had no idea what money had to do with fractions.

Rob could see that Slappy was confused and he chuckled.

“Name the different coins and how many are in a dollar,

please,” said Rob.

“There are pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. 100

pennies make a dollar, 20 nickels make a dollar, 10 dimes

make a dollar, and 4 quarters make a dollar. Wait a second!

4 quarters! A quarter equals one fourth!” barked Slappy.

“Correct!” hooted Rob. “Now, what would a quarter of an

hour be?”

Slappy thought to himself, “1 hour= 60 minutes. I need to

cut that 60 minutes into fourths, so I would divide it by 4.

How many groups of four fit into 60?” He turned to Rob

and barked, “Could you please draw something for me?”

“Sure!” said Rob as he stopped the car and pulled out

pencil and paper.

“I need 4 boxes. Those are the fourths of 1 hour,” barked

Slappy and Rob nodded his head.

After the boxes were drawn, Slappy asked, “Will you please

put a circle in each box?”

Rob did as Slappy asked and then showed him the paper.

“Now what?” asked Rob.

“Keep putting one circle in each box until you have a total

of 60 circles between all four boxes. They are the 60

minutes in 1 hour” replied Slappy.

Rob drew circles in each box until he had a total of 60.

“Now I just have to count how many circles are in one box

or one fourth!” barked Slappy. He quietly counted to

himself and then barked, “15! There are 15 circles in each

box, so 15 is one fourth or a quarter of 60! That means we

only have 15 more minutes before we are home!” barked

Slappy excitedly.

“Excellent work!” said Rob. “I hope you enjoyed our trip!”

“I loved every minute of it! I learned so much and had

fun,too!” barked Slappy. Scratching behind Slappy‟s ear,

Rob laughed and continued driving.

Fifteen minutes later, Rob and Slappy pulled into their

driveway.